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Loren's Little Journey

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Loren's Little Journey

Loren's Little Journey with Breast Cancer

06/03/2025

I'm halfway through my last dose of chemo!! My oncology team moved my appointment forward so that I'm not out in the awful weather that we're expecting tomorrow. I'm honestly so relieved to be here today, to have my last treatment go ahead and not be cancelled or postponed!
Luckily, I've only just started getting some neuropathy in my toes in the last week, which will hopefully disappear over time on its own. I'm still able to get around on my own just fine, and I'm also hoping it doesn't get worse with this treatment 🤞🏻
I also had a meeting with the surgeons this week, and I'm booked in for a double mastectomy with total axillary clearance on the left side for the 7th April. My ultrasound, MRI and mammogram will happen before surgery as well.
I've been told that it's usually a 6 week healing period before I then start daily radiation for up to 5 weeks. 😅

01/03/2025

Yesterday was my last Zoladex injection 🥳
Next week will be my last chemo session 🥰
I'm feeling so grateful for modern medicine, yet so nervous about the next steps. I'll need to have an ultrasound, an mri and a mammogram, I'll have n appointment with my surgeon and breastcare nurse to book in surgery, and then I'll need radiation after surgery. I'm not scared about surgery, but I'm worried about my mental health afterwards, which is why I'll continue to see my psychologist. I'm pretty scared about the potential side effects of radiation, and I've been told I'll need to cone in every business day for up to 5 weeks. And, I'll still have my 3 weekly herceptin through all of it. How exhausting!
I'll keep pushing on, I'll keep fighting. Being strong is the only choice I have right now ❤️‍🩹

08/02/2025

Little update;
The night before treatment is always filled with anxiety. I stayed up to watch TV and Toby joined me on the couch for a sleepy snuggle 🥰
My hair is growing back! Super slow, and very fine and fizzy. Shawn has called me his little kiwi fruit 🤣
I'm still smiling, still getting through it day by day. I had a solo session yesterday while Shawn was at work, and it all went well. Also, how nice are the lunches in oncology! Props to the Ipswich hospital kitchen staff 😘

08/01/2025

Hey socials, it's been a while 🫣
Since my last post, life has been...silly busy! Let me catch you up.
I finished the 4 fortnightly doses of AC, and I've started weekly doses of taxol, and herceptin every 3 weeks. Fortunately, taxol doesn't make me as nauseous, it's a lot less intense. I was able to convince my oncologist to skip all treatment on my birthday too, which means I was also able to move treatment days to Fridays.
We've had issues with my portacath. 2 weeks post-op, nurses tried to access through the port, but after 3 failed attempts (with no numbing patch), we called it a day and scheduled an xray. This showed that my port is sitting on a diagonal angle, possibly from the bottom stitch coming undone. The week after, it took 3 attempts to successfully access my port, and we've been able to access it again since then.
We've also juggled birthdays, parties, Christmas, new year's, my birthday, an anniversary and all the public holidays in between.
My mental health is not great right now, but I'm hanging in there. I've been seeing a psychologist at the hospital, however that's all still very new. I'm just over it all!!
Tomorrow, I have my weekly blood test, then Friday I'll have my 4th dose of taxol (out of 12). In March, I'll have more scans and talks with surgeons. There's a tiny little fleck of light at the end of this enormous tunnel, I'm just focussing on the small wins for now.

05/12/2024

Round 4 today, and it's been a rough morning for my mental health.
Knowing how nauseous I'm about to be has made me spiral a bit. I have had 2 good days since my last treatment, and now I'm back for more.
Although, I'm grateful it's my last dose of the red devil!! Hooray!!
The next part of treatment should hopefully be easier on me, but I will be on a weekly treatment, with herceptin every 3 weeks.

23/11/2024

Healing progress, the difference between yesterday and today. I'm very sore today after finishing off my Christmas shopping and Maylee's birthday shopping yesterday, but it's a relief to have that all done 🥰

21/11/2024

Round 3, done!! No stopping me! Surgery was a success yesterday, I've been keeping ice on it since I got home last night, but it still looks and feels sore. Today was hopefully the last time we needed to use the veins in my arm for chemo. Onwards and upwards ❤️‍🩹
Ps, how stinkin' cute is my beanie?! My mum is so clever 🥰

19/11/2024

It's portacath surgery day!! 🥳
I've been counting down to this day for a month!! The portacath will make chemo days a lot more comfortable, and will prevent the use of the veins in my arms, that can lead to them collapsing.

10/11/2024

As my hair started slowly falling out on Thursday afternoon, it looked very patchy yesterday, and even worse this morning! So, I shaved it. Happy Sunday! 😁

07/11/2024

Round 2, done!! I said this with my first treatment, but immediately after, my head feels so full! But it feels physically full, as if all 4 bags of fluid has been pumped directly into my head. Last time, the nausea really hit me at around 7pm, so tonight I'm expecting the same symptoms.
Chatting with the nurse today, she said how I feel after this round will pretty much determine the next 2 rounds for me as well, before I move onto the second stage of treatment.
In the second stage, I move onto a smaller dosage, but weekly treatments, for 3 months. Herceptin will also be added every 3 weeks, and I've been told that I'll need herceptin for 12 months.
I'm still fighting, I won't quit ❤️‍🩹

31/10/2024

Today marked a whole week since my first chemo treatment. It's bizarre to still be feeling so nauseous and tired from a drug I had a whole 7 days ago.
I've also read a lot in my support groups about how traumatic it was for women to have their hair fall out by the handful, so we buzzed my head on Saturday 🥰

11/10/2024

Finally, something to update everyone on.
Yesterday, I went to my first oncology appointment. I waited in a room full of people with at least 30 years on me, each. I've never felt so out of place.
Anyway, pet scan results have confirmed it's stage 3, and chemo starts on the 24th of October. We're expecting the first dose especially to knock me around a lot, and then the next doses after that can be less intense, but it will just depend on how my body reacts.
The first part of my treatment will be 4 doses over 8 weeks (fortnightly doses), then a weekly dose for 3 months, possibly more, also depending on my health as I progress. The herceptin will be a 3 weekly dose for 12 months, in the 2nd phase of treatment.
I then need to consider either lumpectomy or double mastectomy after the first 5 months of treatment.
However, in my immediate future though, I'm off for a mammogram and clip insertion under ultrasound this afternoon (to track the cancer in my breast), genetic blood test at the Ipswich hospital, general blood test, echocardiogram on Tuesday and then port surgery on the 21st.

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