Hair loss, Cr. Citron, Work

I lost a lot of hair yesterday. I would say under 5% but it still seemed like a lot to me. No one would ever notice. I still have a lot of hair. It was just distressing to see it come out. I was told I would still have some loss. I am so glad I have the vast majority of my hair.

I went to see Dr. Citron. (oncologist) He asked me how I was feeling and what side effects I was having. I told him I had facial twitching, bloody nose, loss of sensation in hands/feet, headaches, nausea, diarrhea, muscle and joint pain, extreme taste changes, mouth sores, rash, heartburn and fatigue. He said they were all chemo side effects. He said that taxotere, carboplatin and herceptin is a particularly difficult chemo regimen. I feel like I am doing terribly with this. He said the fact that I didn't have to be hospitalized yet or need a blood transfusion puts me ahead of a lot of patients on these drugs. He looked at my blood counts. Every single one is below normal. He said that that is to be expected after chemo but they should start coming up on their own now. He said they should be close to normal before the next chemo treatment in two weeks.

Dr. Citron offered me the option of lowering the chemo dose and doing it for a longer period of time. He said it is an option, but that it is ill advised because any cancer cells that haven't been killed at the high dose will likely survive multiple hits with low dose chemotherapy. Obviously I am not going to take this option. What is the point of doing it if it is unlikely to work? If I was going to quit doing it (and I would love to) I wouldn't do the low dose. On a bright note, my herceptin has been changed from every week to every three weeks. That was the original plan, every week at first and then every three weeks for a year. So, it will now be every three weeks. Yippie!

I am going back to work today. I wouldn't because I do not feel well at all, but I do not have a choice. I have to attend my NY State paramedic refresher. I will be in the classroom from 7 am to 5 pm today through Friday and then next week Monday through Thursday. It is required to maintain my paramedic certification. My certification expires February 28th. It is a big deal if it lapses.

I know I will start feeling better in the next few days. It has taken about 10 days after each chemo treatment.

Thanks everyone for the help and support.