Final Chemo - Hurrah!

On Tuesday I had my final chemo session - hopefully I won't ever have to go through that again! I now just have to get through the last cycle of side effects (terrible stomach pains today) and then it will be on to the next stage of treatment - surgery (eek!) 

I will get an ultrasound in two weeks time and then I meet with the mastectomy surgeon to assess the success of the chemo and arrange the surgery date. I also have an appointment with a plastic surgeon to discuss reconstruction options, although that won't happen for 3-6 months after radiotherapy, to avoid damaging the reconstruction and to allow the radiation to heal.

My genetic testing results came up as "inconclusive", meaning they didn't find any mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, but that I am still considered high risk for there being a genetic reason to my cancer. So it feels strange - not that I necessarily wanted a positive result, but since it is not negative result either it is just a bit inconclusive really. It is up to me now to decide whether I want to have a double mastectomy to avoid the risk of a new breast cancer in the other side in the future, or whether I just have a single. I'm leaning towards having a double, since I think that if I am going to have surgery and live without one boob anyway for six months, it might as well be for two boobs, but I'll talk to the surgeons to get their opinions before I decide.

Once I have recovered from surgery, about mid-April, I am going to start radiotherapy. This only takes 20 minutes but has to be done every day (well, weekdays) for 6-7 weeks, so imagine that is going to get a bit tiresome. They do have parking though - woohoo! There will be 4-5 beams of radiation aimed at various points on my chest/neck, with the rays 1,000 more powerful than an x-ray. They permanently tattoo marks on to my skin to assist with lining up in exactly the same position each day. Apparently the side effects are minimal (especially compared to chemo), just hope the radiation doesn't cause another cancer in years to come... The radiation oncologist even pointed out that I won't be radioactive, so I can be around pregnant women - I hadn't even considered the possibility that I would be radioactive, so lucky that is not the case!