Thurs Sept 21st

Today has definitely been a day of ups and downs. I saw the nurse Lisa today for my appointment. The GOOD NEWS is that my tumor has shrunk considerably already! Yeah! It started at 4cm by 3cm and has decreased to 2cm by 2.5cm. Everyone's prayers and thoughts must be working. THANKS!! I will be doing my genetics counseling next week at Chemotherapy and will do my blood draw next week to send off to the genetics lab. I will have an answer in 4 to 6 weeks if I am BRCA1 or 2 positive. This will have a huge weight on my decisions with surgery. If I am positive they would recommend having a double mastectomy. If I am negative I might only have to have a single mastectomy or a lumpectomy if it keeps shrinking the way it is going. The bad news is that since my prescribed treatment had chemo first, then surgery, then radiation I can't do reconstruction at the time of my surgery. Radiation cannot be done over the reconstruction. This would mean that I would be looking at multiple painful surgeries with long recovery periods in between. YUCK. I still won't know for sure if my lymph nodes have been affected until after surgery. But yeah again for the tumor shrinking!
I did chemo after my dr. Appointment today. Everything was going fine until I started my Taxol, which is the actual chemo drug. Since it was my 3rd time getting this they put it on regular flow and it usually takes about an hour. I was laying down in the recliner for about 10 min and started to feel funny. All at once I felt hot in my abdomen and and it moved quickly up my abdomen into my chest and to my throat. By the time I sat up and looked at my mom on the one side of me and said "Something isn't right," and turned my head to the other side to tell the nurse my chest and throat got very tight and couldn't breathe. The 3 nurses all rushed over shut the IV line and shot me up with a steroid and a bunch of benedryl. It worked quickly but there was about 1o or so seconds there where I couldn't catch my breath. It was VERY SCARY! I thought I was going to pass out. They put some saline through me and waited about a half hour before starting on it again. They start it back up but at about 1/2 the speed. I waited about 20 min and then the hot feeling came over me again. I didn't have the breathing problem that time, but they did the same things again. I had to stop and wait another 1/2 hour and then start the taxol again at about 1/2 that speed. Luckily the 3rd time was a charm and worked okay but we ended up being at chemo from 10:00am to 4:30pm. Long day! I feel horrible tonight too. My chest still hurts and my lower back hurts. I am a total medicine head from all the benedryl I am on.
On a fun note, my girlfriends Alyssa and Aislinn came and kidnapped me and took me to get a manicure and pedicure. It was so much fun and so relaxing. I have never had a pedicure and had no idea on what I was missing out on! Jon is in big trouble now, he'll have to watch the kids once a month so I can go do that.
Still no bald head yet, just a few strands here and there. My white blood cell count was 4.8 today so back in the "normal" range. So I guess that is more good news. I am trying to have a good attitude about stuff but feel so bummed and drained this evening.....Good thing tomorrow is a new day!