Okay we loved the
oncologist. I'm to call him Dr. Joe. He's 60 something, and his wife is an
oncologist as well. His wife is Dr. Mary because it was too confusing to have
two Dr. Muscatos in the same practice.
Robin is his nurse.
She's a cute spunky woman 40 or so. She told me I will never have to suffer through
anything. If a med they give me doesn't help my side effects, they will move on
to the next. I'm to call them even at 2 am. She said the horror stories
of vomiting out the gum you swollowed in second grade...doesn't have
to happen if I take the meds and communicate my needs and side effects to them.
I only have breast cancer and the lymph nodes. No other place in
my body lit up with cancer per pet scan.
Ct scan showed something
on my spleen but it's not cancer. So I will have them find out if it’s
something else that needs to be removed. Oncologist is satisfied it's not
cancer but I worry it might be something else that a surgeon would want removed.
I start with chemo, 12 weeks
of it. Every third week, I will have a dose of chemo on the Friday at the end of the week. 1st week is worse. 2nd week
is better but I have to avoid people and crowds or wear a mask. Hmmm...
yeah that doesn't screech "look at me! at all." The 3rd week
I will feel more like myself and may be able to visit mom. He told me I will
not be able to go to moms and clean her house from end to end. We won't have
marathon shopping trips. But I can spend quiet days with my mother enjoying her
company. I was afraid I'd not be able to spend time until this was over.
Then it all starts over.
I am choosing Friday for my chemo day. And it will take all day to get the
chemo. KJ will be coming with me. Then he will be home with me on Sat and
Sunday, which they tell me will be the roughest days. The drugs I will be
given will cause hair loss...nausea...lack of appetite...diarrhea and
crushing fatigue. Dr. Joe told me, I will feel like a Mac truck fell on me
and I will be content to leave it there. :) Lovely. I have to take a chemo
class and be tested on my knowledge before I can start. But it should start in
the next two weeks.
I will have three,
possibly four surgeries. The first one should be this week. I have awful
veins for starting IV's so I'm having a port installed. Probably
next Thurs. but I gotta call Monday morning and confirm. Then I will have the
mastectomy. I want an immediate reconstruct and Doc Joe said I could, but it
will be up to the plastic surgeon whether he does it in the same surgery as
mastectomy. I have to have an axillary dissection because of the involved lymph
nodes and sometimes plastic surgeons are hesitant to do reconstruction with all
that on the same day. I hope he will. We are also doing a complete
hysterectomy, ovaries and all at some point. The gyn will NOT do that the same day
as the mastectomy. I would rather have ONE massive surgery and recover at
once. They want three copays (as in the hospital I mean).
So much for quick hmmm?
All copays have to be paid in full before the hospital will schedule that
surgery. Apparently the hospital had people getting these massive surgeries
that they really needed, to save their lives. But darn it, they couldn't afford
it and declared bankruptcy after they were healed of their cancers or such. So
now this loving Baptist hospital considers cancer surgeries to be
elective...(guess cause you can choose to die instead). And elective surgeries
have to be paid before surgery will be done. Whew. Of course emergency surgeries
they have to do and try to collect later.
I may have to have
radiation, but maybe not. It will depend on how many lymph nodes have cancer.
They believe there are three but they are not grossly abnormal. He said the
axillary felt normal but we know it is not, because of the biopsy.
The best information
that Dr. Joe gave me in this visit was a very simple statement. There is
no wrong way to do cancer. You get through it however you find a way.
I would recall this statement over and over as people fell over
themselves trying to tell me how "to do cancer." You have to
"stay positive"..."rebuke the cancer"..."eat lots of
blueberries"..."stop using
artificial sweeteners"..."you must rejoice in
adversity"..."pray your way through"..."journal your
journey"... It got exhausting to feel like you had to do cancer the
way that made THEM feel better.
I told him that I had
been upset that I should have gotten the mammy in Jan and didn't cause of Mom's
diagnosis. Then in May I was to have it scheduled, but there was a scheduling
conflict with the hospital and then I forgot. So I was late getting my mammy.
He told me. "Tina, this cancer is very hard to detect by mammogram.
Usually its because of some physical change..pain in the breast, the nipple
retracts, a dip or dimple appears or suddenly the breast looks larger than
normal. Your cancer showed up on mammy extremely early for lobular cancer and I
doubt it would have shown up even in May. He said "You had the good
fortune to schedule this mammy on a day the cancer decided to show up. I can't explain how it showed up even
now."
Sniff.
Okay girls WHO do
you think really scheduled this mammy EVEN if it was on my wedding anniversary?
It was not just Good Timing. It was God timing! I could have gone another year
thinking I had a clear mammy while this kept growing. I think I
should have new boobs around Valentines day and by Easter I will feel good
as new. Oh. Did I mention the Radiology doc was not correct.
I have Lobular cancer, the same kind as moms. :( I learned
that lobular cancer doesn't lump up. It SPREADS out and adds bulk.
It is harder to feel. Isn't that special? All these years of
doing self exams looking for a cancer lump and I get the kind that doesn't
lump. The descriptions Dr. Joe gave is how most Lobular cancer is
detected.
Sally: Well as awful as this is, I am so
relieved and thankful. So glad you don't have cancer anywhere else and
getting the hysterectomy should take care of the family history of Ov. Cancer,
right??? So glad you don't have that! I was so afraid your pet
scan would be lit up, too. That is amazing that they discovered your
cancer. Yay God!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll be praying the chemo isn't as bad as
it could be. I'm glad KJ will be able to help you on the hardest
days. I wish we could all come down and help you out!!
Danica: Yeah what Sally said...when you are
feeling up to it ms. Rosey. I expect you to write a book on this whole
experience. i'm serious. You have an amazing ability to take someone right to
that moment. butt cheek boogie...my word! Coffee flew onto the screen! i
too wish were there to help you in a physical way. know we are praying for
you!!! :)
Paula: Praise God for exposing the cancer
"at the right time". Yet another sign that God is in
control. {{Tina}} Take care of your "cheek boogying"
self. 
Linder: Exactly what Sally and Danica said. I
fully expect you to write a book, too. You've just added a new phrase to my
repertoire: "butt cheek boogie." I laughed so hard that I cried. I
had to stop reading for awhile because I couldn't see to read the rest of the
post. Someone from my church is a breast cancer survivor. She's a funny
lady, too. The title of her book is Lessons from a Bald Chick. I
wish like anything that I could afford to buy it for you. But you could write a
book yourself. It would help others that will come after you through this
journey
Maryland Crab: Another godincidence! I'm glad
you got through it, I hate those mri machines, I nearly had a complete meltdown
when I had to get one, I thought if I weighed 5 more pounds I wouldn't
fit.
I'm so glad you're
having compassionate care throughout all of this. 12 weeks. Well,
certainly no picnic, but that means how many times, 4?
Okay, line out the time
table, are you getting the surgeries while going through chemo? It's the
port install first, then your first chemo friday... then what?
Still praying.
Rosey: No surgeries during chemo. In fact if I
had not had the arm pit involvement of lymph nodes, they would have done
surgery first and then radiation. Incisions don't heal during chemo and
they want to attack any cancer cells that might be loose before they can land
anywhere. It’s unlikely that I have circulating cells because even though the
biopsy was positive in the sentinel lobe - the lymph nodes are not hugely
enlarged. They are "upper limits of normal". So Doc Joe doesn't think
it's been there long. Yes...four courses or approximately 3 months of chemo.
Then I have to wait til my blood levels are normal. When my blood tests show
I'm no longer radioactive ;) they can move to the mastectomy.
It gets trickier here.
If I'm still relatively healthy and if the main surgeon and the cosmetic
surgeon will play nice, I might be able to have the mastectomy and the
reconstruction at the same time. I guess there are territory issues here. The
gyn and the other surgeons apparently do not play well together. I asked about
one massive surgery and he raised his eyebrows. Have I told you this or was it
my sister? He said that would be a horrendous surgery and recovery. I told him
yes...but it was ONE horrendous surgery and recovery. Instead of three. It was
like the difference between bobbing a dogs tail all at once or doing it inch by
inch. ouch
He told me IF I found
three surgeons working together we could discuss it. And we had 5 - 6 months to
find some. But that I should keep in mind that I could be talking 3 surgeries 6
weeks apart.
Does that make you feel
tired? My last chemo SHOULD be early November. If I have to wait a month
for the blood to clean up...I have to decide if I want surgery right before
Christmas and have to recover through the holidays OR wait til early Jan for
the chop and shop.
Fighting Cancer gets easier
when you trust your doctors
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