My Week Off Was Great!

I haven't written in almost two weeks because I have been so busy. I am back to the land of the living, and it feels great! I had lots to do around the house, and I got some socializing in too during the week. Here is a picture of me on Thansgiving morning toasting the day with a bloody mary.
I have had a handful of drinks over the last six months, as alcohol has tasted so nasty to me. I liked having a holiday devoted to food when I could actually enjoy the taste of it. We served breakfast/brunch at our house that morning then spent the afternoon at the racetrack betting on the horses. No, we did not win anything, but my mother won several races. In the evening we went to my mother's house for turkey sandwiches. My sister was in town with her new boyfriend. So on the Friday after Thanksgiving, we all piled into the car to check out some of the Prospect 1 art around town.

Below is my sister, Taffy, standing inside the latex house by Takashi Horisaki at the welcome center for Prospect 1. Click here for a picture of the house.

Surgery Date is Set

I am going into surgery on Wednesday, December 10th. The mass has shrunk to nothing, and I will be able to have a lumpectomy or breast conservation surgery. There was only one bump in facing surgery. I am hoping to have only the sentinel lymph node removed. However, with chemo prior to surgery sometimes the radioactive dye that is used to determine the sentinel lymph node does not do its job. In that case I have to have an axillary lymph node dissection. In that procedure several lymph nodes are removed and tested for cancer. We won't know until the surgery if this will happen. When you have several lymph nodes removed you have to worry about swelling in the arm, and you could have problems with that arm in the future.

I am not looking forward to surgery, but I am ready for it to happen. It is time for the next step.

I Visit the Surgeon Tomorrow

I was starting to get nervous about the MRI. I wanted to make sure that it was readable. Today I called my clinical trial nurse to see if she could pull it up on the computer. She did. There was a comment by the radiologist about movement, but the pictures were readable. There does not seem to be any tumor present. That is exciting news. So far everything that the doctors told me would happen has happened. I am looking forward to my meeting with the surgeon. I hope that he has more good news. Next time that I write, I will have the date of my surgery and how extensive it will be.

Yum Yum

On Friday night we did make it to Kim Son. I knew exactly what I wanted to order when we walked in the door. We would start with imperial rolls and squid salad. Then I would have a shrimp vermicelli bowl for my entree. It was delicious though I had forgotten that the squid salad had some heat to it, and I am still having trouble dealing with too much spiciness in my food. Anyway, I forgot until the end of the meal that I could take a picture with my phone. The first shot shows the salad that we brought home for later noshing, and the second picture shows you how much I enjoyed my entree.

All Clear for Surgery

Today I saw the oncologist. My blood levels were just where they should be, and she gave me the go ahead to schedule my surgery. I told my MRI horror story to my doctor today, and she was pretty confident that it can be read even with some slight movement. MRIs are only done on Wednesdays, and they are read only once a week. So I really will have no clue about the results until I see the surgeon next week. I see the surgeon on Tuesday. As long as the dreaded MRI from yesterday is readable, the surgeon will tell me his plan for my surgery when I see him.

More good news today. I can now eat sushi and raw food when we eat out. I don't have to worry about my immune system. Yea!!! I think that we will go the Vietnamese restaurant Kim Son tomorrow night, so that I can have a vermicelli noodle bowl which is filled with raw veggies. Steve will probably have one too. My favorite dishes at Kim Son all contain raw veggies, so we haven't eaten there much over the last 6 months. It is one of our regular spots. I have sorely missed the flavors of their food, and so has Steve.

Another Way to Spell Hell is MRI

Okay, I guess that I now know that I am claustrophobic. I try to be a good patient. I really do. Today did me in. I had the MUGU test with no problem. You lie down on your back and the machine only covers your left side to take pictures of your heart. You have to be still, but most of your body is out in the open though the machine is very, very close to your body.

I lost it during the MRI. Ochsner has this new machine that has a smaller opening than the older MRI. The radiologist likes her breast patients to use the new machine. I was prepped for the machine with the smaller opening. There is a bit of prep work to get your breasts at just the right position. I was sent through the tube. When the machine moved into position, I just could not take it. I insisted that I be removed. I refused to be put through that machine again, and I asked for the older one. Once I got settled in there, the hot flashes started. I was so hot and that made the whole experience worse. I was sticking to the heavy hospital sheet. Several times I thought about screaming to be freed from the tube. Halfway through they came to see if I was okay because there was movement in my body when the machine was making its loud proclamations. I wasn't moving; I was just breathing heavily because of my anxiety.

They had to repeat some of the pictures because of movement. I may have to repeat the whole thing as they said the radiologist is very picky. Next time, which I hope there is not one, I will demand to be sedated. I can't go through the paces like that again. It was nightmarish. They told me at the beginning that it was 25 minutes for the whole shebang, but since they had to repeat scans I was in there longer.

Cross your fingers for me that the pictures that were taken today are readable because I really, really, really don't want to have to go through that tube with the loud pounding anytime soon.

Tests Tomorrow

Not much to report here. I have been feeling pretty good the last week, but I am still very tired. I have to watch how much energy I expend at work because I have come home a couple of days and just collapsed. I don't necessarily need to sleep, but I do need to rest.

Tomorrow I go in for two tests. One is a MUGU that will test how well my heart is pumping. I had one pre-chemo. This one is to see if all is well post-chemo. The chemo drugs can affect your heart. The other test that I will have is an MRI. This is important because it will give us a measure of what is left of the tumor. Even though I go to see the oncologist on Thursday, I will not know the results of the MRI until I see the surgeon on the 18th.

I have noticed more fuzz on my head. I imagine that it will be several months before I can go hatless, but I like seeing hair grow. It means that I am getting healthier too.

Check out the hair I grew for Halloween

Actually this is the first time that I have put on a wig since I lost my hair. Everyone at school loved the red hair. I don't think that I would ever grow my hair this long again, but it was fun for a day.