Chemo begins tomorrow!

I just came from the chemo doctor.  I was always thinking that, OK I HAD gallbladder cancer.  They took out my gallbladder I'm safe.  Nope, they had to do the liver resection and bile duct replacement and check that tissue.  No cancer cells so I'm home free, right?  NOPE, apparently those little cancer cells are probably in my blood just waiting to settle somewhere else.  That's why the chemo and radiation. I begin chemo tomorrow!  I'll do one day a week,  2 weeks on and 1 week off.  She does recommend that I go to Oregon as scheduled during my 1 week off.  My first 2 sessions will be reduced strength so I won't be sick when I go to OR.  I will be taking Tarceva orally through all the chemo and radiation.  My chemo will be gemcitabine.  I will do the chemo here in town, 90 minutes each time.  My grandson will drop me at 1:30 (it is right near his college and he has a class that starts at 2 on Wednesdays), then my DIL will pick me up on her way home from work.  She gets off at 3:30 and this is on her way home.  It's gonna work out just great. My radiation will either be in the middle of the chemo, or when the chemo is done.  It will run 4 to 5 weeks.  That can't be done here in town.  I have to either go to Wilmington (an hour away), or ECU, 1.5 hours away.  It will be Monday thru Friday.  If I go to Wilmington, someone will have to drive me there every day, wait for my treatment and drive me home.  That means 3 or 4 hours out of a day for people that work or go to school. My other option is ECU.  They have a Hope House, run by the American Cancer Society.  My DIL would take me there on Sunday, I would stay the week and she would come and get me on Friday after work, or Saturday morning.  So only my DIL is inconvenienced.  This is the option I have chosen.  This means my daughter and my sister don't  need to come and drive me too and from.  Everyone else that offered to help won't need to.  But I surely appreciate everyone's willingness!  My DH will be home alone for a week at a time for 4 weeks, but he is a big boy and can take care of himself.  I'll take lots of books and Sudoku games, and the laptop.  Friday I go to ECU to meet the radiation doctor and see the Hope House.

I will most likely not lose my hair, it will just get very thin.   I will probably be nauseous, even with the anti- nausea meds.  I will be very tired once I begin the full dose of chemo.  The radiation will be aimed at where the gallbladder was.  My stomach will probably get 'hit' too and that will make me nauseous.  I will lose my appetite because nothing will taste right.  I should not take vitamins because they will hinder the affects of the chemo.

I'm feelin' OK about all of this.  But a little overwhelmed that everything is moving so fast.  My DIL says it is all happening exactly as it should.  There is a reason everything is falling into place.  I have faith that God has a plan, and I am just along for the ride.