Round #3 of chemo finished

Today was Round #3 of chemotherapy. They switched it up and gave me the Herceptin first, which caused me to get nauseous before chemo was even over. I had to take additional nausea medicine immediately after the chemo. I also drank some caffeine-free peppermint tea and drank a big bottle of Gatorade Tara bought me. (Thanks Tara!) That got me through the rest of my work obligations but I needed more nausea meds when I got home. Today my blood sugar was elevated so they have prescribed me insulin to inject myself with but only when I'm on the steroids and my blood sugar is elevated. See, the fun never ends!

But the good news is that this time I will only have 2 shots to elevate my white blood cell count and they will be tomorrow and Friday. Also, I was actually hungry during chemo which hasn't happened before. Usually I can't eat during or after chemo and today I was able to do both. I was so hungry during chemo I called Bert to bring me some lunch from Strawberry Fields. (Thanks Bert!) That is Melanie's fault as she got me hooked on their Tuna Salad and Antipasto Salad! See, Melanie is always feeding me-she's a great mom.

I was reading the Parade magazine that comes in the Sunday paper and they had an article about preventing breast cancer. A report recently published by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR)/World Cancer Research Fund confirms that a healthy lifestyle has a dramatic impact on breast cancer. An international panel of experts from leading universities and research centers reviewed more than 900 studies of the links between diet, physical activity, and weight in cancer prevention. The report concludes: “Women can cut their risk of breast cancer by almost half if they watch their weight, exercise daily, breast-feed their babies, and limit alcoholic beverages.” Susan Higginbotham, director of research at AICR, notes: “We estimate that almost 40% of breast cancer cases in the U.S.—about 70,000 cases a year—could be prevented by making these straightforward, everyday changes.” She adds one more reminder: Do not smoke. Smoking has been shown to contribute to breast cancer and many other cancers as well. So kids, perhaps you should take the findings of this study seriously and cut your risk of breast cancer!