Friday, September 26, 2008

5 down, 25 more to go (or 1 down, 5 more to go)

I am now officially done with my first week of radiation!

The whole situation still is somewhat surreal and I've have several up and down days this week. This was never what I planned for and 6 months ago I never ever thought I'd be going through a divorce, being treated for breast cancer and working to get my house ready to sell. I do still count my blessings and appreciate all everyone has done so far.

So far just minor effects on my skin from the radiation, I'm told I should start looking pretty sunburned by next week. I'm tired but I'm not sure if that's from all the hours I've spent working on the house to get it ready or the radiation. Even Tiger Lily has reached the point where she's tired of spending every evening and all weekend working on the house. My goal is to get this off my plate before the effects from the radiation start to drag me down so I can focus on getting rest and healing (and eating a few biscuits!).

Have a good weekend everyone and enjoy the rain.

Monday, September 22, 2008

First Treatment

So today was my first radiation treatment!

Last Friday they put me on the table and took measurements and several films so they can track progress and ensure the treatment is reaching all the areas of my breast. I also got tattooed! Four small dots, one on each side, one in the center of my sternum and one in my nipple (that one HURT!). I'm now cured of ever even remotely considering getting a tattoo.

The treatment itself actually only takes a few minutes, the time to set up and position me on the table takes up most of the half hour for my appointment. I don't feel any different yet which is, of course, a good thing.

I spent all of my weekend working on the house and I have to give a big thank you to my friends that stopped by to help. Especially E! If you want to know the definition of what a true friend is it's her. She has been there for me every step of the way since that first weekend in May when my life started going topsy turvy. I only hope that I can be there for her in the same capacity whenever she needs me (of course I hope she never has to go through breast cancer though!).

Ciao!

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Getting ready to start Round II

So, I had a radiation simulation yesterday along with a CT scan. I have a lovely green box drawn around most of the left side of my chest... The radiation oncologists will review my scan and I have one more simulation on Friday to make sure everything lines up correctly. I will also get tattooed for my reference points. Tiger Lily thinks it's funny that her anti-tattoo mom is now going to have to get some because of my cancer. I get to start radiation on Monday, the treatment plan will consist of 6 weeks of radiation 5 days a week for pretty much the entire left breast. At the end I will get a boost to the site where they removed the cancer and then I will get to start tamoxifen. According to the oncologist I shouldn't feel the effects of the radiation until around week 4 or so and it will last for about 4 weeks after it stops since the dose effect is cumulative--so I should be up and back to my normal self by Thanksgiving.

On more fun news, we are getting very close to being ready to put the house up for sale next week. My realtor is taking a class on how to stage houses to get them ready to sell and the class came yesterday and used my house to learn on. Although it doesn't look like my house anymore it does look good. I have a long list of things to do before next week but we're really getting there now. I will probably spend the whole weekend cleaning, moving furniture out and painting so if anyone is just horribly bored drop on by and I'll put you to work!

Have a good rest of the week!

Sunday, September 14, 2008

i was suprised

So, yesterday was my birthday and Tiger Lily threw me a surprise party! That was the reason why I had to be out of the house for part of the day. She is truly the most amazing child any mother could have. It was so nice to see friends that stopped by throughout the afternoon and the evening. It was a great birthday.


So the month of October, as everyone knows, is breast cancer awareness month and I warned all of you that I would be doing a lot of walks and the first one is The Walk for Hope on Sunday, October 12. The walk will be at Cabin John Regional Park in Potomac. The website to sign up for it is: www.walk4hope.org/dc I will still be early enough in my radiation to have lots of energy and will be doing the 4K walk (less than 3 miles...). Tiger Lily is designing a t-shirt logo and once we have several designs I'll go ahead and post them so everyone can vote!


Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

More Good News

So, the rollercoaster of my journey continues with its ups and downs. The lump that was removed on Monday was benign, truly a fibroadenoma so the news is still good. In hindsight, given everything that is and was present I probably should have just sacrificed the breast from the begining but knowing that Ted would soon be leaving and that I would be dating again someday probably clouded my judgement.

The plan is to start radiation as soon as the incision site heals and the swelling goes down. Luckily, this won't take long and I hope to start late next week or early the following.

This Saturday is my birthday and Tiger Lily has requested that I go out to lunch and shopping while she cleans the house for me. If anyone is interested in seeing the excellent job I know she will do please feel free to stop by Saturday afternoon. She is also planning a special lunch for the two of us on Sunday.

Have a good rest of the week and weekend.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

When it rains it pours

Well, I met with the radiation oncologist today and it was sort of a good news/bad news situation. First off, my radiation treatments can be done here, the side effects are general fatigue and some burning of the skin. Long term effects include increased risk of heart disease since it was my left breast. I'm just happy that I won't have to lose so much work time.

Now for the bad news, the original lump that was found back in June was never removed--it is still unclear why not or even if it was ever biopsied. I had an ultrasound performed and the radiologist and surgeon both felt that is was a fibroadenoma (but on the original ultrasound the radiologist felt one of the masses was a fibroadenoma and the biopsy proved otherwise) so the bottom line is, I am having an excisional biopsy/lumpectomy on Monday morning to remove the original lump that started this whole journey. Once the pathology is done we'll know what else I'm dealing with. I guess you could say I've gone full circle--I just feel like I spun my wheels a little in the past few months.

So, needless to say, I'm encouraged that I'm getting to start moving forward onto another part of my journey but I'm discouraged that it'll be delayed a little bit. Since they aren't taking any lymphnodes my recovery should be a little shorter.

I'm off to Richmond for another race (Hanna may change my plans) where I'll get to see some family and good friends. Tiger Lily will be spending her first weekend with her father and she is excited to spend some time with him. I'll keep everyone posted.