all business: a revisit of what's to come

On Friday I had an appointment with my oncologist and was given some pretty good news!  I will have only 4 rounds of chemo as far as they think.  If during surgery they find more, and it's worse than they thought, the worst case scenario is only 6 rounds of chemo!  I am happy b/c this part scares me the most.  I sat with my dad on many days during and/or after chemo, especially on days when the side effects were raring their ugly heads, and it wasn't fun to watch.  Let alone know that I too will be feeling pretty crappy soon.  But 4 rounds, 6 rounds?  I can do that!

What this means as an update to my timeline is that on Jan 21st I will have the double mastectomy/expander surgery.  Then I wait 4 weeks to heal, and have an appointment with my oncologist on Feb 13th to see if I'm ready for chemo.  If all is well, which I expect it will be (hi-ya!) I will probably start chemo the following week.  Then one round means one day of receiving chemo and other drugs intravenously.  Then go home and deal with it for 3 weeks (he says first few days not so good, 2nd few days a bit better, the next week even better and a week a feeling good b/f you go in for next round). Basically they call one day of chemo (day 1) and the last day of the round (day 21), in my case (it's different for everyone).

Once I'm recovered from chemo we will hopefully be ready for the final surgery shortly after (I say hopefully b/c we don't know until surgery if it has spread to my lymph nodes, and if so how many?  If it is 3 or more, then most likely radiation will be needed following chemo).  I'm guessing here but I think that means if I start chemo Feb 19th, I should be finished by mid May (at 4 rounds) and ready for final reconstruction hopefully end of May/beginning of June?

Perfect - just in time for summer!