Ok To Start Chemo

I saw my Surgeon on Thursday and I have the all clear to start Chemo.

I have to meet with a new group of Oncologists at the Local Hospital  in Glens Falls  that has a Cancer Center then I won't have to travel 90mins away... that was a relief. I have an appt. next Friday at 2pm to get the ball rolling.

I won't have to deal with being tortured with needles .. they are going to install a port under my collarbone so it will have easy access ... that was a relief.

They have meds now that they assure me it won't make me "too" sick ... we shall see. They did say I need to bring someone with me for the first treatment to see "how sick" I get.

I will lose some if not all hair - but it will grow back after the treatments.

I have to go once every 3 weeks for 18 weeks.  I will be monitored for my white count and several other levels the whole time.

At the end of the series I will get a full set of Cat Scans and blood tests to see if I need another round or if once will be enough.

I'm going to need to invest in some reading material .... each session is at least 4 hours ... and that is if everything goes perfectly with no hold ups or equipment malfunctions.

They were contemplating doing more surgery to do deeper biopsies due to the aggressive nature of the type of Ovarian cancer I have. But, either way if they found more or not I would still have to go through Chemo. Since more surgery would just delay the chemo they decided against it and will see what things look like after wards.

I have been diagnosed at:

Stage IC (T1c, N0, M0): The cancer is present in one or both ovaries and one or more of the following are present:

• Cancer is on the outer surface of at least one of the ovaries.

• Laboratory examination found cancer cells in fluid or washings from the abdomen.

I am 1 stage away from Stage II  but still in the safest/most curable category.

So depending on how fast the new team can install the port I could be starting all this fairly quickly.  

On the upside I won't have to deal with all this hot hair for summer ;)