Another week has come and gone. I've completed my first full week at work. I'm glad that's over because I was soooo busy it was insane. But now the weekend is here.
So what happened? Worked Tuesday. Off Wednesday for 4th of July. We went to our neighbor's house, Jennifer and Dave. The girls had a great time playing in the pool (kiddie) and going down the slip and slide. We couldn't get them out of the water. Then that evening we set off smoke bombs and popped those snap things on the sidewalk. I was out by 9pm or so because I had to work the next morning at 4a! Thursday it was work until 12.15p and then it was to OHSU for two doctor appointments.
I got to the Center for Health and Healing around 1.35p. As I was turning the corner to go down the street to get to the parking garage, I "nearly" ran into Tracey and former co-worker Mark. Apparently they were on their way to meet up with a few doctors to do a piece on Dr. Oz coming to OHSU for heallh screenings. Then it was up to the seventh floor to wait for my appointment with Dr. Marquez, the radiation oncologist. That was a fiasco. Dr. M was running late and at 1.10, she called and said that she'd be 15 minutes late. I had an appointment with Jason from Dr. Thaker's office (reconstructio) at 1.40 for a fill. So both Brad and I sat around until about 1.30 until Christine the nurse navigator called down to Dr. Thaker's office and said that she was sending me down. She decided to pull the trump card and say it was fine for me to go to my other appointment because Dr. Marquez was running late. So I left to go see Jason. He said that everything is healing just fine and we could do a fill. We ended up doing a 50cc fill. I could have gone and done 100cc's. But 50 was just fine for this visit. I have three more fills... next week I will get 100cc's and then the following two I will get 75cc's. As the saline was pushed in, I could see my boobies grow bigger. They are now about the size of pre-babies!
Then we raced back to the original appointment with Dr. M. She didn't end up coming into my room until sometime after 3p! But she was worth the wait. I like her a lot. We discussed the course of treatment. She is planning on radiating the left chest, under the arm and also the supraclavicular lymph node. She talked about doing radiation closer to the sternum because the tumor was a little bit on the right side of the breast. That was something I had not anticipated. But it's more for preventative measures. I did find out that for radiation, she suggests women have the supraclavicular area radiated because she sees the regeneration of cancer there most often. I say radiate what you need to. I don't want to do this all over again. The downside to the radiation of nearly the whole left side of the chest is that I will have a lung decrease capacity of about 20-30%. The reason being is that they are moving the radiation field over the lung and the nodes they have to reach are deeper. So that means that the lung will undergo more scarring and damage. She says that it will be most noticible if I am an athlete. So I guess no more marathons for me! I also am at an increased risk of lymphedema. It goes from about 5% to 15% after radiation. She said that I will have to watch for the onset of it and when I notice swelling, to go in and see a physical therapist. The radiation will last for 28 sessions, or 5 1/2 weeks. It will last about 30 minutes and it will be five days a week. I said, "Hooray!" I thought I would be going 6 1/2 to 7 weeks of radiation. She wants to start after I get done with my fills. That will be in three more weeks. And it will be perfect timing because it will be 6 weeks post-mastectomy. Perfect timing. Dr. M says that I'll have reconstruction about 6 months after treatment. I beg to differ.... we'll see what Dr. Thaker says. The side effects of radiation: burns (redness, turning into a tan) and fatigue. That's okay. I did mention that I have a wedding to go to... and she said that I will be red from where they radiate the breast. I said that's fine. I just want my hair. :) She laughed as well as her fellow and a medical student who was shadowing her. I like her. I like that she gives the upside of things and the concerns. She was very comprehensive and I knew that she looked at my file because she was talking a lot about it.
Next week's agenda: Monday I have a physical therapy appointment for my cording. Thursday I have my next boobie fill. And then I have a follow up PET and CT scan. I asked for a follow up because I wanted to know if the cancer was gone from the node in my neck. Dr. M said that she will look at that scan to see if there's any cancer left in that node. She said if there is, then she'll blast that area with more radiation. She will also see if it truly is necessary to do the radiation towards the sternum. My inclination is to do it regardless because I don't want this awful disease to come back. Oh yes, she also said that in the pathology, they found that there was cancer in the lymph ducts in the breast?? I think she was referring to the DCIS that they found in the milk ducts. I did ask about the right breast. She said that there was absolutely no cancer on that side and there is no need to radiate that side. Ah and after radiation, she said that the left breast will always look a little odd and won't hang as nicely as the right side. I said, not a problem, as my left boob always looked odd anyway. :)
I think that's about it. Oh, Wednesday morning I woke up with "bed head." It was nice to see bed head again.
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