Chemo Menu Choices

I had my weekly chemo treatment yesterday, followed by the G-CSF white blood cell booster shot today. I felt wobbly and achy in the legs when I went for a walk tonight. Usually, it takes a couple of days after chemo before I start to feel weak and tired. So I guess the cumulative side effects of chemo are creeping up on me.

Next week, I’m going to try getting the chemo without the one remaining side effect drug, Zofran, which is for nausea. I just want to see if I can do without it. I’m also going to get the G-CSF shot immediately after chemo, on the same day. That’ll save me an additional trip to the hospital every week. I just hope that my white blood cells will respond as well getting the shot 24 hours earlier.

Boy, I really like being able to decide how I get to do my drugs. It’s like looking at a menu. I’ll have two main courses and do away with the side dishes and appetizers, please. And I’ll have my dessert today, rather than wait until tomorrow.

Luckily, I have a doctor who doesn’t let ego get in the way of doing what’s best for her patients, including letting her opinionated patients have a say in their treatment.

I just read about a new chemo drug for metastatic breast cancer that was approved by the FDA this week. I read that story with the excitement of a fashionista reading about what’s new this season. I thought, “Ooh! Maybe I can try that one too! Add that to my menu!”

It looks like I have a lot of goodies on the chemo menu to try yet, and I’m looking forward to sampling each one on my way to a cure. Okay, maybe “looking forward to” isn’t quite right. In my pre-cancer life, I tried not to think about the high fat content and sugar levels when choosing from dessert menus, so I won’t think about the nausea, organ damage, and other possible side effects of the chemo for now.