Today seems like a good day for an update, so here goes:

I passed a milestone Monday! My last day of my A/C chemo treatments. That means no more "red devil" - woohoo! 

I'm very excited about this, but also very nervous about the next step. In two weeks, after I've recovered from this round of A/C, I'll have twelve weeks of a drug called Taxol. Instead of getting an infusion every other week, I'll have to be in every week. That makes me nervous - I've enjoyed having a "down" week, when I get to pretend that everything is back to normal. Taxol promises to be a longer infusion than A/C; I've got more premeds to take including Benadryl, which will make me pretty sleepy. Otherwise, I'm not sure what to expect. Some say that the Taxol was the easier part of their treatment; others say it was the most vicious. Everybody's different I guess, and I've become accustomed to expecting the unexpected. So for now, I'll enjoy my last "down" week until I get into the Taxol marathon.

Also, if you missed John's Facebook post and have been wondering about my fainting episode - we seem to be in the clear. My brain MRI came back with a "spot" on my right frontal lobe which could not be identified. I was routed to a neurologist who said, "I've looked at your brain scan, and frankly, I'm not impressed." Thanks a lot, doc.

The neurologist said that the "spot" was not in a location that would cause the fainting and seizure, so he did not think that it is anything to be concerned about. He's also pretty certain that it is not cancer - thank goodness! He has recommended that I not be put on any seizure medicine at this point, but advised that I seem to be prone to vasovagal fainting episodes, so I've just got to... erm... "watch out" for that.

This is where Bootsie comes in. Since I don't seem to be any good at "watching out" for my own fainting episodes, we're training our chiweenie to act as my service dog. She's very attuned to me, and was certainly trying to alert me that something wasn't right before I took my last spill. (We would train Mocha, but he has seizures too, and that would be a mess if we both ended up flailing around on the floor.) She's taking her training seriously, and I'm proud to have her as my cuddly little guardian.

So that's it for now. My next post is going to be about what it's like to be a bald woman and, woo-doggy, I can't wait to get that one written. Stay tuned!