Hey guys! I'm back from my day in Temple with the onco-docs.  The day went
well.  The plan is 4 rounds of chemotherapy, starting next Thursday (!), I
go up to Temple for the day, it takes about 2 hours, through an IV line,
then I go back 3 weeks later, and 3 weeks after that and then 3 weeks after
that.  If it all happens according to schedule, my last chemo will be
December 23rd.  Just in time for Christmas!  I will lose my hair -- that
will be amusing.

Three weeks after the last chemo, I start 5 or 6 weeks of radiation.  That's
here in town, takes about 30 minutes for the whole thing, though I'll
actually be getting zapped for only about 2 minutes each time.  Then I'm
done.  The doctors were good sports about me saying I didn't want to do
Tamoxifen, even though they think I'm not thinking logically about the
risk/benefit ratio.

I was offered a "free book" by the cancer social worker guy, who seemed
surprised that I was not thrilled by the free book.  It's a book called
"Living Beyond Breast Cancer" by a female MD whose mother had breast cancer.
It was graciously supplied, free of charge, by Zeneca Pharmaceuticals, the
makers of Tamoxifen.  I made some comment about not liking to accept
anything "free" from pharmaceutical manufacturers as the information might
be tainted and he said "Oh no, they just provide the funds for us to buy the
books, they don't influence what goes in them."  Right.  And I have some
land for sale in Florida, cheap . . . .

Kathy Dettwyler

P.S.  Thanks to all who were thinking of me and praying for me today and who
have sent notes via the list mothers!!  :)

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