One More Chemo Treatment Remaining
One more chemo to go.... it almost doesn't even sound real to say that. These chemo treatments have been a rollercoaster and at times it felt as though the end was out of reach, but we are quickly coming up on my last treatment. July 2nd is when I will receive my final chemo treatment.
Quick update on how chemo #5 went... in short, it went AMAZING compared to chemo #4. The notable side effects from this last round of chemo have been:
2-3 days of extreme fatigue starting on the Sunday after my treatment. I was easily sleeping 12-13 hours each night on top of my daily naps.
Aversion to food. This has been consistent the last few rounds of chemo. Nothing sounds good and I'm not really that hungry in the first place. However, food is my friend and is a really important part of staying strong enough for treatments, so we made it a point to keep me well fed (thanks, Dad!) no matter if I was hungry or not.
Little bit of nausea/vomiting. I think I only got sick 2 or 3 times this round, so not too bad. I will say that the silver lining to going through chemo is that it has really helped me work through my extreme fear of throwing up. There's an up side to everything... I guess - ha!
A mild case of the "diet zebras." This is now how I refer to "diarrhea" because it sounds much more pleasant telling my family or doctors or whomever that I have the diet zebras. it also gives me a visual in my head that makes me giggle lol
General weakness. I can definitely tell that chemo has taken a big toll on my body and muscles. Climbing a few flights of stairs or walking too quickly to keep pace with other people are now daily challenges. Overall I am fine to continue normal day to day activities, but I definitely get winded a lot faster than I used to.
Dry eyes. This was a side effect that I wasn't expecting. I now have a difficult time wearing my contacts each day as they constantly try to pop out of my eye due to my eyes being too dry. Sometimes they also fall out because my eyes are watering excessively to make up for the fact that they are too dry. It's frustrating so i have started wearing my glasses a lot more.
Hopefully we will have an official update regarding my surgery here very soon. For now all I know for certain is that we are looking at early August for the surgery date, but specific surgery plans have not been made yet. We are still waiting on some test results to come back to help inform our surgical decisions.
I continue to be thankful for the support system that I have all around me. The daily messages and words of support that I receive truly help keep me positive and motivated to keep kicking cancers ass. If you'd like to continue to support my journey you can do so by donating to my GoFundMe (https://gofund.me/615fa3c1) or by sharing my story to help raise awareness of the risk of breast cancer in young adults.. Any and all support is appreciated ❤️
Fiercely,
Jesse