Confused. Possibly stop chemo early?!

August 28, 2018

Went to chemo yesterday. My white blood cell counts remain low and barely increased from last week. Due to this I will be getting injections, one today and one tomorrow to hopefully increase them. The past few days I have had really bad numbness in my hands and feet. My legs being the worst! I have numbness from my knees down. Last week I was horrible about doing my PT exercises and working out in general. I mean I did them here and there and surfed this weekend but that was about it. It was such a busy week and I figured running around with the kids was a good enough workout.. right lol?? 😂 plus I really felt great! My oncologist explained that chemo is cumulative and just because I skipped an infusion last week doesn’t mean it’s still not building up in my system. He was concerned about the numbness and told me that neuropathy can become irriversable and it’s very serious! He said if I start tripping or having difficulty walking I will need to stop chemo and do surgery right away. I was so confused.. Im only on my 5th infusion of Taxol and need 7 more! If I stop now wouldn’t that change my prognosis? He said, “not necessarily, you had a really good response with the first chemo med and your tumor decreased in size. You will just be going down a different path. It’s like going to route 93, there are different ways to get there”. Then he said, “do you have any questions”. I was like uhhhhhh YES lol! Why aren’t we stopping now if it’s not a big deal? I couldn’t wrap my head around it. I picked my nurses brain during chemo (love her!) She advised me to take vitamin B6 twice a day for the neuropathy. Cold therapy which consists of wrapping your hands and feet in ice packs during infusions which constricts blood vessels and hopefully decreases the amount of chemo that gets to them. And exercises!!

ITS TIME TO DO WORK! Started the B6 vitamin. Went to karate last night and then did all my PT exercises including cold/hot therapy which helps blood flow. Going to try acupuncture tonight. Karate Wednesday night and made an appointment with my physical therapist Thursday night. So incredibly hard to take time for myself but I HAVE to do this if I want to be able to walk in the future!

I will keep you guys updated! Wish me luck!

❤️Kpowpow