Knocked out round 5 today! Yay!

A big shout out to everyone who has written me on Facebook or contacted me to say hello, thanks for your lovely e-mail and your support. It is so comforting to know that you all are thinking about me, sending me healing energy, putting me on your prayer lists, feeding us, nurturing us, and so much more. Thank you again, you are all so wonderful. I can't wait to have a big party at the end of all this to celebrate YOU and our friendship. You guys keep me going, so thanks.

Went in for round 5 this morning. All seems to be going well so far. I actually met with my oncologist this visit, not the PA, so that was a nice and unexpected change. She was glad to hear that round 4 was tolerable and very happy to hear that I am going to finish all 6 rounds. I really felt a lot better with the changes she implemented for me in the last cycle, so let's hope that continues. We talked about the "next steps" as well, the after chemo scenario, and that was also unexpected. I guess I didn't think we'd talk about that until my last round, but there are appointments to be had-- involving many other surgeons-- so I guess we have to start now to work out the schedule and the plan.

For those of you I haven't blabbed to, I am planning on having a double mastectomy and reconstruction (with implants) after chemo is done. Because I'm a BRCA2 gene mutation carrier, I have a much higher risk of breast cancer returning so a double mastectomy will buy me some peace of mind and perhaps will even buy me a longer life. All good. I'm also going to have my ovaries removed as my cancer is what they call "ER/PR+" which means the estrogen produced by my ovaries "feeds" the tumor and helps it grow. Clearly, we don't want anything "feeding" tumors and "helping them grow" now do we?! So those babies are gonna have to come out toot sweet. I'll be meeting with the mastectomy surgeon (Dr. Wilke, she's amazing, did my lumpectomy too), my plastic/reconstruction surgeon (Dr. Zenn the boob guru), and Dr. Burcheck with do the ovaries (he is a specialist and been doing this type of stuff a long time). Welcome to team Bonnie!

The bad news is that before the big surgery can take place, the Bon-ster's gotta get in shape. I've lost a lot of energy and incentive throughout the chemo debacles, but now it is imperative I get my fat butt back to exercising. The mastectomy and reconstruction surgery is long (5-6 hours) under general anaesthesia and I will have to stay overnight in the hospital. Ugh. The recovery will be a lot smoother and easier if I am in better shape. I've gained about 5-8 pounds with the steroids in chemo (one of life's little ironies right there) and need to get off the weight and get my stamina back. I have very little energy and feel out of breath just when I walk the dog, so Dr. Blackwell recommends I start this week with 30 minutes a day of easy exercise to build up for surgery. Maybe it will be easier to be motivated now that it is a doctor's orders...nah! Who am I kidding??? LMAO!

Anyway, that's all the news that's fit to print on this subject for now. Until my next post, thanks again for all your love and support, and big thanks to everyone who has donated Kiel vacation hours to me. I really appreciate every hour! Thanks a million!

Bon