Neuropathy, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, and

Here it is, Friday again!  Last Friday was my last chemo.  It's been a splendid week full of gratifying activities, and has flown by so fast.

I continued to try to exercise each and every day.  A major feat was completing another 45 minute walk/run with 12 minutes of running.  Cardio Turbo Jam DVD's also kept me jumping and punching for over 20 minutes, three times this week.  I am so thankful that my stamina IS returning and I have the capability to increase my minutes of cardio every day.

Neupogen injections are coming to an end!  YAY!  As of today, it's 63 down, 1 to go. I never thought I'd make it through the mental game of giving myself all those needles. Here's a picture of my "safe disposal container" that has to go to the hospital to be dealt with appropriately.

I will be overjoyed to be done with this daily ritual.  It has been a difficult part of the process for me. I'm all practiced up for the feeling of mosquito bites this summer -- that truly is what the needle feels like, but my blown-out-of-proportion  mind game makes it seem like much more.

Neuropathy

In between Cycles 7 and 8, and now again after Cycle 8, my toes have been tingling and numb. Yes, this is another side effect of the Paclitaxel -- neuropathy.  In layman's terms, its peripheral nerve damage usually affecting the fingers (hence, my sensitive finger nails) and toes (hence, my tingling and numb toes).  There is no pain involved for me, it's just an incredibly weird sensation.  Feeling kind of like my toes are asleep, I constantly wiggle and waggle them, but it doesn't help one iota. Dr. Proctor told me many women find that it takes 6-12 months for the nerves to heal -- apparently, nerves are very slow healers. It will require much patience to put up with this sensation for that length of time.

Neuropathy is most commonly found in diabetes patients and can develop into some major complications, including infections and amputations.  I just learned yesterday that carpal tunnel syndrome is a type of neuropathy.  Thankfully, the present extent of my neuropathy should be the worst it gets, since my body will no longer be getting Paclitaxel flowing through its veins.

If you're interested in more reading about neuropathy, the internet has a plethora of sites that explain, medically, the ins and outs of neuropathy.  Here's a few that I found interesting.
Neuropathy
Canadian Neuropathy Association

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Kate sent a very interesting article to me about omega-3 fatty acids slowing triple-negative breast cancer cell production. I'm sure it caught her attention, as it sure did mine, because the article is about the specific kind of breast cancer that I have.  Since I'm not a meat eater, I immediately googled excellent sources of omega-3's and discovered that even higher than seafood on the list is flax oil.  To the fridge I went, and downed 2 tablespoons of flax oil -- yuck -- but, hey, if it helps ...

At my chemo teaching session way back in February, they told us NOT to take any supplements (vitamins, etc.) even if we had heard they had cancer-fighting qualities.  However, I'm done chemo now, and omega-3's are found in food --- flax is a food, not a supplement, right?  I'm going to be taking flax oil every day for quite some time.

Here's a link to the article if you're interested in reading it.
Omega 3's

There was one sentence in the article that really bothered me.  It went something like this ...

"This type of cancer, which is found more frequently in Latina and African-American women, is highly aggressive and has a low survival rate. There is not any specific treatment for it."

I really didn't like the "low survival rate" part since I'm GOING TO SURVIVE THIS!!!!!!

Excitement

I have an extremely exciting event happening in my life over the next week.  Definitely, a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing.  Some of you know what I'm doing, and others will have to wait and see if I can tell you about it at the other end of the week. Sorry!!!  I'll be away from my blog for about 8 days.