I had thought to try to give the blow-by-blow of everything that has happened since the post I drafted on 6/9. However, there was a lot of meetings amongst the doctors, then the doctors and me, and a lot of back and forth in between. It would have gotten confusing in a hurry. So, I'm gonna lay it out as simply as I can.
I did receive the results back on the OncoTypeDX test. I scored low, which is favorable and basically amounted to a possible 10% chance of recurrence without chemo, 5% with chemo. We were seriously considering skipping chemo with those kinds of odds in our favor. However, as I mentioned before, the cancer had been trying to spread. Even though the tumors hadn't escaped the confines of my breast area, there was a chance that maybe some cells had and that they could possibly a different genetic type than was detected by the test.
Aaron & I talked about it and I decided to take the chemo anyway, as a safety precaution. I would SO kick myself a couple years down the line if another tumor cropped up and I hadn't done anything to safeguard, ya know? So we talked to the kiddos about it and they're onboard. I had a dual medport inserted in my chest to allow the medicine to be administered more easily. I had my friend, Tiff, give me a pixie cut so that all the kids we are usually around will have a chance to adjust before I lose my hair.
Last weekend was my town's Relay for Life. The karate school's demo team got to perform for the walkers. I was asked to break a board at the end of the performance and the whole gang gave me a group hug once I did! To say that I felt loved would be a total understatement!
The next morning was the Survivors ceremony and breakfast. We released butterflies, although I think the little buggers wanted come home with us instead. :-D Each of the survivors came up and told their name, type of cancer, and how long they had survived it. (I just hope I didn't sound like a total dweeb!) Then we walked a lap around the park together. It was all very emotional.
This past Monday, I had my first treatment. The schedule is a pretty basic one. Over the next two months, I have four treatments of two medicines (Adriamycin & Cytoxan) in two week increments. During the three months following, I have twelve weekly treatments with a single medicine (Taxol). After that comes radiation for 6 weeks, 5 days a week. At least I get the weekends off. :-P
So, I go into the treatment center with my bag full of goodies, reading material, a blanket, & my knitting. My attendant, Rob, was very nice and explained everything that was going to happen. They drew some blood from my port for testing, flushed it out with saline, gave me some more anti-nausea meds (on top of what I'd already taken). Then came the mojo juice. One was clear and didn't look like much of anything, but the other Looked like strawberry jam in a packet. I didn't feel anything different as it went in, but I gotta say watch that next bathroom trip afterwards! I had to call poor Rob over to make sure something wasn't wrong with me.... I don't have that equipment anymore! Turns out that there's a lot of dye in that strawberry jam!
The next day, Pop took me shopping to get my mind off of things. I felt bad... I ran the poor man ragged! But we did have fun with the kiddos.
Yesterday and today, the side effects kicked in and I had forgotten that I was supposed to get a neulasta injection the previous day to boost my blood cell counts. I'll just keep it short to say that it's been a pretty miserable couple of days. I'm on enough medicine right now that I didn't get sick. It didn't stop my tummy from getting upset or my muscles & bones from getting achy though. My kiddos were total troopers yesterday (they didn't want to leave me) and they went to a friend's house today (Thank you, Carmen!!!)
So with this updated report, I'll just say that we're down one bad-juju treatment with 3 to go. The rest will come in time and I'm gonna go get some rest now. Love to all!!!
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Post-dated post. See next post for explanation.
6/9/11
I had my post-op appointment with Dr. Gold & Dr. Naill last Wednesday, June 1st.
At Dr. Gold's, we discussed my "surgical pathology" or the details of the tissue that was removed. Turns out that I was a little off the mark on how many lymph nodes were taken. It was 4 nodes on the right-hand side and 6 on the left. Still, to only have a spot on one of the 10 is even better! The tumor itself was 4cm (1.5 inches), about twice as big as we had originally thought.
It seems I wasn't far off calling it my zombie boob either. There was a mass of tissue surrounding the tumor. Reading the report, it doesn't state the exact size but suggests that it was "comedonecrotic". To break it down based on what I've read, it means that the cancer cells travelled into some of the ducts and glands, became blood-starved, and died taking some of the other tissue with it. However, it didn't manage to get past my breast tissue (except for that one lymph node spot). Thank goodness!!! I'm just glad it's gone.
Dr. Gold mentioned that there was going to be a meeting between all of my docs the following Wednesday (6/8) to discuss our next steps and to nail down our treatment options. She thought there might be a chance that we might have to take more lymph nodes from the left armpit to make doubly sure there wasn't more cancer spots in there. She ordered up an OncoTypeDX* test on the removed tissue, but didn't expect the results for a couple of weeks. I'll talk more about this in a bit.
After having some lunch, we went to Dr. Naill's office. Our visit there was pretty short. He said that based on the size of the tumor and the fact that there was only one spot on one node, he didn't think that radiation would be necessary in my case. He also said that he would have to wait until after the Wednesday meeting to make sure it jived with what the rest of the team thought. Aaron & I were both really pleased with this. One treatment worry off the table! Did I say pleased? I meant ecstatic! Yay!!!!!!
We had a little scare over the weekend where someone didn't call in my painkiller prescription or it got lost along the way. In any case, I ran out and had no refills left! Because it was the weekend, I was unable to get ahold of someone to send out a new one. I've cut way back on all of my meds, but I still have to be able to sleep without pain so that I heal well. All I got to say is thank goodness for great friends. They have their own injuries but were willing to offer some of their meds (same as mine) to get me through. I am so blessed!
* OncoTypeDX- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oncotype_DX
I had my post-op appointment with Dr. Gold & Dr. Naill last Wednesday, June 1st.
At Dr. Gold's, we discussed my "surgical pathology" or the details of the tissue that was removed. Turns out that I was a little off the mark on how many lymph nodes were taken. It was 4 nodes on the right-hand side and 6 on the left. Still, to only have a spot on one of the 10 is even better! The tumor itself was 4cm (1.5 inches), about twice as big as we had originally thought.
It seems I wasn't far off calling it my zombie boob either. There was a mass of tissue surrounding the tumor. Reading the report, it doesn't state the exact size but suggests that it was "comedonecrotic". To break it down based on what I've read, it means that the cancer cells travelled into some of the ducts and glands, became blood-starved, and died taking some of the other tissue with it. However, it didn't manage to get past my breast tissue (except for that one lymph node spot). Thank goodness!!! I'm just glad it's gone.
Dr. Gold mentioned that there was going to be a meeting between all of my docs the following Wednesday (6/8) to discuss our next steps and to nail down our treatment options. She thought there might be a chance that we might have to take more lymph nodes from the left armpit to make doubly sure there wasn't more cancer spots in there. She ordered up an OncoTypeDX* test on the removed tissue, but didn't expect the results for a couple of weeks. I'll talk more about this in a bit.
After having some lunch, we went to Dr. Naill's office. Our visit there was pretty short. He said that based on the size of the tumor and the fact that there was only one spot on one node, he didn't think that radiation would be necessary in my case. He also said that he would have to wait until after the Wednesday meeting to make sure it jived with what the rest of the team thought. Aaron & I were both really pleased with this. One treatment worry off the table! Did I say pleased? I meant ecstatic! Yay!!!!!!
We had a little scare over the weekend where someone didn't call in my painkiller prescription or it got lost along the way. In any case, I ran out and had no refills left! Because it was the weekend, I was unable to get ahold of someone to send out a new one. I've cut way back on all of my meds, but I still have to be able to sleep without pain so that I heal well. All I got to say is thank goodness for great friends. They have their own injuries but were willing to offer some of their meds (same as mine) to get me through. I am so blessed!
* OncoTypeDX- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oncotype_DX
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
5-31-11
I never realize just how busy life is until I sit down to write an entry here!
I called Dr. Gold's office because I started experiencing pain down the back of my left arm. I'm pretty sure it's nerves trying to knit themselves back together after the surgery, but I wanted to make sure that I treated it right over the holiday weekend. Turns out that Dr. Gold was already on her way to her vacation destination, but Barb from the office said I was on the right track and called in a prescription for Neurontin* for me.
She said that the main reason she was calling was that she had the results back from the surgery. Turns out that my tumor was approximately 4 cm in diameter, about twice as big as originally anticipated. The good news though is that my margins came back negative, which means that it hasn't moved beyond the breast area. The area they thought they saw on the right breast from the MRI turned out to be negative for cancer as well as a lymph node taken and tested from that side (WHEW!). They also took four lymph nodes from the left side and only one of those four showed the teeniest, tiniest speck of suspected cancer. This means that it's more likely that I will have to have treatment.
I just happened to come across a PBS program called "Second Opinion" that really seemed to pertain to my situation, so I recorded it on TiVo and watched it with Aaron yesterday. Wow, what a ton of really great information about Cancer post-op and post- treatment side effects in that show! I really *heart* PBS! This program in particular discussed axillary neuropathy** (numbness or shooting pain in the shoulder and arm) which I seem to be suffering because of the lymph node removal, but can also be caused by some chemotherapies. It also talked about the fuzziness and absent-mindedness that some patients experience called "chemo brain". Both are definitely worth discussing with my docs.
I have an appointment with Dr. Gold and Dr. Naill (radiation) tomorrow, to go over all this again and to begin discussing our options. My appointment with Dr. Eilender (chemo) will be in the next week or so. When I spoke with Dr. Eilender the last time, he mentioned the possibility of a bi-weekly, 8 treatment course if I had the right kind of cancer. Sounds right up my alley! Heck... I don't even think my hair will have the chance to fall out if it's that quick! Hehehehehe....
Anyway, I also had a couple of appointments with Dr. Pummill. The most recent was this morning where I had my last drain tube removed. Ah! Sweet relief!!!! Dr. P said that I'm healing up beautifully, that she wants to see me in a couple weeks, and that we might even get to start bumping out my expanders. Yee-HAW!!!!
I'm not letting this slow me down... At least not too much. :-D I've been out to dinner, a couple of movies, a couple of parties, & I got to hang out by the pool at a friend's Memorial Day get together. I decided today that I needed to get off my duff and start getting some exercise in, so I rode my recumbent bike for 15 minutes this afternoon (at a leisurely pace, of course) and did some gentle arm exercises just to get the blood flowing in the right direction. Watch out world.... Next up, I'm going for my black belt!
* Neurontin - http://www.rxlist.com/neurontin-drug-center.htm
** Axillary Neuropathy - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000689.htm
I never realize just how busy life is until I sit down to write an entry here!
I called Dr. Gold's office because I started experiencing pain down the back of my left arm. I'm pretty sure it's nerves trying to knit themselves back together after the surgery, but I wanted to make sure that I treated it right over the holiday weekend. Turns out that Dr. Gold was already on her way to her vacation destination, but Barb from the office said I was on the right track and called in a prescription for Neurontin* for me.
She said that the main reason she was calling was that she had the results back from the surgery. Turns out that my tumor was approximately 4 cm in diameter, about twice as big as originally anticipated. The good news though is that my margins came back negative, which means that it hasn't moved beyond the breast area. The area they thought they saw on the right breast from the MRI turned out to be negative for cancer as well as a lymph node taken and tested from that side (WHEW!). They also took four lymph nodes from the left side and only one of those four showed the teeniest, tiniest speck of suspected cancer. This means that it's more likely that I will have to have treatment.
I just happened to come across a PBS program called "Second Opinion" that really seemed to pertain to my situation, so I recorded it on TiVo and watched it with Aaron yesterday. Wow, what a ton of really great information about Cancer post-op and post- treatment side effects in that show! I really *heart* PBS! This program in particular discussed axillary neuropathy** (numbness or shooting pain in the shoulder and arm) which I seem to be suffering because of the lymph node removal, but can also be caused by some chemotherapies. It also talked about the fuzziness and absent-mindedness that some patients experience called "chemo brain". Both are definitely worth discussing with my docs.
I have an appointment with Dr. Gold and Dr. Naill (radiation) tomorrow, to go over all this again and to begin discussing our options. My appointment with Dr. Eilender (chemo) will be in the next week or so. When I spoke with Dr. Eilender the last time, he mentioned the possibility of a bi-weekly, 8 treatment course if I had the right kind of cancer. Sounds right up my alley! Heck... I don't even think my hair will have the chance to fall out if it's that quick! Hehehehehe....
Anyway, I also had a couple of appointments with Dr. Pummill. The most recent was this morning where I had my last drain tube removed. Ah! Sweet relief!!!! Dr. P said that I'm healing up beautifully, that she wants to see me in a couple weeks, and that we might even get to start bumping out my expanders. Yee-HAW!!!!
I'm not letting this slow me down... At least not too much. :-D I've been out to dinner, a couple of movies, a couple of parties, & I got to hang out by the pool at a friend's Memorial Day get together. I decided today that I needed to get off my duff and start getting some exercise in, so I rode my recumbent bike for 15 minutes this afternoon (at a leisurely pace, of course) and did some gentle arm exercises just to get the blood flowing in the right direction. Watch out world.... Next up, I'm going for my black belt!
* Neurontin - http://www.rxlist.com/neurontin-drug-center.htm
** Axillary Neuropathy - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000689.htm
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Status report overdue!
Aaron told me today that he's had a bunch of our friends wanting to know how I'm doing.
In short, I'm doing fine... I'm sleeping a whole ton. Making sure my drains stay emptied. They are finally starting to slow down. I have an appointment with Dr. Pummill tomorrow to see how things are healing. I see Dr. Gold next week for the results on the tissue that was removed. I won't know more before then.
I have to take a shower... badly. That's our project for tonight. I tried to shower a couple days ago and had what's called a vasovagal response. When I unfastened the front of my bra, my blood pressure dropped suddenly. I lost color, tried to faint, broke out in sweats, and tried to upchuck a couple of times. Not fun. I called the doctor's office yesterday to find out what we need to do to fix it. The fix is to do nothing, make sure I'm sitting or laying on a bed and that I have a bucket near by. Once the response has passed, I carefully go on about my business. We'll see how that works out.
So that's where we're at for now, gang. I'm hoping to get out of this house at some point this holiday weekend. I got to get some ice cream a couple days ago and visited some friends in the process. (YAY!) I miss seeing my friends the most out of all of this so far. You just don't realize how much they are part of your everyday life until you get stuck on bedrest or the like. C'mon, Body! Do your healing thing so I can get back to normal!
In short, I'm doing fine... I'm sleeping a whole ton. Making sure my drains stay emptied. They are finally starting to slow down. I have an appointment with Dr. Pummill tomorrow to see how things are healing. I see Dr. Gold next week for the results on the tissue that was removed. I won't know more before then.
I have to take a shower... badly. That's our project for tonight. I tried to shower a couple days ago and had what's called a vasovagal response. When I unfastened the front of my bra, my blood pressure dropped suddenly. I lost color, tried to faint, broke out in sweats, and tried to upchuck a couple of times. Not fun. I called the doctor's office yesterday to find out what we need to do to fix it. The fix is to do nothing, make sure I'm sitting or laying on a bed and that I have a bucket near by. Once the response has passed, I carefully go on about my business. We'll see how that works out.
So that's where we're at for now, gang. I'm hoping to get out of this house at some point this holiday weekend. I got to get some ice cream a couple days ago and visited some friends in the process. (YAY!) I miss seeing my friends the most out of all of this so far. You just don't realize how much they are part of your everyday life until you get stuck on bedrest or the like. C'mon, Body! Do your healing thing so I can get back to normal!
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Blast off!
Live from Pre-op room 28!
I'm all set & ready to go. Haven't gotten the good drugs yet, but I'm still calm & cool as a cucumber. It'll probably be quiet here for a while until I recover for a bit. Aaron will likely post an update or two to let y'all know how I'm doing...
See ya on the flip side!
I'm all set & ready to go. Haven't gotten the good drugs yet, but I'm still calm & cool as a cucumber. It'll probably be quiet here for a while until I recover for a bit. Aaron will likely post an update or two to let y'all know how I'm doing...
See ya on the flip side!
Steady.....
Just a short note tonight.... I have just about everything ready. My Mom, Pop, & Aunt Kathy are here. We all went to a benefit dinner at BD's Mongolian BBQ tonight to help support the cub scouts. Gonna go catch some Zzzz's before the craziness of tomorrow. I'll do my best to update tomorrow, but if not maybe Aaron will...
Much love....
Much love....
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Ready.....
Only two days to go until surgery! I gotta say, I'm excited! After 23 years of trying to get a reduction, it's finally getting done. Not quite the way I would have asked for but, hey, beggars can't be choosers!
I saw Dr. Gold a couple days after my last post for my pre-op appointment. I told her what had happened per my last post and she was so reassuring and confident that this is going to just be bump in the road for me. I know nothing is ever for certain, but it was very comforting nonetheless.
So, getting ready.... A lot of standard stuff. Be there at 8:30. No eating after midnight the night before. Shower with anti-bacterial soap the night before and the morning of surgery. Nothing to eat or drink, including water. Don't pee because they want to do a urine test when I get there. (Though how I'm supposed to hold it while listening to the water in the shower is escaping me at the moment!) No deodorant, powder, perfume, or lotion.
There's another test that I have to have. The name of it escapes me right now, but I have to have two injections put directly into each breast, one of them mildly radioactive and the other is a dye. It helps them locate exactly where the cancer is located in the breast tissue. Dr. Gold prescribed some numbing ointment that I have to put on an hour before the test and wrap with a clear bandage or Saran. When the registering nurse from the hospital called to get all our ducks in a row, I told her that I had to have time to put on the cream when I checked in per Dr. Gold. Her reaction was, "You have one fantastic doctor! Do you know that she is the only one who gives her patients something to numb the area for that test?" I'm feeling quadruply blessed right about now!
Saturday, was simply fantastic! Aaron, the kids, & I got to be lazy bums all morning. In the evening, I went out to dinner with my Karate Crew sisters at Don Pablos. (Thank you Shari, Jen, Missy, DeNai, Naomi, Barb, Robin, & Liza! You gals are so awesome!!!) They make some mighty tasty margaritas there!
Afterwards, my friends Grace & Jen threw a "Ta ta to the Ta-tas" party especially for me. I don't even know how many gals made it. It was a lot! I have been trying for years to bring my various friend groups together, knowing that given the chance they would get along really well! (I just don't have any sucky friends. I learned a long time ago to not keep them around.) Like the reduction, it stinks that it took cancer to get them all in the same room but I think progress may have been made. :-D
Toward the end of the party, we gathered everybody to one room where I had a chance to talk to everybody about cancer and my experience so far. I offered the opportunity, for anyone who felt comfortable enough, to see my chest, compare the cancerous side to the normal side, and to feel what the tumor felt like under my skin. I figured it was a great chance for the others to experience it before it ever got to their bodies so that they would know what to look for. Surprisingly, I think everybody took me up on my offer! They made me so proud! :-D
Yesterday, I went to the grocery store and bought the place out. Not really, but I've got folks coming to stay with us so I made sure to buy more food than usual to feed everybody.
We also had our family pictures taken. I'm just not one of those moms that has to have a professional photo taken of their kids at every milestone of our lives. (Omg! He had his first poop! Let's go to Olan Mills! :-P) But we realized that we hadn't had one taken since I was pregnant with Shawni! Thank you so much to our friend, Dee Dee, for taking time out of her busy schedule to do this for us. They turned out absolutely beautiful!!!!!
Today has been a get the house ready, laundry done, shower tiled kind of day. We are so close on our shower! We've been working on it since Yule/Christmas and it's almost there. We have to get it done so that I don't have to try to go upstairs to get a shower. If I fell and tried to catch myself coming down the stairs.... Well, you can imagine that the results wouldn't be pretty. So wrapping that up is the goal for tomorrow...
I saw Dr. Gold a couple days after my last post for my pre-op appointment. I told her what had happened per my last post and she was so reassuring and confident that this is going to just be bump in the road for me. I know nothing is ever for certain, but it was very comforting nonetheless.
So, getting ready.... A lot of standard stuff. Be there at 8:30. No eating after midnight the night before. Shower with anti-bacterial soap the night before and the morning of surgery. Nothing to eat or drink, including water. Don't pee because they want to do a urine test when I get there. (Though how I'm supposed to hold it while listening to the water in the shower is escaping me at the moment!) No deodorant, powder, perfume, or lotion.
There's another test that I have to have. The name of it escapes me right now, but I have to have two injections put directly into each breast, one of them mildly radioactive and the other is a dye. It helps them locate exactly where the cancer is located in the breast tissue. Dr. Gold prescribed some numbing ointment that I have to put on an hour before the test and wrap with a clear bandage or Saran. When the registering nurse from the hospital called to get all our ducks in a row, I told her that I had to have time to put on the cream when I checked in per Dr. Gold. Her reaction was, "You have one fantastic doctor! Do you know that she is the only one who gives her patients something to numb the area for that test?" I'm feeling quadruply blessed right about now!
Saturday, was simply fantastic! Aaron, the kids, & I got to be lazy bums all morning. In the evening, I went out to dinner with my Karate Crew sisters at Don Pablos. (Thank you Shari, Jen, Missy, DeNai, Naomi, Barb, Robin, & Liza! You gals are so awesome!!!) They make some mighty tasty margaritas there!
Afterwards, my friends Grace & Jen threw a "Ta ta to the Ta-tas" party especially for me. I don't even know how many gals made it. It was a lot! I have been trying for years to bring my various friend groups together, knowing that given the chance they would get along really well! (I just don't have any sucky friends. I learned a long time ago to not keep them around.) Like the reduction, it stinks that it took cancer to get them all in the same room but I think progress may have been made. :-D
Toward the end of the party, we gathered everybody to one room where I had a chance to talk to everybody about cancer and my experience so far. I offered the opportunity, for anyone who felt comfortable enough, to see my chest, compare the cancerous side to the normal side, and to feel what the tumor felt like under my skin. I figured it was a great chance for the others to experience it before it ever got to their bodies so that they would know what to look for. Surprisingly, I think everybody took me up on my offer! They made me so proud! :-D Yesterday, I went to the grocery store and bought the place out. Not really, but I've got folks coming to stay with us so I made sure to buy more food than usual to feed everybody.
We also had our family pictures taken. I'm just not one of those moms that has to have a professional photo taken of their kids at every milestone of our lives. (Omg! He had his first poop! Let's go to Olan Mills! :-P) But we realized that we hadn't had one taken since I was pregnant with Shawni! Thank you so much to our friend, Dee Dee, for taking time out of her busy schedule to do this for us. They turned out absolutely beautiful!!!!!
Today has been a get the house ready, laundry done, shower tiled kind of day. We are so close on our shower! We've been working on it since Yule/Christmas and it's almost there. We have to get it done so that I don't have to try to go upstairs to get a shower. If I fell and tried to catch myself coming down the stairs.... Well, you can imagine that the results wouldn't be pretty. So wrapping that up is the goal for tomorrow...
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