Mother's Day Weekend

This picture best describes the weekend festivities....Thank you Alex for putting this together for me.

It was a lot of relaxing time this weekend. Sitting around outside, laying in the hammock, and a few games of croquet & bocce. Alex's parents were visiting too - it was great seeing them. We had a gourmet breakfast this morning, should hold me over for a few days!!

Not too much is new on the health front. My scars are starting to heal up well, but still there. In some ways, it's just waiting for the "D" day and I can't wait to get Tuesday started...or as Alex says, "C" Day(Chemo Day). The sooner treatment starts the sooner I can really beat this thing. I just tried to eat a lot and get rest. I tried taking some small walks, but was getting winded (it was a little depressing).

My brother, Matt, bought me a few things to sport over the next few months....a new F&*! Cancer Shirt and hat :) I figured it was appropriate in a situation like this, don't you think?

So all and all, great weekend - except for my mom continuing to cheat at croquet!! As she said "I have to keep the family tradition alive!"

It's Thursday -

Yesterday was a lot to swallow. Between being sore, knowing what was happening, finding cancerous tumors in my chest....it was all a bit overwhelming.

After I got home, I had some time to take it all in. Brent, mom and I had some long talks about the treatments; my fears, what is going on, what do I want etc. The big question that I couldn't get past is Why do I have to wait until Tuesday to start treatment? I picked up the phone and called Dr. Chen's assistant, Jennifer. I left her a message last night asking her to call me this morning.

She called me back today and I had a little closure to the situation. Every day, my oncologist takes in new patients (sad, but true). The nurses can only handle 2-3 'new' patients per day. The first treatment is the hardest, between the anxiety and unknown, there is a huge informational session going on. Because I am 'new', I can not pick my day, I have to go the next available day where I can get the attention I need. So it finally made sense. I can be a lot more flexible with my treatment days once I pass the first treatment - the first one is the hardest.

Couldn't they have said that yesterday??

Other then that, I feel okay. Still a little sore from the Bone biopsy, but nothing I can't handle....

Finally, have some real answers.....

(This is Allison, Jon and Monica's niece/godchild...so cute!)

So imagine the worst pain in you life. Half way up a huge climb on your bike, or the last five yards of the toughest test set - when your muscles are screaming and all you want to do is stop......

That's what I braced myself for this morning, in the bone marrow biopsy. The sad thing, it really wasn't that bad. They took a blood test, they got to use my port. The nurses had a very hard time getting it to produce blood, I guess they weren't using a long enough needle, because I am still pretty swollen. It hardly hurt, with them using the port, and don't have any more added bruises to my arm :)

After the blood test, I was taken to a exam room. Dr. Chen was very good about telling me what was going on during the biopsy, because I can't see what going on.....I was on my side, facing the wall. He cleaned up my back and poked me to numb up the area - that was the most painful. It was a poke (pinch) and then a burn. He did that a few times until the area was numb. I couldn't even feel him stick me for the biopsy. I did feel when he took out the marrow, it was a lot of pressure - not to the point I thought I would scream, more just holding my breath. It was over in a few minutes. He actually had to take two bone biopsies, because I guess I have strong bones - Go figure!! I am just sore, kinda feels like I feel down some stairs and bruised my spine (best I could describe).

I asked to see the needle - I want to know the ins and outs of what is going on, so why not, right? It was a medal rod, about 4 inches long, and hallow. It is about the width of the tip of a pencil. It sticks right into your bone, thus producing the sample....

Those results won't be available for a few weeks. Based on all my previous blood tests, none of my counts have dropped so there is no indication that the cancer is in my blood, but this is to double check. IF for some reason it turns up in the marrow, that would just move me to stage 4. It wouldn't change my treatment plan, just make it longer.

The results were in from my PET/CT scans I took on Monday. They found two small tumors in my chest. We all have cancer cells, some will multiply (producing cancer) others do nothing. When they look at the scan, the cancer cells illuminate. A normal cell will illuminate at a 2, mine were at 14. What that means are mine are very active. The positive is that mine are still above the abdomen - so I am at stage 2.

The plan is that I will start Chemo on Tuesday, my appointment is at 7:30am. I will have 3 - 4 months of chemo followed by daily rounds of radiation for a few weeks after chemo. I will be getting bi-monthly body scans to make sure the tumors are reacting to the chemo. Mom and I tired to get us in for Chemo Friday, but the earliest we could get is Tuesday. I am going to call anyway to see if someone cancels to call me - I will be there in a flash. Why wait.....

Sorry this took me so long.....

Okay, where to start. I had a great weekend with my family in HB. To be honest, it was really hard to be around large crowds, because my chest is so sore from the port - the crowds are all about pushing through and bumping. It was great seeing them, but it definitely wore me out, was more activity in those two days then I had all week, but wouldn't have traded it for the world! I added a few photos of us out and about for your enjoyment....

Okay, back to the facts. Had the PET scan first this morning, got there a little before 7 am. Got to sit in some nice recliners, he put on a space heater and got ready for the tests. I think the guy felt bad about all my veins; he couldn't decide where to poke me, because I was all bruised in the most popular places. So he was careful and tried to just poke me once for today. He put some sugar stuff in me and I had to relax for about 45 minutes before the scan. Right before the scan I had to drink a LARGE cup of contrast - I wouldn't say it tasted bad, but by no means did it taste good. The gag reflexes didn't kick in, so that was a good thing. I was able to listen to my ipod during the scan, which was great! The scan was about an hour long and they tied me on the board. I just had to be still.....pretty much painless.

After the PET scan, I walked downstairs for the CT scan. They injected me with iodine and this scan was about 15 minutes, nice and short.

From there, went home, tried to get some work done, but was definitely out of it. I ended up passing out for a little over an hour and feel great now. The results from scan will not be ready until tomorrow. This will indicate what stage I am in and thus telling us what the treatment plan will be. Right now, I am waiting on the scan results; I have the bone marrow test on Wednesday. So much more to come in the next day or so……………

Another update...

I got a call from my doctors office and the scans have already been approved by my insurance company. They left a message that I might not be able to get me in for a week - so I took a deep breath and called. Before she could say anything I said "I am going to be perfectly honest with you, I was just diagnosed with Hodgkin's and my treatments can not start until I have this scan....What's the earliest I can get in?" She said, "Hold on a second, let me see what I can do"....got to listen to some great holding music and she came back "How about Monday morning at 7 AM?" All I was thinking - Crap, it worked!
It will take a few hours for each scan on Monday,, all very good news. Looking like I can MAYBE get my first treatment next week.

Thanks for all the positive thoughts, it's working!

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.

it's Thursday

Was able to get another good night sleep, that's two in a row - on a roll now!

I went in for my 2nd chest x-ray this morning , easy and painless. Other then that, just working from home and staying pretty low key. Have to load up on some food, because I will need to fast for the surgery tomorrow at noon. During my last surgery, I just layed there with my stomach rumbling and that was a 8 am, not sure how I will do waiting until noon :) Glad I am concerned about eating.....

Tomorrow is the meeting with Dr. Chen and then the surgery. Brent was able to get the day off so will have lots of support.

That's all for now....