Getting ready for treatment

Yesterday, I spent a large chunk of the day at the doctor's office learning about my treatment. In my first appointmet, I learned about something called a portacath, which is a device the doctors will install under my skin, near my collar bone and it will go directly into a major artery. The portacath is used to make it easier to receive chemo. I'll be getting it put in next Thursday (Sept. 2nd), and I'll start chemo the following Thursday (Sept. 9th). Things seem to be happening so quickly!

For my other appointment, I spoke with the chemo nurse about my treatment. She informed me of how long treatment will last, what medicines I'll be on, the side effects I may have, etc. I will only be doing two cycles of chemo. Each cycle will consist of treatment "A" and treatment "B". So a total of four treatments (Cycle 1A & 1B, Cycle 2A & 2B). Each will be two weeks apart, which means it will last eight weeks. As of right now they don't think I'll have to do radiation. This is very good news because I was originally told I'd have to do both radiation and chemo, with chemo lasting 8 - 12 cycles. Now it's down to just 2 cycles of chemo and no radiation. The doctor believes that two cycles are enough to cure the cancer. If I have done my math right, that means I should be cancer-free before Halloween!

I have a PET Scan scheduled for tomorrow (Friday), which will give the doctors a clearer picture of exactly where the the cancer cells are located and will show any cancerous areas that may have gone unnoticed in the CT Scan. My treatment could change after they look at the PET Scan, but the nurse I spoke with yesterday said she doubts the PET Scan will have much of an effect on my treatment.

Also, the nurse told me about medicines they have that help counteract the negative effects of the chemo to make me feel less sick. She doesn't think I should have a problem going to school, but I will be taking time off of work during my treatment. At this point in my life, school is more important and I want to make sure I'm not doing more than I can handle.

I'll be getting chemo every other Thursday and I'll feel sick on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday following chemo, but the nurse said as long as I take my other medication, I should feel well enough to go to school on the following Monday. Again, I'm only getting four treatments of chemo, and its every other week. I figure missing 4 Fridays throughout the entire quarter wont have a huge impact on my grades. And if it does, I'll just use my sad cancer eyes to make my professors feel bad for me.

Overall, everything sound like it should go pretty smoothly and I'm glad to know treatment will be quick! There's a lot more I could write, but I don't want to ramble.

If you have any questions about anything, ask me and I'll explain in more detail (if I can).