A Little Direction

Here are the two scars (left is the new port, the right is healing from the mass)was yelled at for not having enough photos - Zimmer!

Woke up at 2 am with one of the worst migraine I have ever had.....I do respond to Excedrin Migraine, but because I was going into surgery, I couldn't take it. (Thins your blood and makes you bleed more). So Tylenol was all I could take. Brent sat with me trying to help with pressure points - finally went away after a few hours. Ugh!

Went in to meet the Oncologist, Dr. Chen and his P.A. Jennifer. I am in the process of scheduling at PET/CT Scan, Cardio Eco and getting my bone marrow tested. We have to determine where the cancer has gone before we have an answer on what stage and how long treatment will be. The Bone Marrow test is to make sure it's not in my the rest of my body. He was very nice and very honest about what may happen and will most likely be losing my hair. Brent said he'd shave his head with me......but until we have the results from the scans, can't really come up with a plan. I am scheduled for the Bone Marrow test next Wednesday.

I left the Oncologist and had three messages from the surgeon...he wants me at the hospital, because he can take me into surgery right away. We were there within 5 minutes. I had blood work taken and opted not to be put to sleep for this surgery - just to get loopy and numbing where they were going to put the port in. But basically, I am awake during the procedure. The bennefit is that I don't feel all doped up after. I didn't think I was feeling much until I was laying on the operating table and I was joking with the anesthesiologist that the ceiling was moving (it was like all the lights were on tracks and moving around). I think it was working......
When I came out of surgery, I had to sit around for a little bit, they took another 3vials of blood (can't wait for the port to be up and running, my arms are looking pretty sketchy right now) and they took another chest x-ray. They wanted to make sure the port was placed correctly. The Surgeon, Dr. Berman said he had a lot of trouble putting it in because of my massive chest muscles from swimming, ha.

All was good, so I was ready to go home.

The next step is to wait for pre-approval (insurance) for the PET/CT Scan. That will be the final test before everything can get started. The other tests will just be informational and can happen even if chemo has started....so cross your fingers that approval happens today or Monday and can get in early next week for the scan.

Jon and Monica are flying here tonight. Matt and Alex are driving up. Mom is here and Dad will drive over tomorrow. It will be a great gathering with us all this weekend - Great to have everyone here, too bad it's under these circumstances.