The Vacation is Over

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK! It's back. The biopsy of the rash on my breast is positive for cancer, so I'm headed back to chemo. My oncologist is also suspicious that what looked like pneumonia on the PET/CT could be cancer too. So on January 18th I'm scheduled to start chemo again. The plan is to try the same chemo cocktail as before (Taxotere, Carboplatin and Herceptin). I am not totally convinced that it makes sense to reuse the same chemo so soon, but I'm going to give it a try. The rash on my breast is really easy to monitor so after two rounds of chemo we'll take a close look and if it doesn't look better (or if it looks worse) we'll move on to something new.

In the meantime I'm going to get a second opinion at UCSF (the closest comprehensive cancer center). I spent several hours today figuring out how to orchestrate that and at this point I've done my part. Now we wait first for my records to make their way to UCSF and then we'll wait again while they look over my records. I had a very good experience with the people over there so far. The first gentleman really talked me though the process nicely and then a couple hours later I got a call from the woman who will be collecting all my records as they come. She explained how things would work and even told me she'd call and keep me posted!

My cancer vacation is over for now, so I'll get back to updating here again. More details as they come.

Most Expensive Pneumonia Diagnosis Ever!!!

Sorry it has been so long! I've been happily going along feeling pretty good since my last post.

So last Thursday was a busy day for me; I went to see a dermatologist to have a rash checked and I had a routine PET/CT to check on things. I'll start at the beginning- I went to the dermatologist in the morning expecting a prescription for some kind of cream for this weird rash. I wasn't too worried because I'd already shown this rash to two different doctors and both had said it didn't look like cancer. So here I am sitting there and the dermatologist says he really should biopsy it just to be sure. Hmmm...I wasn't sure this was a great idea since I was going to get a PET/CT later on that same day, so I tried to put it off. The doctor said we really shouldn't wait, so he took the biopsy. After he finished I asked when he'd have the results and he said a month!?!?! Yes, a MONTH!?!?! WTF! Had I known that, there would be no way I would have had him do it! I would have gone across the street to the breast surgeon to have it done and gotten the results in a couple days, urgh! The good news is that when I told my oncologist she said she'd get on the horn and get the results herself.

Now for the PET/CT. I got the results of the PET/CT this afternoon after a day of nervous waiting (yeesh, I hate waiting for test results). My scan showed a clean liver, a little something in the skin of my breast (where that rash and the biopsy happened, so who knows what's going on there) and what appears to be pneumonia in my lungs. I've had a hacking cough and chest cold for a couple weeks, but I don't feel too bad. Who else gets pneumonia diagnosed with an $8000 PET/CT?!?! Really it is all pretty good news. I went to get a chest x-ray today so they can check out my lungs before and after the antibiotics. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm really hoping I have pneumonia!

So that's all the news and then some. Keith and I are off to the U.P. tomorrow morning for Christmas with the Cormiers. I'm off to finish packing. I'll update again when I hear the results of the biopsy. Merry Christmas to all!

All Healed Up!

I went back for my post-op appointment on Monday. She took a look at my incisions, picked some of the glue out of my belly button (TMI, sorry) and told me I'm healing up well. I got to see some photos of my innards; really cool, but so strange. After years of drawing diagrams of anatomy when I taught biology I sort of forgot that I was drawing "cartoon" versions of everything. In reality they don't look quite like that! The good news is that the ovaries and tubes are clear of cancer and my liver at least looks good from the outside.

After we got home, Keith thought it would have been funny to mess with the doctor and ask her when we could start trying to conceive. That would have been pretty mean, but funny none the less...in a demented way. (we've got to have some laughs!).

Now we just motor along until my next big scan. Not sure when that'll be, should be in the next month or two. I'm getting my Herceptin every three weeks and hopefully that's killing any bits of cancer that are still hanging around!

feeling good

I spent a nice drizzly day lounging.

My mouth is back to normal and I can eat anything (and I have been eating everything!). I'm pretty sore since my innards were shuffled, but it's manageable and I've even taken a couple walks with Red and Keith today. I'm on heavy duty ibuprofen and, thankfully, haven't needed the "big gun" pain killers.

Looking forward to a relaxing and slow weekend!

Resting Comfortably

Back home. So far things are going easier than expected, but we'll see how it goes after the pain meds wear off. Keith went and filled my prescription for heavy duty motrin, and I'm sitting here trying to choke down enough food to safely take the pill. They gave me something that dried out all my secretions so I'm guzzling water and eating salines is a complete joke. I had some broth and seemed ok but crackers are futile. I came out of the sedation much easier than when I had surgery to install my port....what a relief! I just had to wait in the recovery room for a while because I had to prove to them that I could pee (not a problem). I'm tired.....more later.

Unremarkable Scan

Those are the words of the radiologist. The take away point is that they can't see any reason for my hip to hurt. There's no cancer, there's no evidence of arthritis or anything else for that matter. I'm relieved it isn't cancer, but now I've got to figure out how to fix it. I'm wondering if it isn't my bodies reaction to Herceptin or perhaps just a hold over from chemo. Who knows, I'm just relieved it isn't more cancer!

Snip Snip, I'm Getting Fixed

It's been a while since I posted. I've been enjoying the routine of getting back to work. All this cancer crap has made me realize how much I enjoy my job (the teaching part anyway). School is going well, I'm feeling good and I manage to forget about cancer sometimes!

Soon after going back to school I noticed my left hip was bugging me. It is sore and achey and while I think it is getting a little better I'm headed in for an MRI tomorrow to get it checked out. My oncologist isn't too worried about it, so that's heartening.

In other news...I'm all scheduled up for my oophorectomy next Thursday. I need to get this done because my BRCA2 mutation also means I've got a pretty good chance (27%) of getting ovarian cancer. By all reports this surgery will be pretty easy physically. It isn't as easy to wrap my head around emotionally. Keith and I had been trying to have a baby for a while before all this cancer mess started and this surgery will put a definitive end to all that and that makes us both sad. The reality is that knowing I have a 50% chance of passing along my "cancer gene", I probably wouldn't want to be procreating anyway. We've just got to wrap our heads around the upsides of being "child-free" not childless; more time to ourselves and no need to save for college!