In The Beginning

This odyssey started out on April Fool's Day. During my annual checkup, Dr. Panowyk asked, "How long has this nipple been inverted?” I knew this was not going to be a fun trip.

On May 20th I went for my mammogram, the technician asked, "How long has this nipple been inverted?” I figured I was going to hear this question quite often. She decided to take some extra pictures of my left side.

Within a couple of days, I got a call asking me to return for more pictures, so on May 27th I had my Second Mammogram and then I went for an Ultrasound. The technician asked the same question, "How long has this nipple been inverted?”. Following the ultrasound, the doctor came in and advised me that they wanted to do a needle biopsy. I explained that I was leaving for Italy in 9 days and they fit me in for 2 days later, On May 29th the needle biopsy was done. Luckily it was ay 8 o’clock on the breast so the bruising was not visible with all my new tops and bathing suits.

I called my doctors office and asked that unless they had positive results for me, I did not want to hear anything before I left, and that I would be in the first day I was home. That day was June 23rd and the results from the biopsy were positive for cancer. Later that day I received a call from the surgeon’s office, and had my appointment set for 2 days later, June 25th.

The surgeon informed me that he could remove the tumour and nipple, along with the lymph nodes, followed by radiation or a mastectomy and no radiation. Because I knew that the “no radiation” was not guaranteed, I went for the lumpectomy. They scheduled me for a battery of tests to rule out any other tumours, and on July 3rd I had a Bone scan, Chest X-ray and Ultrasounds (abdominal and uterine).

July 8th arrived and I showed up at day Surgery for the lumpectomy and removal of most lymph nodes. It went well and I was home by 8:00 pm. I had a little of a rough night, in that I could not even keep down water. I tried ginger ale and that was not much better. I tried some dry toast but that was even worse.This morning we had Mandy (DD) bring some fruit, Melba toast and apple juice. I managed to keep them down and things began looking up.The visiting nurse came for drainage and dressing care and was quite pleased with the way things progressed.

Jul 17, 2008, 11:13am
YIP~YIP~YIPPEE I HAD A SHOWERI HAD A SHOWER You have no idea how great I feel right now - last night when DD was here, the sweet, darling, adorable child pointed out that I finally smelt like I hadn't had a shower for over a week (I do love her dearly)Anyway, armed with the nurse's OK and roll of surgical tape and large ZIPLOC Freezer bag (we Are talking G cup puppies here girls)I set out to bathe myself under cascading water. Taped up in my freezer bag with enough tape to make Red Green proud, I looked like an x-rated ad for Ziploc products. Igor, my drainage bag, (this guy I Will not miss when he finally leaves my side), was firmly taped to my thigh.I forgot how nice it was to feel really, really clean. I think I will spend the rest of the day curled up with a good book.Yesterday at the LCBO I bought a bottle of Bacardi white and it came with a spiffy muddler. I was going to buy one yesterday morning and did not; it was $10 and was wooden. I thought I could do better with a dowel and a carving knife. This one is brushed steel with a mint green base, with the Bacardi bat cast in the bottom of it, I will have to post a photo of it later. Maybe after supper, I will forgot my pain killers and mix myself a pitcher of Mojitos.
August 15 2008

Let’s talk about Mandy first. For those of you who do not know she is our 19 year old daughter. During her annual check up she had another favorite of woman everywhere, an internal exam and Pap test. OF COURSE the Pap came back showing moderate to severe dysplasia. While we were in Italy, she was treated using L.E E.P. She received a call from her doctor after we returned home to come in and see her G.P. about her results. He advised her that the pathology of the sample taken showed Carcinoma-in-situ or micro invasive cancer. She would require another colposcopy and he was referring her to the oncologists at DRCC. Her appointment was yesterday.A side note, usually the first word out of every doctor’s mouth was, "we never see this in people your age", and yesterday was no exception.Dr. Bryson, from Kingston, was very nice. He drew her a picture of what was happening and discussed some options. She will probably require at least another L.E.E.P., at the very least. She has also been referred to another doctor, from Sunnybrook, who specializes in a more intensive L.E.E.P. She will be seeing him on the 26 of September (again at DRCC)Now on to me, as told previously, I had a pretty good recovery from my surgery. The drain came out 17 days following the surgery and I have been feeling pretty good. I have fairly good range of motion and have done most of the exercises except for the ones requiring both arms (more on that later). I feel pretty well back to normal. I received a call from Dr. Panowyk (my G.P.) to come in and see him about my bone scan. (Cause for panic). The scan showed that the cancer had NOT matastized (sp) but it did point out that I have arthritis in my a c joint (part of the shoulder). Anyway, barring any problems, I see the bone guy next Wednesday (20th, I have only been waiting to see him since the end of March, but I digress). Yesterday was my first appointment at DRCC. I saw Dr. Zalewski. It appears the cancer was Stage 2 Grade 2. However they detected the presence of the HER-2 tumour antigen. The aggressiveness of the cancer Grade 2 means a 60 % possibity of recurrence in the next 10 years, and presence of HER-2 increase the risk to 80 to 90%. To combat this, I will be starting chemo on Friday the 22nd. I will be ungoing two type of treatment. Combined, these two treatments reduce the odds to 20-30%. The first will be over a 6 month period and the other over a 9 month period. Because these treatments will be every 3 week for over the next year, I will have a vascular access port installed (hey I'm getting modded).This odyssey begins Monday with a teaching session at the DRCC. We left there with a shit load of reading to do (homework), so I will update everyone after my teaching (learning session) on Monday. I plan on following my Mother's path with this thing, beating it and going on to outlive the cancer.
August 18th Meet with Kelly for chemo learning session.

August 19th Muga Scan (heart) OK

August 20th finally see Dr Chharbra fro my shoulder. Only a 5 month wait, Almost do cartwheels out office, after cortisone shot.

August 20th Meet with Dr. Koll and Darrilyn (Radiation oncologist and his nurse, also Mandy’s nurse). Radiation to follow 6 months of chemo Starting Mid-February 5 days a week for 5 weeks.

August 21st Another visit to DRCC. This time blood work and signing consent for body modification

August 22nd Insertion of port and fist chemo treatment. First of they couldn’t get a good ground on me (no green light, I asked if it was like my trailer lights when we couldn’t get them grounded and the lights didn’t work but they never did answer that question.) They ended up moving the pad, (cold and wet), then replacing it, then adding a second, then a third, then a 4th on the other leg. After fiddling with the wires, they got a green light. I kept asking during the procedure if the light was still green “Yes, it is still green”, replied the chorus
They decided as they were disconnecting the ground, pulling all those griping adhesive pads off, that they should put in a call to tech services, as this ground fault had happened earlier in the week too (ya’ think?)

As the doctor was making the cut to form the pocket for the implant, I cringed and they decided to give me more freezing. Actually it was not too bad and they had me over to the DRCC by 10:00 am. Since my chemo was not scheduled until 3:30 they were monitoring my vitals until 11:00 then they were going to send me home until later, unless a cancellation came in before I left. They came in at 10:30 and announced they had a 10:45 cancellation. I was never so happy to hear they were going to pump me full of noxious drugs.

The actual treatment was not that big a deal. The port means no hunting for veins. The worst thing so far is the time. Waiting for the anti-nausea meds to kick in and the time it takes the nurse to set you up and actually administer the first med from 2 huge syringes. The next med is administered through an IV pump over 30 minutes, unless you get brain freeze (you know, that thing that happens when you drink your slushy too fast, or eat too much ice cream). Luckily I didn’t have any brain freeze. Kyle went out and got me a slice of pizza, as I had to fast overnight and all they have to give you as digestive cookies and ice cream. I skipped the ice cream (fear of brain freeze). Anyway, Maggie picked us up and we were home by 2:00 at the latest.