First Followup

Today was the first of my followup doctor appointments. According to Dr. Tsuei I am healing well. When I asked if I had any restrictions on activities he looked at me kinda funny. Pretty much he said if it bothers me to use my right arm, then switch to the left. I see him again in three weeks.

The last week has been uneventful. Thankfully so. I have begun walking again and I definitely can tell when I have been using my right side too much. The right breast is tender like if you have something rough that's been rubbing against your skin. I'm not sure if it's from the surgery or the radiation. Tsuei said we'd call it the radiation and laughed.

So, I'm good to go. Winding down this little adventure. Probably won't post again for a couple of weeks.

Again, thanks for all the support I've received from everyone.

No more tube!

Yesterday was my last radiation treatment. While I was still on the table Dr. Manning came in and pulled the balloon out. Then he showed it to me. I just realized what it looked like. Some of you may remember the old make your own balloon kits. A small tube, about half the size of drinking straw that you gobbed some stuff on the end. Then you'd slowly blow though the tube to form a balloon.? Pretty low tech, but I remember them as a kid. Well, that's what the device looked like. Then he inflated it to show me the size it had been inside my breast. It just kept getting bigger and bigger!! When he finished it was about the size of a golf ball. I was shocked. I thought it would be much smaller.

So, I'm finished with radiation! Unfortunately my celebration ideas were dashed as I have to wait another 24 hours to shower. To give the incision where the balloon came out time to seal up. And I tried sleeping on my right side, still a little sore.

I didn't realize how exhausted I had become. Last night I slept better than I have for a while. Well, probably since I stopped taking the Percocet. I'm so happy to be done with the treatment portion. Now my body can direct it's energy into healing. It will be nice to get back to normal. I don't hurt, just have discomfort. And of course my energy level isn't quite where it was before, not that I was a real ball of fire before anyway.

It seems weird to be able to say I am now cancer free. I still have several doctor appointments, follow up surgery, follow up radiation and a new one the medical oncologist. But anything at this point is preventative. Modern medicine is such a miracle.

Hump Day

I have now completed 6 of the 10 radiation treatments and must say that milestone is quite exciting to me. Over halfway finished with the radiation! Yahoo! I will celebrate in two ways. First I will take my first shower in almost two weeks. I have a feeling that's going to be quite refreshing. And second I will sleep on my right side. No tube hanging out!

For anyone wondering about my shout out to Ken. He is my brother in law who is battling cancer. When I hear his story it makes me so grateful that everything has gone so easily for me. He is also part of the reason I have been able to keep my spirits up. Compared to him my bout has been easy. As I have told him, He has the Big C. I just got the little c. Anyway, some students did a piece on him if you'd like to check it out. http://simla.colostate.edu/~omjim/ken_devault/index.html

I'm definately winding down this adventure. Will probably not make another post until Friday after the tubes have been removed. Can't wait.

2 down, 8 to go

First of all, I want to say, Ken I know you are jealous. This is your good week and you only have to go to the hospital once. I however; get to go to the Cancer Center twice a day all week!

I started the radiation treatment today. The whole process seems to take about an hour. It appears they will do a CT scan every time to make sure the delivery system is still in the correct position. Then of course there is the obligatory waiting period while the scan is checked. Mornings I will have my dressing changed, afternoons they will send me on my way. Seems pretty easy.

I can tell when the actual treatment starts and ends as there is a slight vibration in my breast where the balloon is placed. Other than that there is no sensation. The length of time is about 2 songs long. Maybe 2 1/2. I noticed a little prickling feeling this morning after the treatment, but nothing too bad. I'm anticipating it will get worse as more and more radiation is pumped in there. We'll see.

I got the okay today to start walking again. Not too vigorously, but it will be nice to get out and stretch my legs a bit. I'm afraid serious hiking in Yosemite is out at this point, but just being able to make the trip is good enough for me.

No Doctor Appointment

Wow, the only day this week without a doctors appointment of some sort! To celebrate I went to Walmart for some pet food and Great Clips to have my hair washed. The first time I've gone somewhere by myself this week. I feel good, but don't want to push it. I'd rather take it easy than experience a setback.

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours in the radiologist's office. Had a couple of CT scans and at least 3 xrays. I sorta lost count after a while. They were working on perfectly positioning the radiation delivery device. Now I have a tube sticking out the side of my right breast and LOTS of bandaging to hold it in place. A friend of mine asked, "you know what's wrong with this country don't you?" Answer---Too much boob tube!

Next week I have appointments at 7:40 and 1:50 every day. After the second treatment on Friday they will remove the balloon and tube and my radiation therapy will be finished! That will give me one week of pure healing and then off for California.

I'm so happy everything has gone so well for me. I'm almost to the point of feeling survivor guilt. I mean, if you've got to have cancer this is the way to go. I'm sure this was a wake up call and will change my life. I'm not quite sure how just yet, but I bet it will become apparent. Another friend of mine wrote to me today....If God brings you to it-He will bring you through it.... I like that. I think it can be applied to many aspects of our lives.

Good News

Got the pathology report back today. Negative in the lymph node, negative in the surrounding tissue. Doesn't get much better than that.

My temporary device has been replaced with the real thing. A $2000 balloon. Tomorrow I see the radiologist for "simulation", I think that's to get all the settings right for the radiation and I will start treatment either Friday or Monday. Will be finished by next Friday!

Wow, what a trip this has been. Not over yet, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

THANK YOU

I want to express my appreciation for the prayers, thoughts, cards, emails and calls that I have received. The outpouring of care, concern and support for Brownie and myself has been overwhelming. Thank you for helping us during this difficult time.

Surgery Day

Well, where do I begin?

First of all, the last time I had surgery was back in the early 70's to have my wisdom teeth removed. I had no idea what to expect yesterday. Or how I would react to the anesthesia. Especially given I'm a good deal older now.

What I should have known, given my recent experiences with the health care system was that I would sit around and wait. My surgery was scheduled for 1:30 and I had to be at the hospital at noon. In part because I was to receive an injection (more about that later) 30-60 minutes prior to the surgery. By 12:45 I had changed into a smock, someone had asked a few questions, banded me, and taken my vitals. This was a total of about 7 minutes worth of activity. So we sat and sat and sat. Finally, shortly after 1:00 the nurse came in to describe what would be happening. She was quite a trip. Real talkative and somewhat spacey. By now it was getting to be a quarter after one and people kept coming up asking her if I was ready, they wanted me in the operating room.

She finally got everything straight and off we go. Brownie trailing behind with my clothes. No escape for me! The orderly pushing me was real sweet. Once we reached the surgery doors he told Brownie to hug me before rolling me into the room.

Suddenly there was a flurry of activity. Dr. Tsuei was there and marked the spot where he was going to cut and talked with me a little. Someone placed some leg massagers on me to keep the blood moving. Seems like a bunch of other stuff was going on, but I can't remember it all.

Then I got THE injections close to the nipple. Some type of radioactive material with a blue dye. These were the injections that were supposed to happen 30 minutes before surgery. Well, I had been warned. What I didn't know was that there would be 4 of them and each one hurt worse. Now admittedly it was only for a few seconds at a time and deep breaths helped. But geez, by the time they got to the last one I was ready to be finished with that! It kinda felt like some had taken some needle nosed pliers and and pinched real hard. I suggested to Dr Tsuei and the woman administering the shots they should have them to see what it's like. She laughed, but I think Dr Tsuei is a bigger pain baby than me! He pretty much said he didn't plan on having any surgery.

Next the anesthesiologist and her side kick (Bob-his is about the only name I can remember) showed up again. While she asked me the same questions I'd already answered a few times that day he put the catheter in for the IV. He was so good I hardly felt it at all. I even complimented him.

I remember being wheeled into the OR. It was cold in there. I could see the clock and it was getting close to 2:00. Then I moved myself from the gurney to the operating table. Hmm, that's about the last thing I remember. They must have started my IV and I was out. No counting backward or anything.

When I woke up I was in the recovery room and the clock read 4:20. I indicated the pain level was about an 8 so I started getting medicated. Once we got it down to a 4 I just layed there in a daze for quite a while. I felt like I had overimbided, but in a somewhat pleasant way. No nausea I just kinda wasn't sure if I could get up and walk. After a while the nurse offered me some ice chips which I was glad to get. Two hours passed before I was moved to short stay where I could dress and leave. I was pretty sure by now Brownie was getting worried as we were way behind the schedule that had been laid out. But I was okay, just laying there. No one seemed in much of a hurry to get rid of me.

We were finally reunited around 6:30. I was glad to know the surgery part was over.

We stopped and got my pain meds on the way home. Later that night the pharmacist stopped by to check on his patient.

So I spent the evening pretty much vegging out. Tired, sleepy, but awake. Brownie's been great, trying to anticipate my needs and make sure I don't want for anything.

Today I go see Dr Manning (the radiologist) for the next step in seeing if I can have the Mammosite. He'll do a CT scan to see if the temporary device is filling the cavity completely and if it is far enough from the rib.

That brings me up to date here. Hope all is coherent as the Percocet while keeping the pain at bay has kept me slightly lightheaded.

Let's hope for more good news today.

Home

Surgery is over and I'm recuperating at home. Initial result shows no lymph node involvement. That is VERY good news. But won't know for sure until pathology report comes back in a day or two.

More tomorrow regarding today's experience.

Glad to have made it safely off the operating table!

Happy Mother's Day!

We finally made it to Asheville.


As we were on the way to the hospital for my preops the radiologist's office called to tell me they had scheduled a MRI for 5:45 that same day. So much for arriving in Asheville late afternoon.

Now the MRI was a real experience! The technician told me it would be noisy. There's an understatement. So I just took little adventures while lying there. Let's see, there were the tugboats in New York harbor, airboats in the Everglades, a speed boat on the lake and the foghorn at San Francisco Bay overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. Finally at 7:25 we hit the road.


We had an enjoyable couple of days. Asheville is very dog friendly so we could take the boys with us almost everywhere. Parks, restaurants, bars and just walking around. Today the Biltmore Estate was having a special for Mother's Day and Mothers got in free. We've been wanting to see the gardens and walk some of the trails for a while and the dogs were welcome everywhere but inside the buildings. So it was perfect for us. Getting onto the grounds was something else. It seems everybody and his mother decided to go today!




Once we got home Ben and Mary came over for a visit. Mary made me this great fruit bouquet. I liked it so much I decided to share a picture with everyone. Pretty good for her first time.



I will admit I've had some anxious moments this weekend. It never occurred to me that since I've not had surgery I don't know how my body will react to the anesthesia. That I could die on the operating table and would not have told my family how much I love them. Fortunately those feelings passed. I'll be around to annoy the snot out of people for years to come. I think it also helped that Dr Manning called today and said the MRI looked good, no additional problems.


This is my last day of having cancer! This time tomorrow the tumor will have been cut out and I will only have treatment remaining. That's certainly something to look forward to.

What I'm not looking forward to right now is no food or drink after midnight. Guess I'll survive.

Wish me luck and thanks for the prayers.

Still on Track

The meeting with the radiologist (Dr. Manning) was quite informative. He gave me a name for the tumor, Invasive Ductal Carcinoma. Estrogen Receptor Positive, Herp..something 2. Clinical Stage I. Once I have surgery it will become a Surgery Stage something. So far, so good.

He gave me a timeline and the steps that will occur. I'm one of those people that wants to know what is going to happen when, so that was good information for me. The problem is, if things don't go as I have expected I tend to get a little upset. Yesterday was one of those days when it appeared the surgery wasn't going to happen on Monday. Fortunately they were able to work out all the schedules and I'm still on, just at a slightly later time in the day.

Today I have my preops and then we're off to Asheville for the weekend. We had to postpone our trip to Atlanta (actually Newnan) so this was our alternative. I think it will help to take my mind off what's ahead. No sense obsessing and I'm afraid I may be reaching that point. We're even taking the dogs with us, so that should be interesting.

Good weekend to all.

Waiting and waiting

Here is a picture of my cancer. So, if you ever have a mammogram and there is a bright while spot like this, it's not good news.

Today I'm going to see a Radiation Oncologist. He's going to be another one of my doctors. The purpose of today's visit is to determine if the tumor is too close to the ribcage for the Mammosite. He is one of a handful of doctors in the area that perform that type of treatment. If that doesn't work out then he will do the standard radiation.

Now, getting this appointment was no easy feat. Since I was given my films to hand deliver I assumed there was some urgency. As it turns out the woman who was working on setting up the appointment went home sick Monday after she had first contacted the Oncologist office. Of course they didn't tell me that when I called on Monday afternoon. Then she didn't come in on Tuesday. I found that out when I called Tuesday morning to check on status. So I talked to someone else at the nurses station. I explained the situation, blah, blah, blah. When I hadn't heard back in a few hours (really, how long does it take to make an appointment for someone?) I called again. Well, there was no record of my earlier conversation with someone. So I explained myself again, including the part about having the films, etc. etc. Finally, around 4:30 I got a call back with an appointment time and she asked if I had the films, because they couldn't find them. People don't listen to you. They hear only the part they happen to think is important at the time.

After today, I think I only have one more appointment before surgery on Monday. It's been a real learning experience so far. Not only in breast cancer, but navigating the health care system. And I know I've got a ways to go on that one.

Surgeon visit

We're finally moving forward to a surgery date. I saw my surgeon Dr. Tsuei today and learned a couple of things about my tumor I didn't know before. It is larger than I thought. Approximately 3/4 inch. Also, it is deep in the breast. That has it's pluses and minuses. I'm hoping for the Mammosite radiation and the surgery site needs to be not too close to the skin, but not too close to the ribs either. To avoid burning either one.

Sometime soon, I will be seeing another doctor. This one is a Radiation Oncologist, one of two in Greensboro that does Mammosite. He is going to review my films and see if he thinks I'll be a possible candidate. We won't know for absolute sure until surgery and the Sentinal lymph node has been tested. I have my films to take with me when I see him. Wish I had one of those bright screens so I could take a picture of one to post on the blog. I'll try to figure something out.

Something I was curious about was how the surgeon knew where the tumor was. I just figured the tissue looked different. Nope, it's by feel. He said if you actually see the tumor you've cut into it and that's bad news. Such delicate work, think I might start having more respect for these guys.

Here's something else that's pretty cool. They used to just go in and basically scoop out all the lymph nodes. Well, through research it was discovered that wasn't necessary and sometimes caused more problems. So now they go after the Sentinal node first, if it's cancer free they stop. The nodes have a heirarchy and once you find one that hasn't been affected you can stop. In order to locate this node they first shoot you up (in the breast) with some radioactive stuff followed by blue dye. Then he uses a tool like a Geiger counter to find the radiation. Where it's the strongest is the Sentinal node. That's how he knows where to cut, and then the node itself has turned blue so he can spot it. Yikes! The materials say you pee green for a couple of days afterwards.

Surgery is scheduled for Monday May 11. I'm so excited! (that was irony) Then they will cut out the cancer and the hard part begins. The therapy. I'll deal with that when the time comes.

I'm still smiling. Frowning or complaining is not going to make the situation any better. I want that when the doctor goes to work on me he's going to think, this woman has a positive attitude and expects (there's that whole expectation thing again) the best outcome here and I'm going to give it to her. What more could I ask for?

NO CANCER!!!

In the mean time I only have a week left to go around and try to elicit sympathy for having ... "the cancer"... deep breath, sigh. I think you have to watch Grey's Anatomy to get the last sentence.