Sept 25th, last chemo treatment, yay!

We met with the oncologist about last treatment (bloodwork all good so last chemo was approved) and next steps.

I have now got prescriptions to pick up for my hormone therapy (Tamoxifen) currently planned as a daily pill for 2-4 years on its own. I’ll start taking them 2-3 weeks from now once I’m past the main chemo side effects. My next oncologist appointment will be mid December and I have bloodwork labs to get taken a week or two before that for review on our appointment.

I will continue with Kanjinti IV appointments every 3 weeks from now until next June. This is an antibody treatment to fight the HER2/neu+ receptor and basically joins with the cells instead of the other one to prevent feeding and splitting cells, not unlike the Tamoxifen does in replacing the estrogen that is feeding cells.

My first appointment with the radiology oncologist is on Tues Oct 13th. I’ll find out then how long I will go in for radiation treatments. They will most likely start the following Monday Oct 19th and run Mon-Fri for 3.5 to 6 weeks. They schedule the daily appointments between 8am and about 3:30pm, so it’s going to take a 2-2.5 hour chunk of my work day to drive down the 40ish minutes, change, get my like 3-5min treatment, change back and then drive the 40ish min drive home. If I try to put it at the beginning of my day, the commute down could be closer to an hour as more traffic picks up as people start working more (or less if more lock downs happen between flu and COVID in Marin and SF), if I try to schedule at the end of the window around 3:30, I could get stuck (or not) in the traffic going north while going home. I can’t decide which is less annoying traffic-wise but somehow both seem like a better option than smack dab in the middle of the day every day for 6 weeks.

That’s about it. Chemo treatment officially done, ✔ ✔! Uncle Tom Ritz, you can let your hair grow out again!! I need to shave mine one more time in a couple of weeks so the thin fine pieces I have haloing my head noe grow out more evenly with the rest of my hair that should start growing again in 2-3 weeks from now. We’ll see what color and texture comes through in about 3 months, I think I heard about 1/4 of an inch a month average for hair growth, so by 3/4 inch, I should be able to tell the color and maybe whether it’s going to be straight or curly, but that may be too soon…I think BJ thinks it’ll be more in the Spring, like March or April….I hate waiting…its like not realizing you’re watching the spring season finale to a show, having a cliff hanger and then have to wait until Fall for the next episode!