Chemo Half-Way!!!

Easy part of the drive home today.

I am so excited that I got back on the offensive today with my third round of chemo! This marks the half-way point through the worst of the chemo and it feels good! At least right now it does...in a few days I'll be feeling the hit of all drugs I got today when the heavy duty nausea medicine wears off. What I am most thankful for is that I made it home safely in what is easily the worst snow storm to hit during driving hours that we've had since we moved to Northerrn Kentucky. What a mess it was out there!!! This picture I took was the easy part of getting home.

It seems this rough week happened for a reason as it often does in hindsight. If I had been able to take chemo any earlier than 10 minutes before Dr. Flora walked in to see me today, I would not have been able to get the very important Carboplatin chemo drug. His practice was trying to block me from getting that drug so that the brand-new Perjeta I am taking (see my past post for the backstory on this promising medicine) would be approved by my insurance. Dr. Flora fought for me during his entire Thanksgiving trip to Spain. He finally won the fight and got the approval of the head of OHC literally minutes before he met with me. Timing was everything today, and it all worked out in the end. He was just as excited as me if not even more! He fought hard for me and stood up against the powers that be to make sure I'm getting the best of everything I can take in an attempt to cure this cancer. That's what we are after, after all, not just buying me a few more years. Thank you once again, Dr. Flora, and thank you to the head of OHC for making the right, compassionate, caring call. My entire family is so very grateful!

The game plan from here is to check my blood counts on December 20 to see if they have rebounded enough for my fourth round of chemotherapy. Typically, I'm on an every-three weeks schedule because that's how long it takes for your body to build back up to take the next hit. If, however, I'm able to stay healthy and have my counts come back up quickly within two weeks, I'll be able to get my next round of chemo before hoping on a plane to Texas with the kiddos. Let's hope this happens. I don't want to have to wait four-and-half weeks to attack the cancer again. We've got it on the run and I don't want to give it a chance to take hold again. The tumor in my left breast has already shrunk enough that I can barely tell it's there. Dr. Murley checked my lymph nodes two days ago and couldn't feel anything there either! The chemo seems to be doing its job and my body is responding. All fabulous news! 

PICC line hanging out underneath my upper left arm. Fun, right?

I'll get my new port placed on January 9. In the meantime, the PICC line I had installed yesterday worked like a charm today. Although it is not very convenient to have it hanging out of my upper arm, it's better than the alternative and not as hard on the arm veins. A catheter leads from a vein in my upper arm to just above my heart and that's where the medicine is administered. Another reason I'm hoping I can get chemo on December 20 is so that they can remove the PICC before I leave for Texas to enjoy the holiday. I'm not supposed to shower while I have this thing hanging out of my arm, but that just can't happen in my world, so I already came up with some redneck engineering this morning out of need! Still, it would be great to be free of it before I leave for Christmas. So all in all, I count this week a success despite the bumps. My kids got a snow day today and had tons of fun playing out in the snow with Scott. I missed it today, but I plan on being here for many more super, fun snow days with my kids!