It was always a possibility. Even when my surgeon and pulmonologist said that it most likely wouldn't be necessary, I knew in the back of my mind that it would. My surgeon, as great as he is, seemed a little surprised that I was going to go to the oncologist just to make sure. I understand. All the signs said that there was no spread and that they got it all.
Except for where the tumor touched. It touched a bad place that upgraded the tumor to a stage 1B. With a 1B non-small cell lung tumor, it's best to have a round of chemo to decrease the chance of recurrence by as much as a third. So instead of a 15% to 20% chance of recurrence within 5 years, it could go down to 10%. So I'm going to have chemo. My job is to do everything possible to have it not return. My job is to die old. This will be one of those things that might help those chances.
I'll probably start next week. Though it could be as early as Friday. I still have a month off of work, but this will last 12 weeks total. One treatment every 3 weeks for 12 weeks. A total of four treatments. I have an orientation on Thursday and will know more then about the schedule and everything else.
I will lose my hair. I will lose my hair, but that's okay because I needed a haircut anyway. Jane doesn't like my beard either, so it's win/win!
As far as other side-effects, I'll feel tired for several days after the treatment and might get a little sick, but with this type of chemo, the doc said that wasn't probable. Just the hair and feeling tired. I guess I can handle it.
Do you know why chemo makes you lose your hair? I didn't until I asked. Chemo is designed to obliterate fast growing cells. Hair grows fast, so your hair gets obliterated. Pretty simple. Finger nails may be lost, but only with prolonged treatment. At worst, I might have little bumps on my nails that indicate a chemo session. Sort of like rings on a tree.
I'm not happy about this, but I want it over and done. I'll be doing other treatment and health realted things as well that I'll discuss at a later time. So for now, that's the news. Thanks for all the comments over the past weeks. I read and appreciate every one of them.
(this is a music video I made a long time ago called "Hair" by A Western Front)
