How is chemo therapy?

One of the things I was praying for before we went for our Oncologist appointment was that we would really know if chemotherapy was something we should do.

That may sound strange, but one of the most surprising things to me over the past few months is how many people choose to do treatments other than conventional therapies. There are many people I've heard of, in person and online, who chose alternative therapy, most to fairly good success.

I was worried that if the benefit of chemo was negligible and made only a small change to the chance of recurrence I wouldn't know what to decide. So I prayed about it and others prayed with us that we would know. The day before our appointment I was emailed this verse from a friend.

The story of King Hezekiah in 2 Kings 19:14 - "And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord."

Immediately I could picture us taking all the reports, treatment plans and opinions and spreading them out on a table before God. Letting him tell us what he thinks of it all. Deciding with us what is best. So that's how we were thinking going into the appointment.

The short of it is this: Without chemotherapy I have a 58% chance of recurrence within 10 years. With recommended treatment my recurrence rate drops to only 10%. To us that was a big difference. And suddenly the decision wasn't daunting anymore.

So I'm doing it. And now that I know what's coming I've been feeling confident that it's the right decision for us even though it'll be a long journey. I am on a fairly aggressive treatment plan. Every 2 weeks starting June 9 for 4 cycles and then every 3 weeks for 4 cycles. That should take me into October when I'll continue on with one of the "designer" drugs for another 13 cycles. After that will be hormone therapy and radiation.

I'm nervous about the side effects and how I'll feel, although the Oncologist seems to think I should handle them fine. I am young and healthy (besides cancer) - a good thing in her opinion. I almost feel like she was excited to have someone to treat who will be able to take everything she has to give! The two side effects I worry about the most are bone pain and mouth sores. But, here we go, getting ahead of ourselves again.

Lots of appointments coming up. I will have a portacath put in next week (a bit nervous about that too since you're awake for the procedure), I'm going to look at wigs (cheaper versions), get my hair cut short, stock up on groceries, do some fun end of year school stuff with the kids and try and prepare for a difficult summer (although I'm not totally sure how to do that).

I was just talking to a friend and she sort of laughed with me and said - 'it sounds like you're going on an adventure.' I think she's right. That is sort of how I feel (albeit an adventure I didn't choose - sort of like a scary, deep cave type of adventure where you don't know what to expect).

We were trusting Jesus to show us which way to go and not surprisingly he did!