What's Up?

For those of you who have ever listened to Car Talk on NPR, you know that the "Puzzler" occasionally goes "on vacation". Well, that is what this blog did for a few weeks. I wish it had taken me with it, but it went away alone for a bit, while its author stayed put, for the most part. That is until I flew off this past weekend, my first trip in 16 months, which is a long time for me to stay put, for a fabulous family gathering in honor of my cousin Bill's 90th birthday.  

I will provide a quick update now, and once my taxes are done (cutting it a little close, aren't I?!), I hope to catch up on posts.  The long and the short of it is that I took a little longer to regroup from my final round of chemo than had been the case previously. I felt somewhat puny for an extra week or so, before suddenly turning a corner. My energy level is quite good, although I was fortunate throughout chemo in that it was never really very low, even when my hemoglobin levels were down. So things are coming along.

I have started taking anastrozole, an aromatase inhibitor, which I will take daily for 5 years to block estrogen production in hopes that it will keep further breast cancer at bay. I am still receiving herceptin infusions, but the schedule has been changed from a weekly dose to a triple dose once every three weeks. I had my second triple dose on Monday. Saving the best for last, tomorrow I start radiation therapy, which I will receive every day, Monday through Friday for 6 weeks. Throw a bone scan and another heart scan in there and it really is quite a schedule!


Between recuperating, getting ready for the next steps, working, my weekend trip, pulling together a monthly newsletter, taxes and applying for some grants, I have had a busy 5 weeks since chemo ended. I hope to write about some of that over the next few weeks.  In the meantime, keep your fingers crossed that I won't glow in the dark or suffer major skin burn.  Oh, and wish me luck!