Test results and chemo plans.

We just got home from the oncologist’s office. L* has already changed out of her dress shirt and into some comfy sweatpants and her La Llorona t-shirt. She’s also talked on the phone to friends (Hi Julien!), a nurse, her mom and her dad. Is still on the phone with her dad, going over all the names of drugs with him.

The Oncotype DX Assay (which was not paid for by the insurance) finally came in

L*’s prognosis with tamoxifen-only is good but would be significantly better with chemotherapy followed by tamoxifen , which is what L* has chosen.

They don’t think she needs a port (basically an IV entry point in her chest for the duration of chemo treatment), because she has good veins. (The oncology nurse advised: No coffee on the morning of chemo).

She’ll be starting chemotherapy (Taxotere and Cytoxin) next Monday, will have treatment every three weeks for four cycles (i.e. July 17, August 8, August 28, and September 18). The night before and morning of treatment, she’ll be taking steriods. The day after treatment, she’ll go in again for a white blood cell booster called Neulasta (may our insurance company cover it!)

So L* will be done with chemo and feeling more or less back to normal the second week of October.

Ktrion’s fall quarter starts August 29th, and L*s fall semester starts September 27.

Tomorrow, L* has a consultation at the Center for Integrative Medicine about complementary therapies (in Traditional Chinese Medicine, for example).

The yarn arrived this morning for the baby blanket.

The landlord has not yet decided about selling the house.