"See Ya Next Year!"

Those were the words that echo'd the hallway at my last visit with Dr. Khoury. I got the all clear to see him in March 2016. I will have my 3rd post chemo PET scan just days prior to the appt. I ended up having the back Xray after horrible pain one night at work, followed by 6 days of the medrol dose pack. The pain is still there but not as bad. Khoury asked me if I wanted to do an MRI but right now I think I will just wait it out. Maybe get an adjustment and a massage. I don't know. I really need my husband to get his back fixed first. It's only right as he has suffered for years longer than I have.

The Race for the Cure got rained out this year. We were all bummed out. I was looking forward to taking my kids downtown to see all the people and celebrate life. But we still wore our Team Sheldon t-shirts and took a family picture at 5:30 in the morning then went to Denny's for breakfast since we were all awake and ready to roll.

So what's next on the agenda for me? I guess I just wait. Try to live life to the fullest and keep praying the cancer stays away. I plan to enjoy the holidays this year again with family. After all, isn't that what's it all about?

2nd Pet Results

My 2nd Pet scan came back clear! Well, I have a lymph node on the right that is lighting up, probably due to infection (my breast wound from the reconstruction surgery.) And there is another big cyst in the pelvis, which we've narrowed down to ovulatory cysts. So overall, no cancer! I am still having back pain that comes and goes, some days being worse than others. Dr. Khoury ordered a medrol dose pack and an Xray to follow up on that. 

My breast wound is healing nicely. Taking it's own sweet time but healing nonetheless. I guess in a month I will meet with Dr. Gill again to talk about the next stage of reconstruction. I thought getting the implants would be the final stage but it's apparently not in Dr. Gill's master plan. He wants to talk about fat grafting and nipple reconstruction. It's such a long journey thus far and I think I may just want to be done. I can't keep taking off work and especially not just to look cosmetically correct. It's a hard decision to make. I don't want to put my family in financial strain yet again. So I have to pray about that.

Race for the Cure is on Halloween in Houston this year. I plan on taking the family, along with Miller's, downtown to witness firsthand how awesome it is to see survival and fighters dealing with this horrible disease. I want to do the survivor walk but haven't signed up yet. Even if I don't do the walk, I will be there cheering on everyone and knowing that I too am a survivor!

Pre PET scan jitters

So I have been having some pain in my spine for the past several weeks. A dull pain that isn't muscular, isn't relieved with ice, heat, or medications. I am determined this is bone mets because Satan keeps putting that in my head. My scan is tomorrow morning at 7:15. I won't get results until Thursday at 4:30 pm! My anxiety level is exceptionally high and thank Dr. Khoury for Xanax! So what will that mean if it is a hot spot on the PET scan? Things I've been reading include words like 'incurable'. Don't go to google when you have health concerns. It's scary! Khoury is also ordering a CA 27.29 lab which tells him if the cancer is back. My tumor markers were elevated last lab draw so I'm curious about that test too. I guess there's no sense in worrying about it now when I can't find out anything until Thursday. 

Open wound

I  ended up taking six weeks off work after the reconstruction surgery. The week before I went back I noticed a spot the size of a pencil eraser under my left breast, the radiated side, that opened up and was draining. It looked to me like it was a stitch that rejected and was red around the site. I noticed it when we were in Chicago. When we got back from Chicago I saw Dr. Gill and asked to be put on antibiotics. Three weeks later and I still have the hole. It's not red and is looking a little better but honestly it's taking longer than I imagined it would. I have been bra-less so I don't have friction on the wound too. I see Gill in a few weeks to recheck it. If he's not happy with it he wants to take me to the OR to close it, giving me a "margarita". I don't want to go back to the OR.

9 days down and drain free!

Got the pesky drain out yesterday at my post op visit. So after being told I could be off six weeks, then only four, I'm being told again it may be back to six. Dr Gill doesn't want me to rip out any of my stitches in there by pushing or pulling too much. I will know more on Sept 8 when I go for another visit. I have dermabond glue over my incisions under the breasts which will stay on another week to 10 days. Once that comes off, I'm suppose to use a silicone based gel to help lessen the color of the scars on my chest from my mastectomy, and the bypass scar. I'm not certain right now I will go forth with getting nipples reconstructed. I feel like my scar is so big there across the breast that it wouldn't look right. That's up in the air for now. So glad to get the expanders out and have soft natural feeling breasts in there. Tomorrow I have an ultrasound to check those ovulatory cysts again and talk to Dr Boyd about my labs I had done for her. It's hard trying to hang out and do nothing but rest when you feel so good. I'm having a bit of anxiety over being alone during the days my kids are at school and I'm all alone. I want to be productive and help out my family but I still have restrictions I have to abide by. I just need one thing to accomplish each day and I would feel better and not as guilty staying home.

Breast reconstruction surgery

My surgery went fabulous and I couldn't ask for a better recovery thus far. I checked in early at the hospital and they got me right back. Bad news was they couldn't use the port for my IV. Good news is they got the IV in my hand the first stick! I waited in Preop for about two hours before they rolled me back to the surgical suite at 10:55 and gave me happy juice. I always enjoy that happy juice, I won't lie! I woke up around 12:50, had some apple juice and crackers, got dressed at 1:30 and was out the door! No complications. Jaelyn, Mom, and Erik all were there with me during the surgery. We also had some other guests, Yolanda and her sister Inez. Mom and Erik spent a week with them when I was in ICU last year in the coma. They unfortunately lost their mom and now like to call my mom "mom" and me "sissy". I don't really know her that well because I was in a coma but Londa always seemed to put a smile on my parents face and was what they needed at the time. She has such a big heart from what I'm gathering as I slowly learn more about her. I got home a little before 3pm and the rest of the night just hung out in my chair being bored. I really don't have much pain but continue taking the medicine as a precaution. I'm only on one ultram and Tylenol so it's not that much to start with. I have one drain on the left breast that hopefully will come out next Tuesday in the office. It's super hard keeping my arms down by my waist. You never know how much you reach for things during the day until you are told that's a no-no. I went to bed around 10 and was up by 11:30 because I was itching. Took two benadryls and am currently waiting for them to kick in and make me sleepy. I'm anxious to hear about stage 2, the nipple reconstruction. Oh yeah, my cancer tumor markers, the CA 125 and CEA are going up and Dr. K thinks it could be because of the tamoxifen. I noticed as a precaution he is running a CA 27.29 which is used to detect metastasis with my next labs in two months, along with a repeat PET scan. Makes me a little nervous I have to admit. Besides the ovarian cysts, I'm not having problems anywhere else except for an occasional headache which I feel is due to caffeine withdrawals. We will see. Better be safe checking that out. 

Next reconstruction surgery is August 17th

I am just about 6-7 weeks from getting my new boobs! Dr. Gill wants me to have an appt with Dr. Avendano for cardiac clearance and once I pass that I should be good to go for his part of the transformation. I will not know how big he can go until he gets in there and sees how the skin will stretch without cutting off blood supply. He said he can make my breasts "sisters, not twins." Probably my favorite quote so far from all my docs. I don't expect them to look like 18 year old boobs but I hope they will look normal someday, maybe after the nipple reconstruction surgery down the road. He is going to use a lat flap where they take the muscle from my back and create a pouch for the implant on the left side. This incision will be about 6-8 inches long from what I have seen on another breast patient and photos. That part I am dreading. Painful to say the least. My mom will be coming for a week to stay with me and my family and take care of the mom things I can't take care of. I expect to be in the hospital over night x 1 night only and come home with drains like last time. I am anticipating feeling better by a month out because I booked a flight to Chicago for Erik and I to get away for a quick weekend without kids. I look forward to being one step closer to this journey's end. 

First of many Pet scans post treatment

So I passed my PET scan without "lighting" up anywhere so that means no cancer detected! But on the down side I do have a pesky 7cm ovarian cyst on the left side that will have to come out if it doesn't shrink on its own in the next four weeks. July 16th I will have a follow up ultrasound and then meet with Dr. Boyd to see if I need my ovaries removed. Yet another surgery I really don't want to have done but may need. The upside would be by taking them out it drastically reduces the estrogen production in my body and since my cancer is estrogen positive (it feeds on estrogen) this is a good thing. The down side would be instant menapause with no hormone treatment to relieve symptoms like hot flashes. Usually if you go thru menapause you at least can have a hormone patch to help with the flashes but again that hormone is estrogen and not good for my body. So for now we pray the cyst shrinks or miraculously goes away. Hey, I can pray for that! 

Radiation and Post Treatment Plans

Radiation went off without too much of a hitch. I only had 33 treatments but around treatment #25 my left armpit got really burnt and we had to change to localized radiation or my "burst" for a week to give my armpit a break. I was using silvadene cream multiple times a day and to this day it only looks like I had a tan in that area. There is a spot on my left breast from the localized treatment that is permanently reddened in the shape of a circle. It was right in the area where they found the original tumors though so I'm glad they were focused on that spot. When I completed my treatments, my radiation doctor turned to me and said, "So, it looks like you are cancer-free!" What wonderful words to hear! No longer did I have to wake up every day and goto treatments at 8:15. No longer did I have to be reminded daily that I was a cancer patient. This new life post cancer was one I will live with no regrets. I am now working night shifts and loving the extra money and easier workload. I am seeing the oncologist every month right now because I started tamoxifen. Having no side effects from that medication at all. I was having hot flashes throughout the first part of radiation treatments because of the chemo putting me through menapause. But that's even improved and I think I'm back to normal again. I have a follow up PET scan on June 15th and I am scheduled for my reconstruction surgery on August 17th. My mom is coming to stay with us for a week while I recover. I should be in the hospital for just a day after surgery. But they will take the back muscle on the left side of my back and wrap it around, using it as a pouch so to say for the implant. Sounds painful to me but necessary to truly put this behind me.

Last Chemo Treatment

Today was my very last treatment! 16 treatments completed! Erik took the day off and came with me like usual. We had breakfast at Denny's, which has become our routine on Thursdays. At noon, my friends and family joined me as I Rang my bell to tell everyone I was done with chemo! Then we went to lunch at Asian City. Overall a very great day! Tomorrow I work and life as I know it changes once again these next two weeks. No lab draws, no weekly chemo, no doctor appointments. Whatever will I do on my days off? Dr. Khoury wants me to have a bone density scan, labs and appt in 2 months, and he wants me to goto the lymphadema clinic for my left arm. But for the next two weeks I'm gonna be a normal healthy person.

Update and Plan for the Future

Met with Dr. Gill on Tuesday and apparently my right expander flipped over and he can't get to the port to do fills. So I'm lucky I have enough loose skin on that side to get any size implant I want in there basically. The left side works but we decided not to fill until after radiation, April 7th is my next appt for a full. I meet with the radiation doctor Dr. Nimi next Tuesday to discuss the next course of action and get an idea in a timeline for radiation. Also need to know if she needs the expanders emptied before radiation. I have two chemos left after today and my bell ringing celebration will be January 22 at Asian City. Can't wait to get done with the weekly lab draws and weekly chemos. It's been good but it's exhausting having to go to the office ever week twice. Good thing I really like the people there! Back to paying copays as its the first of the year. That part stinks. Today at chemo I managed to get some of my CEU modules done for work, my NRP certification. The insomnia, hot flashes, and constipation continue but I am getting thru it.