Chemo Prep

Six days after I found out that I had cancer, I tested positive for Covid. I think that’s the definition of “when it rains, it pours”. I had to wait three weeks from the date of the positive test to set foot in MD Anderson.

December 3 was my big first day of tests and scans. I did heart and lung tests (they’ll continue to monitor those throughout chemo) and extensive bloodwork — I was trying not to look, but I think I counted 15 vials of blood!

The most important part of that day was getting a PET scan. It’s a machine similar to a CT scan, and they inject you with radioactive tracers to make the cancer cells light up in black. The doctors use the scan to determine the stage of the cancer.

The PET scan results revealed great news: the cancer is contained in my neck lymph nodes and hasn’t spread!

Here is what it looks like (the brain always shows up as black too because it metabolizes sugar similar to way that cancer cells do):

I’ve seen a few oncologists at MD Anderson, and some have called it Stage I (because it’s mostly contained in one cluster in my neck) and some have called it Stage II (because it’s a rather large cluster and because there is at least one cancerous lymph node behind my collarbone). Apparently staging can be somewhat subjective.

My official diagnosis in the MD Anderson system is Stage IIA. The “A” is because I don’t have any of the standard symptoms — besides the swollen lymph nodes, I feel totally fine!

I’m starting with four doses of chemo and I will get one dose every two weeks. After that, we’ll do another PET scan to check the cancer-killing progress. If it shows there is still cancer, we’ll do another few doses of chemo. If it is clear, we’ll do radiation to finish off any remaining microscopic cancer cells.

The radiation oncologists explained that technology advancements plus the favorable location of my cancer mean that I have a very small chance of long-term effects from the radiation. The chemo + radiation combo will give me a 99% chance of never relapsing.

Chemo often affects fertility, so I did a quick round of IVF hormone shots and froze a few of my eggs. The egg harvest was last week, and although it really wasn’t that bad, I’m glad to have it behind me.

Chemo will also likely cause me to lose most of my hair. A swanky Beverly Hills-based wig shop called The Wig Fairy recently had a pop-up shop in Dallas, so my mom and I went up for the day and bought a wig that looks just like my real hair.

My friends and family have showered me with love and encouragement over the last few weeks. Shout out to my friends in the picture below for throwing me a “chemo kickoff” party, including TP who flew in to surprise me!

My first round of chemo will be on Christmas Eve morning. Keely (my surgeon sister) will be in Houston for Christmas and it will be great to have her here taking care of me. Christmas Eve chemo is kind of a bummer, but I can feel my lymph nodes getting bigger, so I’m ready to get this process started!