New Year Update

Happy New Year everyone!  I want to get a very quick post out for those still reading along!

Christmas break was a much welcome break in the routine.....Chris had most of the time off and for the first time ever we didn't travel!!  As hoped and planned, I was feeling good enough to attend the Peach Bowl here in Atlanta and man, it was so exciting to be there and cheer the Frogs on to victory over Ole Miss.  That was on a Thursday, exactly two weeks from my last infusion.

There has not been any dramatic "bounce back" the way it happened with the first 8 weeks of chemo. This is more gradual, but every day I am feeling a little more energetic.  My mind isn't so weighed down by the fatigue.  That part feels good.  I am anxious about the upcoming surgery, but praying for peace and logically, I am completely secure that we are doing the right thing.  The neuropathy is getting better, along with the shooting pains, so that is also good.  The hot flashes, on the other hand, are much worse again.  I plan to talk to the oncologist about it this Friday when I see him again.  I can only assume that my body has grown accustomed to the dose I have been taking so I can sleep at night, and while it WAS holding off the hot flashes by day also (I would start getting them around dinner time and then they would continue until I took my little blue pill), now they are all day long and crazy bad....Surging heat through my chest and face and head then down my back and arms.  Very distracting and of course, uncomfortable.  My question for the dr is....why am I still getting them?  Is this related to the Herceptin that I have to keep taking?  You might recall that is the non-chemo medication that I have to take for a full year (because I am HER+).  That is why I am keeping the port and have to continue going back to the Infusion Room every 3 weeks to get a 3 week dose of Herceptin.  My first appointment for Herceptin only is this Friday.  I love that I totally forgot that when I wrote my last post.  I guess I wrote something about being glad to never have to go back to that place.  After Chris read the post he said, "you know you have to go back there for another 40 weeks to get the Herceptin infusions, right?"  Duh.  I guess I completely blocked that, but regardless, it is NOT chemo, and I can drive myself and there are not supposed to be any or many side effects.  We will definitely find out.  And I have to remember that Herceptin is my friend.  By all accounts it has amazing success in preventing my kind of cancer from recurring.

So.....my energy is improving, my mood is improving, my hair is growing....up to half of an inch already!  Overall, I still can barely believe that this has all happened and is happening.  I have read most of a book called Silver Linings that my sweet friend Wendi gave me, and I can so relate to the woman who wrote it....also a breast cancer survivor.  She described the feeling as watching yourself in the third person, kind of like when you know you are about to be in a car accident and all of a sudden it feels like this isn't really happening, but you are watching it happen?  That is a pretty decent description of how I often feel when I think about this cancer thing.  I think back over the last SIX months and it's like, did that just really happen?!?

Chris is measuring my hair!  See - half of an inch.  This is a view of the back of my head, in case you were wondering.

I have cancer-related appointments for the next several days.  Today I saw the general surgeon for our pre-op appt.  A few questions were answered, I signed the consent forms, they examined me and made sure that my incisions have healed well from the lumpectomy and sentinel node removal.  My under arm and under side of my arm remain numb from the removal of my two sentinel nodes. They say this is normal, and it doesn't really bother me, but it's a funny thing to touch your arm and feel the pressure but not really the touch.  I also spoke with the cosmetic surgeon for a few additional questions I had.  I know I will have two drains coming out of each breast, for at least a week.  I have read that there are special camisoles that you can buy with little pouches to put the drains in so that they don't pull on the surgical site, which is uncomfortable or painful.  I plan to look into that ASAP, though I think I can also pin them to an oversized button down shirt and be fine as well.  At this point, my parents plan to come and stay with us for at least a week, or as long as I need them, to help around the house and with the kids.  Apparently I will be instructed not to lift anything over 5 pounds for a period of time.  All of this sounds lousy, but I am very confident in the team that I have assembled.  I ended up deciding to use Dr. Joseph Woods as my plastic surgeon.  He is the head of plastic surgery at Piedmont, and has excellent credentials, and has many cancer and non-cancer patients.  He gave me some good advice on how I can help prepare for surgery, so that made me feel better to have a "list" of things I can do.

Tomorrow I have to go back to the hospital for another echocardiogram.  You probably remember that this is because the first chemo had the potential to damage my heart (with some of that potential damage not showing up until much later), and the Herceptin also has a potential side effect of heart damage.  Now that I am going to Herceptin only, they need another look at my heart to see where we are and to compare it with the after Herceptin heart images.  Thursday I finally have an appointment with the nutritionist at the Cancer Wellness Center.  I hope to walk away with some specific pointers on foods to avoid, foods to enjoy, etc.  I have read so much conflicting information, and I know that this is an area of controversy and I know that there is no "cure" so to speak and that is not what I am thinking.  BUT.....I want to be informed and I DO believe that different cancers have different triggers in different people, and I know that we have room for improvement in our family diet.  I want to find something realistic, yet I am willing to make changes.  We'll see what she says.  If I walk away with just the idea that a standard healthy diet is the way to go then that is fine.  But, I am curious to know what advice is being given out to cancer patients by a nutritionist.

As I said, on Friday I go back to the regular place where I have been taken for my chemo, and they have to access my port again, but the Herceptin should take about an hour, if I remember correctly.  At this point, I consider that not too big of a deal.  Then Monday I have an evaluation appointment with a Lymphedema specialist.  I think I wrote about this before so I won't get into it again, but it is related to the risk of lymphedema (unhealthy swelling in the arm due to the lack of good remaining lymphatic channels) in my right arm as a result of the removal of so many remaining lymph nodes under my right arm.  I will be fitted for a special sleeve (sort of like the blood pressure cuffs) to use during risky times, like flying.  Whew!  Lots of appointments.  And I can't believe my surgery is two weeks from tomorrow!!  Yikes.

I am ending with a couple of photos I realized I never included.  These both arrived by mail as a surprise from my sweet cousin Erin, all the way from Utah.  I am saying cousin because I don't know the term for "wife of my husband's cousin" but I am pretty sure that cousin is the right term for this gal!  Reminders like these touch me more than you can imagine.  Each time I see them I think of the person who gave the gift, and the heart they had to think of me, when there are so many other things they could be thinking about!

Pretty pink bracelet with positive reminders and also a great way to raise awareness and share my story to help others

Handmade quilt using my favorite color to tie it all together!!  Made with love!  Beautiful, and treasured.