Boob News: The "Fingers, toes, and lab work blows" edition

Posted: 1/19/2016

For those of you who have been waiting for an update on how my booty is feeling, I'm happy to report that after a full month of significant pain and constant discomfort it's finally better. So thank you for your concern! Also, you are a weird person. I'm just kidding. You're awesome. I love you. But really. It's better now. You can stop thinking about it. Don't be weird.

Moving on! I last was able to work on Dec. 13 and ever since then the aforementioned pain from chemo complications kept me tethered to the house. I finally started feeling better last week but in the meantime have noticed that I've developed peripheral neuropathy in my fingers on both hands. A great little summary of what that means is here:
http://www.cancer.org/peripheral-neuropathy-caused-by-chemo…

Go ahead and check it out for a minute. I'll wait.

Ok. So, not great news, right? The Taxol is making it so I'm having numbness and some pain in my fingertips. It's at an annoying-but-manageable level right now. I can't untie the double knots in my kids' shoes, or open the pop top on a soda can well, or button tight shirt buttons easily, but I can work, ride the motorcycle, and do 99% of my normal stuff. But now a couple nights ago I noticed it's starting in my left foot, too. Which means I'm sure it'll pop up in my right foot any day now, also. And it will get worse with every dose of Taxol. And may or may not improve. Ever. So, I have to figure out how far I want to let it go before I stop the Taxol. The goal is 12 doses. I've done three. I want to be as aggressive as possible on killing this tumor but I also have to balance that against the quality of life I'll have afterward in daily pain levels and being able to perform daily tasks, work, and do the things I enjoy. Something to consider as we go forward.

At the same time the neuropathy was kicking in, I noticed that I'm rapidly running out of the vacation time that's been giving me income while I've been out on FMLA, so I considered converting over to short term disability. That's when I learned new and exciting things about how FMLA and disability leaves work. I thought I understood how they worked, but I didn't fully, so I want to share in case you're ever in a similar position. I know it sounds super boring so I'll keep it brief...

You get 12 weeks total of FMLA in a year. You can take it paid with vacation time, you can take it unpaid, you can take it intermittently or continuously, you can take it in conjunction with disability, or not. You can take it in a box, you can take it with a fox. You can take it here or there, but regardless of how you take it, the only thing it does is prevent your employer from firing you during that time. So after I've used up the 12 weeks of FMLA, I've been told that my employer will "no longer be able to hold" my job. So once I use those 12 weeks up, I'll have to reapply to my employer for a job, lose all of my seniority, possibly (probably) end up no longer getting to work in the NICU, and certainly end up back on night shift, all while just trying to come back to work after cancer.

C'mon FMLA! Who's able to get through chemo, a mastectomy, reconstructive surgery, and radiation with less than 12 weeks total out of work? Well, it looks like I damn well am. They'll have take the NICU from my cold, dead hands. Um, metaphorically speaking. I mean I am doing all this stuff to avoid that.

So since I learned all that info on Wednesday, I got my happy ass into work on Thursday. And on Saturday. And Sunday. On Monday I went in for chemo. They took blood for my lab work first, like they always do. An hour later the nurse came back with the results. My red blood cells (RBCs) are low, my hemoglobin and hematocrit (H&H) are low, my white blood cells (WBCs) are REALLY low. Translation: I'm anemic, I have no immune system, and I can't get my chemo until they improve. We'll have to try again next week to see if I can get the 4th dose of my Taxol then, which tacks another week onto my cancer treatment timeline. Hmm. Note to self: perhaps working three 12-hour shifts over the course of four days was overly ambitious.

The good news there is last week my mom, Cathy, called and asked if I wanted to join her at my parents' beach house on the island of St. Kitt's, her treat. Heck yeah I would. I verified there's emergency medical treatment available if I need it, I slapped on a paper face mask from the oncologist (remember, no immune system), left well before the crack of dawn this morning, and now I'm typing this from her villa in the Caribbean.

I'll be busy rebuilding my blood components from the beach until Saturday if anyone needs me.