In search of Dr. House...

Keith's mom has been in the hospital since Saturday with some mysterious symptoms. The doctors just can't seem to figure out what exactly is going on. They've ruled out things like a stroke and Lyme Disease and they're waiting for some more test results, but still no definitive diagnosis. We're really wishing it were like an episode of House and we could fast forward to the part where Dr. House fixes everything. Please send good thoughts her way!

In other news... Keith and I went to see my breast surgeon today. We talked through a couple of scenarios. The next step is for me to get another breast MRI. He wants me to get this a week after my last round of chemo (hopefully that is next week). The scan will give us a very detailed picture of what is left of the cancer in my breast. The results of this scan will determine what kind of surgery my surgeon would recommend. If there is just one spot left, he'd recommend a lumpectomy followed by radiation. If there are two spots left (there were two spots visible in my MRI in January (before chemo)), he'd recommend a mastectomy. I just want to get rid the cancer that is left. I know the recovery from the mastectomy will be harder, but honestly I'm totally ok with that. I'm actually excited to get rid of this crap. Yes, I know there is probably more floating around, but anything I can do to get rid of it is good by me.

My surgeon also spilled the beans that my oncologist is leaving?!?!?! From the sound of it, he wasn't supposed to tell me, so I'll keep my trap shut and pretend to be surprised when she tells me. I don't know how I feel about this. I trust my oncologist, but she isn't the most warm person. The doctor I will be transferred to comes highly recommended and hopefully she is a little more personable, but no matter what change is hard. I'm just feeling happier than ever that I have my trusty second opinion oncologist at UCSF (hopefully she isn't going anywhere anytime soon!).

Wish me luck for chemo next week. At this point I wouldn't be at all surprised if my counts are too low for chemo despite all my bone soup!

Send good vibes up to Duluth for Keith's mom (and her doctors)!

Sorry for the Silence

It's been too long since I wrote one of these- sorry about that. Things have been rolling along here. I had chemo last week and I'm still amazed that my blood counts were good enough. I feel pretty good. I'm definitely fatigued this round, but I'm hanging in. Still managing to get out and go for a walk everyday. I'm looking forward to my last round of this chemo cycle. I know there will be more to come, but the break will be nice.

My doctors all seem to be on the same page about what comes next...surgery and radiation! Apparently they can do the surgery about 3 weeks after my last chemo and after that I'll start radiation. I'm still working out the details, but I expect that the surgeon will recommend a lumpectomy. If I weren't stage IV they would do a double mastectomy, but since the proverbial "horse is out of the barn" they'll skip that and do a quick out-patient lumpectomy. It's a strange thing to wrap your head around, but the fact is; cancer in my breast is the least of my worries. There are micrometastases floating around throughout my body and that's what I worry about. Spending a couple months recovering from a mastectomy is not something I want to do considering I don't know how many months I've got. I'm planning on having lots of months, but you never know with this shit. The lumpectomy should get rid of a lot of what is left and then radiation will hopefully mop up the rest.

This does mean I get to add yet another doctor to my repertoire: a radiation oncologist. Woo Hoo! The bummer is that radiation is a daily thing for 4-6 weeks. I wouldn't mind if it were happening during the school year, but from the looks of things it is going to tie us down for the first part of summer. Not ideal, but there isn't too much to be done about that.

I'll post more as the details become clearer but as it stands, this is pretty much the info we have to go on. As always, there's the possibility that the plan may change. I already have an appointment set to see my 2nd opinion oncologist at UCSF in a couple weeks.

good scan!

Hi, Keith here. E's oncologist is out of town, but we saw her colleague this morning to discuss the results from last week's PET/CT scan. We've had several days of nervous apprehension thinking about the worst case, but hoping for good news. The suspense was really getting to us but, thankfully, once the doctor walked in the door it was a mere seconds before she told us that things are looking good! The previous PET/CT showed some stuff in her chest, but that was from December's pneumonia and it's clear now. Her liver and lymph nodes are clear, and the cancer in her breast has mild uptake (that's a GOOD thing). Whew! It's going in the right direction. With this news, she'll continue with her current chemo cocktail. We'll be seeing her breast surgeon on Friday to get his take on the situation and hopefully get a better idea on how to proceed regarding if/when to have surgery. He usually does a quick ultrasound in the office which is helpful in tracking progress.

Eileen's port redness has returned and it looks to be getting a little worse again, but she says it doesn't really bother her. (I joke that it looks like she has a piece of twizzler stuck to her neck.) The doc checked it this morning and didn't seem too concerned about it at all really, so I guess it just is what it is until it either clears up again or gets bad enough to do something about. It was nice to have someone look at it again though, just to confirm that we needn't worry about it.

Eileen shared with me that she's been freaking out the last few days because her arm pits (read: lymph nodes) have been sore. She was concerned (convinced?) that the pain was an indication that the cancer had gotten another foothold. As it turns out, she realized that the new shirts she bought don't fit right in that area. Could be cancer.....or, just poorly fitting clothes. Argh! See what a mindfuck this is? It's so easy to freak about every little ache and pain! (Hell, I'm even doing it....oh and I swear I get sympathetic chemo side effects.)

Anyway, thanks for playing along. We're looking forward to some better sleep tonight.