Still At It

I guess a lot has happened since June.

First issue was the biopsy request from mammography. Even though Dr. Zalewski did not feel I should bother with it, they scheduled it anyway. When I went in, I met with the nurse and did all the pre-procedure stuff. We were planning on heading to the cottage afterwards, so I was not thrilled that I would not be able to get the incision wet for 7 to 10 days. Next I met with the surgeon. As he was reading the report, he told me that since I had had surgery (the lumpectomy) that what was on the film was in all likelihood calcium and had he done the original reading, he would have asked for the films to be repeated in 6 months, not for a biopsy. So, I ended up not doing it, electing instead to have the films redone in 6 months. (that will be December).


I had a scare following my Bone Scan. The scan taken 6 weeks after treatment showed increased activity. How can this be - I felt great - no pain for over a month. I spent a stress filled weekend worrying about this. When I say him,Dr. Koll explained that the scan was compared to the one done in April almost 2 months before the treatments, and that when they did the radiation plan, they based on the MRI, and treated all the areas indicated in the current bone scan, and that the activity was consistent with the after effects of radiation. Again he said, the number one indicator was that I felt good, no pain at all. As part of the followup, they did however schedule me for another CT Scan.


So, following my latest round of tests (bone scan and CT) it was discovered that there was a 2ND lesion on my back. Good news was that it was not yet causing me any pain so it was quickly treated with 1 session of radiation (on September 21). I also had another reaction to the bonefos, so that coupled with the lack of effectiveness with either the Arimidex or the Tamoxifin, Dr. Zalewski decided that I needed another round of chemo. So to that end, I had a new port put in on Tuesday (Sept 28).

And that is when the fun started. Tuesday was pretty uneventful. I arrived at the hospital, got an iv and prepped for the procedure. I explained the problems I experienced with the last port and and nurse accused me of sleeping on it wrong, and they decided leaving my bra would probably work. The procedure was done, and recovery of 60 minutes and then home.

The next day I waited patiently for home care. There seemed to be a little bruising under the dressing but nothing I was overly concerned about. About 3:45, I started to be concerned as I had yet to here from anyone regarding when the Nurse would be there. I called the woman who had set it up on Monday and explained my concern. She gave me the number to call and within 20 minutes I heard back and the nurse was on her way. After about 30 minutes of history and paper work, she checked the incision and dressing.

While the incision looked good, for an incision, the area around it was red and hot. You need to go up to the hospital, she said. She replaced the dressing, traced the red area and off to the hospital I went. After a wait of more than 3 hours, I was finally seen by the doctor. I had and infection and was going to need a course of IV antibiotics, and the next day, he had asked for the port to be removed and a new one to be inserted. While this made no sense to me, off we went for the IV. I got home at almost midnight, after nothing to eat or drink for over 7 hours except for half a glass of ice water at 10:30.

One of the things I had been told was not to eat or drink anything when I got up until the hospital called. Not being into fasting at the best of times, at 10 am I called the hospital to see if I had been scheduled, and after being transferred hither and yon, some one finally took the care to listen to my tale. she physically tracked down the orders, got hold of my primary care nurse. She, Kelly, called me right away and and had me come into the Cancer Centre. I saw Dr. Zalewski. He ordered another course of IV antibiotics and I am to return later today (Friday).

Above is a picture of my bunny infection. Believe it or not, this is actually looking better than yesterday.

So that is where I stand right now. I am due to the hospital withing the next hour and will know what is happening then.

~Inez