Goodbye, and round two

My brother left this morning. He delayed his departure a day because of the weather, but today was much better. The interstate had been closed since Sunday -- more than 400 miles westbound all the way to Denver -- and it opened early this morning. I drove that way (eastbound) into town this morning and the traffic going the other way was incredible, even hours after it opened. All I kept thinking was "We got us a convoy!" (If you're not old enough to know what that means, Google it.)

Saying goodbye to my brother usually isn't that big a deal. We see him usually just once a year, but it always wasn't that hard to say "see you next year." But this time it was hard. I had difficulty saying the word "goodbye" because I got all choked up. Maybe it's because in the back of my mind is always the thought "what if I hadn't found the lump?" This could have been the last time we saw each other. That's hard to take when something brings that thought bubbling up to the surface.

On a different note, I had a visit with the oncologist today. The bad news is I won't get through the holidays chemo-free. The good news is I'll be through with chemo by early spring. Maybe I'll have enough hair by summer it'll just look like a warm-weather crop.

I start next week. This time, I'll be getting just one drug, taxotere. It has a lot of the same type of side effects as the drugs I got previously -- fatigue, nausea, etc. That will be on the same schedule as the previous rounds, once every three weeks for about three months. In addition, I'll also start on herceptin, once a week for a year. After I finish with the taxotere, I'll have five weeks of radiation. That will be done five days a week. So, except for the herceptin, I'll be all done with this by April!

I hope I'll have as easy a time as I did with the other drugs. I've been pretty lucky, from what I've read of other people's experiences with the side effects. And hopefully this will be the last time I have to go through with it.