Yesterday we spent quite a few hours at the Galton Unit for my "induction". This involved firstly basic height/weight measuring, blood pressure and blood sampling plus a short health questionnaire (erm cancer?). Then, and it rather reminded me of joining a new company, a small group of us went into a conference room and watched a 20 minute video on chemo, how it's administered and its likely side effects - most of which Ian and I had already read many, many times.
After that we had private sessions with a nurse to discuss the specifics of my treatment but there was a degree of confusion with the regimen detailed on my consent form and of course I hadn't been asked to sign it previously. So, as all I'd had was a phone call from an admin person telling me that I was to start treatment tomorrow, it was decided we should meet with Onco's deputy today so that he could give us the actual HER2 results and check I'm happy to go ahead with the proposed treatment.
My results were described by the lab as "bizarre" and therefore they have no alternative but to classify me as positive.
So my boob is "unremarkable" and now I'm "bizarre" - the NHS certainly chooses it's words.
Tomorrow I start my first of 3 x 21 day cycles of drugs called FEC, this will be followed by 3 x 21 day cycles of T.
Additionally I will have 9 x 6 week cycles of Bisphosphonates and 18 x 3 week cycles of Trastuzumab - which will be given concurrently to one of the two above.
When the chemo (FEC-T) is finished I then need 3 x 5 day cycles of radiotherapy to the boob and finally 5 years of hormone treatment (probably Letrozole).
And just a little word to my lovely, positive, well-meaning friends who tell me not everyone gets side effects with chemo - yes this is absolutely true, but my reading/research has been restricted to the specific drugs I'm to get and their side effects, some of which are indeed rare but others, sadly, are very, very common.
So once again, I PFTWHFTB 😱😱😱😱😱😱
