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.

Rainy Red

It has been really wet here this week. I am officially tired of the rain! Red and I didn't get out to do as much walking as usual, but when we did he wore his raincoat. Lest you think we've lost our minds...a wet dog means a wet dog bed (even if I towel him off his bed gets damp) and a wet dog bed eventually turns into a mildewy dog bed. Ick! Not what is needed here, so Red wears a raincoat (and I think he looks jaunty)!

Staying the Course For Now

I got the same old chemo cocktail today. When I saw the doctor she recommended that I get a PET/CT to check on things and then we'll have better information before we make a decision about changing treatments. My doctor is concerned about the skin thickening, but was still really impressed at how much better my skin looks overall. The red spots of the skin metastases are almost all gone.

In other news, bone soup is back on my menu. My platelet count was LOW as were a bunch of other things. I have been taking some iron supplements, but it isn't quite enough. I don't know if the soup will do any good, it may just be that my bone marrow is beat up by all the chemo but, I figure it can't hurt. I'm thinking I need to try my hand at making some homemade pho (one of my most favorite comfort foods).

I'm looking forward to taking it slow this week. It looks like it will be raining a lot, so Red and I are going to have to watch the radar and wear our rain coats (yes, Red has a rain coat!).

Change in Treatment?

First things first, the rash over the catheter that runs from my port to the vein is looking better. Turns out it was probably infected after all.

The bigger deal is that it is starting to look like this chemo cocktail isn't working as well as we'd like. Keith and I went in for a visit with my breast surgeon today. It was meant to be a quick check on my rash, but I had noticed some skin thickening on my breast a couple days ago. This was worrisome because the skin had been getting better. So, what it seems like, is that while the visible cancer on the skin appears be almost completely cleared up, the tumor in the breast isn't shrinking much at all. According to the ultra sound the tumor is about the same (maybe slightly smaller), but the skin thickening is a sign that something is going on. The doctor thinks that it is the result of some blockage in the lymphatic system.

As usual, I'm glad to have him on the case. He's got a call into my oncologist to talk to her about what is going on. His take is that it might be time to switch chemos. I'm all for it. While there may well come a time when I'm happy to just have things not growing, right now I want things shrinking!

I'm scheduled for chemo this coming Tuesday. I might get it or I might not. There is no way I'll get a new chemo on Tuesday. It takes time to get that kind of thing approved. I guess I'll just wait and see what my oncologist says on Tuesday. I honestly wouldn't mind another round. I know that probably sounds dumb but, I hate the idea of not having any chemo for several weeks while all the logistics get worked out.

The upside of all this is that I just noticed the change last Wednesday and I just happened to have appointments with the surgeon on Friday and the oncologist on Tuesday, so the ball got rolling really quickly. In addition to that I've already talked about what my next chemo cocktail would be with my oncologist and the specialist at UCSF, so it should be a pretty straight forward decision. I say that now, but who knows...

One thing all this crap has forced me to deal with is uncertainty. Will I need to take Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off to recuperate from chemo? I won't know until Tuesday afternoon. Urgh. I hate that! I'm much more comfortable when I know the plan!

Third Round On Board

My blood counts were good enough that I got my chemo today. Yippee! I saw my oncologist and we chatted about the second opinion and she nodded in agreement. She seemed genuinely disappointed that I didn't have more progress pictures to show her today, but I'll be sure to load up the iPad next round. The drip wasn't ridiculously long today, but it does take some serious time (5+hours).

I was a little nervous going in because the skin over the tube attached to my port is red and irritated. The nurse that accessed me (hooked up to my port to draw blood) didn't seem too worried because "it doesn't look like an infection". My infusion nurse was more worried and thought the doctor might put me on antibiotics. When the doctor came around she told me to put vaseline on it and keep an eye on it. If it isn't better, I am to go see the surgeon who put it in. The good news is that I already have an appointment with him next week, so I'm all set (for once!).