Chemo - treatments 1 + 2

My first chemo treatment was on Thursday, March 2nd - the day that we announced my diagnosis on social media. Why did we put it out there? Why did we want to share this journey?

I lost my Dad 1 year ago this month (March). It was the most devastating thing I've gone through in my entire life...even still. He was a minister and lived a loud, very public life. He was the "Pastor of Cottage Grove". However, in the last few years he lived almost in denial of his illness and when he was put on hospice care we had to tell his community. So many people from all walks of life reached out to connect with him and he didn't have time to reconnect or visit with anyone. A lot of friends were actually surprised to hear how ill he was. I didn't want that!

I'm pretty certain I'm going to be bald in a few weeks - I didn't want to run into a friend and hear them say "I wish I would have known...I would have been praying for you." I want to connect with everyone and share my battle with breast cancer, no matter how painful. (Oh geez, I may regret saying that). But if my journey can inspire anyone or help a young woman detect her own lump earlier than she would have - it's worth it.

Chemo Day 1 + 2

I have what they call Stage 3 (ER/PR - negative) HER2 (positive) Breast Cancer. We started with THP treatment (google it if you want - I will not get super medical here, it's just not me!), which was the recommended treatment plan by Mayo. I'm receiving drugs through a port in my chest. It was not a bad procedure to get it placed, but it definitely hurt WAY more than I expected. Thankfully I had it placed nearly 2 weeks before starting treatment so it was able to heal before being used. I hear I will be incredibly thankful for this port as treatment goes on.

I will have treatment every Thursday for 12 weeks (THP) and then I'll have a few weeks off to rest and start with A/C for 8 weeks every other Thursday. At least that's the plan. I was told by a good friend who recently went through this that it might be delayed a week or two here and there based on my labs. If I'm not doing well, we might have to have a week off here and there. I'm VERY glad she told me that in advance. I'm adaptable, but I'm also very action oriented...I want to get this done with as soon as possible. You tell me 20 weeks - I want 20 weeks. So I'm glad she's managed my expectations!

Week 1 - CHECK (Paul and Barbie)

Week 2 - CHECK (Wendy and Barbie - no photo, but we'll get one next time)

Barbie EricksonMarch 10, 2018