Next Steps:

June 9, 2010 - I get new tattoos! I'm going to be marked for radiation. And I was told that I'd have to wait to get my next tattoo!

June 11, 2010 - Blood work and measurements - fingers crossed for more good news like the last one!

June 14, 2010 - 3rd round of Chemo.

Three weeks after my 3rd round of Chemo I start what I've been calling "Phase 2" of my treatment.

Let me explain further....the first phase that I am currently undergoing is 3 rounds of Chemo drugs (initials are F,E & C....names are too long to remember) each 3 weeks apart. The second phase starts three weeks after the last round of "FEC" when I start "D" once a week for 9 weeks with a dose of radiation every Monday through Friday for the same 9 weeks. I've heard that it is the second phase that I may feel very tired and ill. Well, I was also told the same for the first phase and I've not seen any "major case" of illness!! Don't get me wrong, I've felt ill and tired a lot but I believe I'm having a much easier go of it than other people I've talked to and heard about. Some of the stories I've heard and read are so unlike mine that I keep waiting for the "other shoe to drop"....it's got to happen to me at some point! Maybe I'm not the one rare case that got to keep her hair, maybe I'm the rare case who flies through treatment with little to no discomfort....or maybe just like my hair I've spoken too soon and the pain and severe discomfort is coming. Who knows?!? I'll keep thinking my happy, positive thoughts, praying for little to no pain and using the power of my imagination to visualize Ted's demise!

Phase 3 is the more "radical" phase in my opinion...Surgery. It is the phase I've feared the most, for good reason. All along the doctors and nurses have told me that if you get cancer in one breast there is a good possibility that the other will eventually also be infected. Well, I'm not going through this twice if I don't have to! When it comes time for my surgery I will opt for a double mastectomy. That's right, take 'em both! Of course I would follow this up with reconstruction surgery, I am, after all, still young! It has not yet been determined if I can undergo the removal and reconstruction surgery at the same time but that is what I am hoping for. I also may have the option of having my new breasts made from other parts of me or artificial implants. Both options have their merits. As I'd like to remain as natural as possible my first instinct was to have my new breasts reconstructed from my belly, however, once I'm through treatment I might not have a belly anymore so that may be impossible! The idea of implants has never been appealing to me....but the idea of never sagging has! I guess we'll see when the time comes as to what my decision will be.

There are a lot of difficult decisions that come with creating Paul's new Trophy Wife!