My Treatment Plan

Today we met with my oncologist, Dr. Ferris. A little later than expected, but we met her. When the surgeon's office called to tell me they had made the appointment, they did not give me a specific doctor's name, just that I would be seeing one of four in the practice at 2:00 on August 2nd at the Cancer Center. Half hour after signing in at the Cancer Center, no one called us so I went to the desk to check. They asked if someone had called to confirm my appointment and I answered that no one had. Well, in my opinion, no one calling means that my appointment is still scheduled, right? Turns out that I was seeing the doctor, but not at the Cancer Center but at Central DuPage Hospital (a place neither Beni nor I have ever been). So, we got back to the car 45 minutes later and headed up Winfield Road to destination #2.

About an hour late we got to the office where we waited another half an hour or more to see the doctor. When she came in she was very nice and we spoke for a long time about treatment options. Here is what we decided:

I will have chemotherapy prior to surgery to shrink the tumor in my breast. I will have four chemo treatments of a drug known as AC over the course of eight weeks (once every two weeks). During that time, I can expect to lose my hair. So glad I was trying to grow it out. After that, I will have weekly TH chemo treatments, of something that the T stands for and Herceptin, that will last 12 weeks. Then I will take a three week break to get my blood counts ready for surgery. Then (as of now) a single mastectomy. If my BRAC test comes back positive, meaning I have the cancer gene, I may opt for a double mastectomy. Buh-bye girls! After surgery, I will continue the Herceptin treatment alone for one year. I will also have post-surgery radiation for 6 1/2 weeks, daily. I am going to be so sick of that darn Cancer Center in Warrenville!

One good thing that came out of today was that I was introduced to Central DuPage Hospital. What a beautiful hospital! It looks like a luxury hotel. Maybe I will have surgery there since both my surgeon and oncologist are affiliated with it. Anyone with either positive or negative feedback on experience with CDH, please let me know. Oh, another good thing was that we didn't get a ticket for parking in the employee garage. Since we had never been there before and since we were in a hurry, we parked there and didn't realize until we were heading into the hospital. We just kept our fingers crossed. Luckily, it worked out fine.

The bad part of the day is trying to contemplate what to do about work. I may start chemo as early as next week. School starts in two weeks. I will be losing my hair just in time to meet my new students. Not my idea of an ideal start to the school year. I only have 78 sick days (I will have 13 more after school starts) and there are 180 days of work. The idea of subs in and out of my room like a practically constant revolving door is almost unfathomable to someone as anal as me. How will my students respect me when I am gone so often? How will I be able to plan and grade papers when I am feeling like crap? If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. I am reeling with confusion right now. I can't afford to take more than those 78 days off or we will be broke. If I work, I am going to be stressed and possibly exposed to germs that could be harmful if my white blood cells go too low. Unfortunately, in my district, we don't have a sick day bank that I can take advantage of. At this point, I will just say my prayers tonight and try to get some sleep and make some phone calls in the morning to see if I can figure something out.