Encouraging news this week...
I'm allowed to finish my chemo treatment. I had 4 weeks of Paclitaxel to go, but the pneumonitis side effect put an end to it. On Wednesday, instead my doctor put me on Abraxane which is the same as paclitaxel but the proteins are packaged differently so it's more potent but shouldn't cause pneumonitis. Because it's more potent, I only need one more dose, which will happen on September 2nd.
My only concern with Abraxane is that the neuropathy side effect can be a lot worse (numbing of limbs). If I experience bad symptoms of numbing over the next 13 days, I won't get my last dose. So please pray the neuropathy stays away.
I met with my radiation oncologist, who I really enjoyed speaking with. We talked extensively about the pneumonitis. The percentages are lower for breast cancer patients undergoing radiation than I thought. I read 10%, she said she had a medical conference this year and it said it was closer to 1%. She did admit that there are no studies that will tell me whether I'm at a higher risk because I first experienced pneumonitis during chemo (which is rare). She feels confident that if it does come back, it will be at the end of my radiation treatment - usually occurs 5 or 6 weeks into it and that she believes the steroids will alleviate it as it did before. She also said that based on where my tumor only a very small section of my lung will be exposed to radiation, lessening my chance to get pneumonitis.
Last week I posted on some message boards to see if I could actually hear from breast cancer patients who experienced pneumonitis. I heard back from two women. There conditions were exactly the same, but it was encouraging to now that for both women, they were able to work through it with minimal problems.
Thankfully, I'm being weaned off of the steroids. I take my last dose on Sunday. I'm so grateful. My side effects have been insomnia, increased appetite, swollen ankles, and jitters. My prayer is that when I go off that the cough won't return.
Overall, an encouraging week. I should also find out this week when my surgery is scheduled.