Monday, July 30, 2007

Meeting the Secondary Doctors

Wednesday July 25th, 2007
I met Dr. Sanz with my Dad at Lawrence General. He's an extremely nice man from Spain (I forget where) and is actually friends with Dr. Fisher. They did a bone marrow transplant together 10 years ago. I am not sure what that entails exactly, but apparently they are now buddies, and that's cool with me.

We make an appointment to get a Lupron shot (the drug associated with ovarian suppression, used in order to save my ovaries from the aggressive cancer drugs). We also make the appointment for my first chemotherapy session. August 8th. The same day I was going to leave for graduate school at the University of New Mexico.

I chose to have my first chemo session at Lawrence General because the Commonwealth Hematology-Oncology, P.C. is a small office where I will more than likely run into Dr. Sanz during my visit. Although the atmosphere is slightly dim, the odds that someone I have already met will actually administer the drugs to me are much higher in this smaller setting. That makes me feel comfortable enough to try it once. Plus, I think my mom needs a break from city driving. If I decide that I don't like it, I can make future appointments at Dana-Farber.


Today, Monday, July 30th, 2007
I got the Lupron shot in my right butt cheek. Awesome. I also met with a radiologist named Astrid Peterson at Holy Family in Methuen. It took forever and Todd said all the women working there looked like frog faces.

I won't know if I necessarily need radiation therapy (which would be M-F for a short period of time each day for up to 4 weeks) until I complete 2-4 cycles of chemotherapy. Each cycle is 2 treatments/month... that means we won't know how well my body is responding to therapy until 2-4 months from now (or after 4-8 treatments). That means we won't know if I really need radiation right away, however, it is recommended in the long run to prevent relapse. Unfortunately, radiation can also cause Thyroid, Lung, and Breast cancer in the future. Talk about weighing your options.

Each treatment of chemotherapy involves, on average, 2 hours of sitting in an arm chair in front of a TV with an IV in your arm. I can't wait.