On the eve of her first chemotherapy infusion, Natasha hauls a pile of new prescriptions home and questions why so much harm must be done to be “healthy” again.
After meeting her oncologist Dr. Chen, a specialist in HER-2 positive breast cancer, the clinical trial that originally sounded promising turned out not to be a good fit, leading to a much less invasive chemo recipe consisting of Taxotere, Carboplatin, Herceptin, and Perjeta spaced three weeks apart, but thankfully no need for Taxol.
To save her hair from falling out, Natasha’s dad graciously volunteers to cover the cost of cold caps (thanks Neil!) but the tradeoff is additional logistics, longer appointments on the chemo days, and no guarantee that it will work.
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Contents of this video:
00:00 - Meeting my breast cancer oncologist
02:14 - Why I turned down a clinical trial for breast cancer
05:07 - I start chemo tomorrow
06:19 - Why I want to keep my hair through chemo
12:32 - How my chemotherapy port placement procedure went
15:49 - How do you know that you’re on the right chemo regimen?
24:54 - Do I want someone by my side during chemo or am I better off alone?
26:30 - Why do I turn away from the pain and shock of having breast cancer?
32:10 - My chemo comfort items
