Down the Hole Again

It's really hard to be positive all the time. I've learned that a good attitude helps with any situation. Sometimes there's a lapse, though. In my job, I see lots of cancer patients. Today, I met a lovely, lovely lady who was diagnosed with breast cancer a few years ago. She went through the entire drill at that time. Chemo, surgery, radiation. She was getting a scan today because of some pain in the opposite armpit. I can't quite descibe how I felt when I saw her scan this afternoon. She had lots of cancer growing on the other side now. Oh, damn. Oh, damn. Oh, damn...

ER! ER!

I have a chest & head cold and a slight temperature. But chemo people have to call the Oncologist when little stuff like that happens, so I did. The doc directed me to go to the ER! Ewww... don't want to go there! But, of course we did. They took a chest xray to make sure I wasn't working on pnemonia and drew some blood to make sure my white cell count was ok. And, of course, everything was ok so I went home about three hours after I got there.

My brief experience with the Sinai ER was very impressive! Everyone - the clerk at the front desk, the doc, the three nurses we saw, the xray tech, even the poor person who had to collect money from us - were so efficient and so Nice! We had zero wait time in the waiting room and got whisked back to a room immediately. The nurse and the doc popped in frequently to give us updates. I don't think that all of this nice treatment was because I am a pathetic cancer patient with a little bald head, I think that they are genuinely nice. Bravo!

MRI Biopsy

Went to American Radiology at Green Spring on Wednesday for an MRI guided biopsy. I've never even heard of that! I'm so lucky that I can tolerate so much because the position that you're in for that procedure - well, I just can't imagine some little old lady being able to lay there with her boob clamped and arms up for 30 minutes! Whew! Anyhoo, they couldn't do the biopsy because the 'thing' they were trying to get to was no longer visible by MRI. Which means the chemo is doing a bang-up job. Yay! And it also means that, on this day, I didn't have to have a giant needle poked in me. Double Yay!!

Got Straight

I've gotten all my questions answered about my chemo. Turns out, the confusion was entirely my own. Although, I was left out of the loop somewhat by the Oncology team! David and I met with Dr Truica a couple of months ago to discuss the chemo schedule. The Nurse Practitioner was even nice enough to print out a calendar of treatments for me. So, what for us was a firm schedule, was not so much for the O. team. Since my case is a bit unusual (lucky me!), I've been discussed a bunch. They even presented my case to the Tumor Board at Sinai. The Tumor Board meets about once a month and consists of Oncologists, Radiation Oncologists, Oncologic Surgeons and Nurse Practitioners. They discuss challenging cases and form a concensus opinion about how to treat these cases. I think it's a great concept. Very non-egotistical of some potentially very egotistical people! After the Tumor Board met, I remember being told that I'd need a biopsy but I don't remember the chemo schedule change. But, overall, the change to the chemo was pretty minor. So it was no big deal. We did find out, by giving me the 'dense' dose of Taxol, that I definitely need the 'regular' dose, given every week instead of every other week. My reaction to the Taxol was NOT GOOD!! Lots of bone pain - ouch! And plenty of tummy trouble!

BTW - My case is 'unusual' because, although the tumor in the lymph node under my arm consisted of breast cancer cells, there was no primary tumor identified in either breast. I had a very fancy breast MRI which showed 'something' at 12 o'clock in the left breast. Could have been a former tumor, now dried up and inactive, that 'seeded' the tumor in the lymph node. It was this 'thing' that the Tumor Board recommemded a biopsy of.

An Interesting Weekend

I'm not at all sure what's happening this weekend. I go the new chemo agents (Taxol and Herceptin) on Friday but I didn't get the side effects I expected. The confusion started on Friday morning in the Infusion Center when the nurse declared that my 'orders are all wrong'. Not a comforting thing to hear. Apparently, she could alter some of the orders, but I was still getting the Taxol and Herceptin, just like I thought. At the time, it didn't seem necessary to go into the ask-a-million-questions mode. Some of the things that the oncologist said seemed to be contradicted by the nurse. Like - I wouldn't need a Nulasta shot on Saturday, which they sent me for anyway. The Nulasta shot helps support the immune system, which is blasted by chemo. I was told, though, that Taxol doesn't need Nulasta but I went to get the shot anyway, like the nurse said,  b/c it can't really hurt. I'm wondering about that thought right now because my bones and joints are aching big time! To add to the fun, the Nulasta nurse, on Saturday, said that I got the 'dense' dose of Taxol which is given every other week. I'm supposed to get Taxol every week. So, do I feel so lousy because I got too much Taxol?? Sooo, tomorrow morning, I'll be getting back into commando mode; getting answers! Look out Sinai!

My Big Feet

Hey, looks like I haven't blogged in a while. Guess that's because, until a few days ago, things were pretty quiet - or maybe I'm getting used to the 'chemo effect'. What a crappy thing to get used to! I'd much rather be getting used to sitting on the nice, hot beach under an umbrella with a cool drink. But, then something comes along to jolt you out of your stupor. My feet and hands have revolted - and they are revolting to see! Red, somewhat swollen and tender. I keep bashing my hands into things and the cuts take ONE MONTH to heal. Can't walk right and I have these attractive blisters on my hands. Bubonic Plague, anyone? Oy! So, I talked to the Oncologist. She's going to postpone my next chemo treatment until my extremities behave. What the heck happened? One minute I'm the poster girl for getting through chemo, the next minute I'm down for the count. Down, for now maybe, but not out! I will sit down and put my feet up for a few days and carry on with the program as soon as possible. Gotta keep hammering those cancer cells!

Debbie's Book

Props to my wonderful sister-in-law Debbie Godfrey. The book she gave me at the beginning of my treatment is now the only 'cancer' material that I read. The book is called "What Helped Me Through: Cancer Survivors Share Wisdom and Hope" by Julie K. Silver, MD. It's mostly quotes from survivors about non-medical issues; things that 'helped them through'. I don't look at articles about cancer or treatment. I don't read any of the other books that the hospital gave me. I don't surf the net. I don't read the handouts about the medications I'm being given. This is a little odd because I've spent my entire career as a Nuclear Medicine Technologist reading journal articles, going to continuing ed. seminars and in general learning, in detail, about everything new and known about the studies that we do. But, as a cancer patient, my only source of info about treatment and drug side effects are my oncologist and the nurses in the Infusion Center. The nurses, especially, are the best filter about what to expect with each treatment. Having seen and heard about all side effects, they tell me about only the effects that are likely to happen, not every possible one. Lots less stress!