Quick Update of Events

I realize I haven't posted in a long time and many things have happened, but typing right now is hard for me to do.  One of the symptoms of my last chemo is tingling and numbing of my hands and feet which makes it difficult to do things that require little movements with my fingers and toes. I mess up typing a lot because I can't feel the keys and where I'm at on the keyboard. Hopefully that will come back with time but the doctor said he can't promise that it'll all come back. For this reason I will just list things that have happened or will happen in the next couple months.

June 22 - Last chemo treatment. Exciting but nervous at the same time because I could still feel the tumors and didn't know what that meant for later. I took Rachael, my oldest child with me, and she ran errands for me as I went through the first part of my treatment. My sister surprised us with Costa Vida for lunch and the nurses sang to me and gave me a bottle of Sparkling Cider to celebrate; and No, it wasn't "Sheffield Cider." We need to get them a bottle so they can taste the difference. :)

June 24 - Received Genetic Testing Results. I forgot to mention anything about that. At the beginning of all this, I had some Genetic Testing done to see if this ran in my genes and could possibly pass it on to my kids and/or siblings. They ran a huge panel and it came back negative. Great News!! My body just likes to grow Cancer.

July 9- Pet scan. I was told I couldn't do any activities for 48 hours before the scan. Just sit. If you know me, that's hard to do but I did find a project to keep me sitting. I typed up recipes for Rachael's cookbook for college.

July 13 - Met with Dr. Gamboa for Pet scan results. Tumors have shrunk significantly in size and cancer hasn't spread. Continue plan to have surgery and radiation. More Great News!! Start Leuprolide injection, which blocks the release of estrogen in my body. I receive this every 3 months until my ovaries are removed. Start taking Anastrozole every day for the next five years. Both of these are hormone therapies. Anastrozolel fights cancer. These both have many side effects that I will have to watch for. Some hard to tell since they mimic the chemo side effects I already have, like hair loss, bone pain and weight gain. Lovely :(

July 17 - Met with Dr. Droesch to schedule Double Mastectomy. Monday, July 27th is the big day. I wanted to do it next week but he has to leave town for an adoption and he doesn't want to leave me under another doctors care right after surgery. I was told from start to finish it would take about 8 hours. I should expect to stay in the hospital for 1-2 nights, he's guessing two because it's a double mastectomy and wants me to be able to manage my drains well before I leave. Drains usually stay in 5-10 days. After healing, I will need physical therapy for my arms.Radiation can start 4 weeks after surgery.

I got ambitious and tried to get some projects done before surgery and school starting. I fell painting the kids rooms and hurt my arm pinning it between the slats on the kids bunk beds. People ask, why didn't you call? Because it started out as one of those little projects just switching the boys and girls room. We emptied the rooms and I realized it would be much nicer if I just hurried and painted the walls and ceilings, not taking into account I'm not really stable on my feet right now. Long story short, the rooms are done and my arm is not broken, just really sore wrist.

My endurance is coming back slowly but I've been told that radiation will wipe me out. We'll see. :) I would rather be tired from pushing myself then sitting all day. I know next week will be hard emotionally and physically but grateful to be this far. One week to get ready for Stage 2. Bring it on. The closer it gets to New Years the better.