She's Radioactive

This week, I've been busy with a surgeon follow-up, a Herceptin Treatment and a MUGA Scan. I saw my surgeon on Monday afternoon and he was pleased with my progress and range of movement. Although I do still have quite a bit of numbness in my arm, chest and back, it is lessening and not unexpected from lymph node removal.

On Wednesday, I had my first Herceptin treatment since "the rash" and in all honesty, I was a tiny bit apprehensive, but nothing happened and the rash continues to be a mystery and luckily, just a memory. As I was scheduled for a MUGA Scan on Thursday morning, the nurse left my port accessed overnight, which took the IV anxiety out of the MUGA appointment.

Ok, you are asking yourself, what the heck is a MUGA. Here is more info than you wanted and this photo is of me having my MUGA! The MUGA scan (MUltiple Gated Acquisition scan) is a noninvasive test that assess the health of the heart's major pumping chamber (the left ventricle). The process is really very simple, but a little odd. They take a vial of blood and then go away for 25 mintues while they make your blood radioactive, then they come back with a white box with a big "Caution Radioactive" label on it, take a vial encased in metal out and then reinject the radioactive blood into the patient. The next part is easy - you don't even have to challenge the fashion police in a hospital johnny - just lie on the table, and the machine takes 16 pictures for each heart beat for 7 minutes. I had a MUGA back in March prior to beginning treatment and will have one every 3 months for the duration of my Herceptin treatment, as heart damage is a reversible side effect of Herceptin.

So, one week past my last chemotherapy treatment I am starting to feel much better. As expected, I did have a difficult weekend, and this one was a bit more emotionally difficult than in the past. I don't know if it was the change in my treatment drugs that Dr. Muss made, or the fact that it was wonderful weather and I was feeling a bit sorry for myself, but I'm sure I made my husband crazy on Sunday with a little more than my share of whining. Other than that, I did have a little more than usual nausea, but nothing too bad. I am beginning to feel better, and by all accounts will feel more and more like my old self each day now that the toxins are leaving my body for good.