Surgery Date

I received the phone call yesterday that I will be having surgery on Nov 22. I am happy that things are moving along so quickly. Although the chemo should have killed that cancer by now, I am looking forward to having the tumor out- however, this also means removing the whole breast. That is a bummer.

On the brighter side of things I could have 2 new eye catching conversation pieces on my chest by May or June. To make the new breast they may be using muscle and tissue from my tummy and that means a free tummy tuck in the process. I guess there has to be some upside to this whole process.

I had a good night last night. I feel fine this morning other than a little groggy from the sleeping pill. I wil try 1/2 a pill tonight.

Well off to get some things donw this morning while I have the energy.

Ta, ta for now.

Love Carolin

Chemo FINISHED !!

I am so happy to be done with cycle 4. I was a bit anxious while sitting in the waiting room of the hospital. But we were off to a good start when it only took 1 I.V. It seemed to go faster than the other times. I think less flushing with saline betwen chemicals. I did however get the nasty headache from the last bag of medicine.

It is now 8 pm and I am ready for bed. I physically feel fine except for the awful headache (still). Hopefully I will have a good 3 days ahead. Hope to be running by Sunday.

Nighty night.

Love,

Carolin

More info

The surgeon today says Carolin is in for a masectomy scheduled for the week of November 22. The surgeon is good at what he does but a little on the quiet side. It will be 1 or 2 nights in the hospital. A drain in the armpit is required for 7 - 9 days. She heard in a support group that removing the drain after that is more painful than childbirth. That might be a two tylenol day. She also got a first appointment with a plastic surgeon for Nov 5 but that surgery wouldn't be until the spring.

After the surgery there's the followup chemo/radiation. If pathology finds there's still active cancer cells in the tumour that's been removed, its another round of chemo afterwards. That'd be early January. Also today is the first that we'd heard about radiation treatments - every day for 3 and a half weeks. That'd be about April if the chemo was needed or the beginning of January if we skip the chemo part.

2 days till Chemo #4

Only 2 days until my last chemo. I have been feeling really good this week. I haven't been running mainly because of the ice on the sidewalks. I have been going to the gym and doing "big" weights. It feels good to have sore muscles - it means that I am getting and staying strong. I have so few ways that I can be in control of beating this disease. Working out is one of them.

Sound like surgery will be the 3rd week of November. I am scared but at the same time happy to have the cancer tumors out of my body. I don't look forward to another 4 rounds of chemo after surgery but if it means a better chance of staying cancer free in the future then I guess 4 more rounds will be OK.

Well it is 7 pm and I can hardly stay awake. I have had a few very busy days and I have another 2 busy days to get everything done before chemo day.

Signing off for now.

Love Carolin

Lesser side effects

Just because Carolin doesn't throw up all the time doesn't mean we don't have any side effects. One troubling one is eyesight. Her's is going downhill fast and while she says that I seem to be getting more handsome, driving may get to be a problem if the trend continues. Another chemo "highlight" is "chemo brain". One in four women get this. The brain starts running at a slower speed and forgetting things. Carolin has a slight case that comes and goes. Nothing too serious. It's sort of like living with a ditzy blonde about half the time.

Chemo #3

Chemo #3 started out poorly. I had a nice big vein in one hand but the nurse poked the needle through to the other side twice. Ouch!! They are only allowed 2 tries and then they hand me off to a different nurse. Good thing!! By the third and final try things had worked out but I had a little cry. 1 I.V. is enough and 3 are tooooo many. The first 2 bags of medicine went OK, the bad looking red stuff went OK but the last bag of medicine gave me an incredible headache behind my eyes. That was the reason for my second little cry that day.

My first 2 chemo treatments were in the morning and this one was in the aftrnoon. After chemo I have about a 2-3 hour window before I start feeling the effects. We were home about 3:30. I watched TV for a bit, had something to eat, took all my anti-nausea drugs and was in bed about 7:30. I must have slept through the side effects. That was a plus. I will try to get an afternoon appointment for my last session.

Day 2 was OK. Took it easy, took my drugs and for the most part felt OK.

Today is the morning of day 3. I'm a little queasy but for the most part doing OK. Maybe this is compensation for the 3 I.V.'s.

I am hoping to go for a run either this afternoon or for sure tomorrow.

Thanks again for all the Emails, phone calls, love and support. It is certainly appreciated.

Signing off for now. Love Carolin

OK, session #3

Chemo day was yesterday. It was a bad experience with more pain and discomfort than we had had in the past at the hospital. It was a bad omen for what lay ahead and we raced home with a bad headache and fears about how the night was going to go.

Speaking from the next morning I can say, so far so good. Last night we threw the best that modern pharmaceutical science had, at it. Things got better and she went to sleep about 8PM. This morning she's just fuzzy but the aches and pains are not too bad. We're keeping our fingers crossed. We're not out of the woods for about 3 more days.

For those who've been reading this for awhile, you'll recall that one of the drugs that gets administered looks like red kool-aid and is manually pushed in using 3 different needles. Yesterday we heard that if it doesn't go in the vein correctly, it will burn under the skin so badly that you require plastic surgery. She went on to say that they had an antidote that they would quickly administer so that wouldn't happen to us, but my mind was still back on the information about how toxic the stuff was. Yikes!

Getting Braver

I have been told that I will have to have another round of Chemo after surgery. This one is a hair loss one as well. My hopes of growing my hair back the first week of November are gone.

Since lossing my hair in September I have still been going to my gym but I have been wearing my wig and going off-peak hours. However, a wig and working out are not two things that go together. Even with the chinooks that we get through out the winter in Calgary I know that I cannot rely on being able to run outside all winter. I can't imagine wearing a wig and running on a treadmill.

Soooo, on Monday I went to my gym to do my favorite Body Pump class with only my bandana on. I was scared to face all the people I see all the time as no one knew I was sick. 2 people approached me and I told them what was going on but left the class 5 minutes early so that I didn't have to talk about it any more. Wednesday I went back again. This time a little more prepared and a little stronger. I stayed for the whole class. After class a group of ladies came to me with an overwhelming offer of help, child care, food, support and hugs. I am happy that I faced my fears on Monday. I feel safe at the gym now and look forward to going back to the classes and staying strong. One more hurdle overcome.

Is the Chemo working?

Carolin had a visit with the doctor before chemo session #3. The things we learned:
- the cancer in the lymph nodes and a site below the collar bone is shrinking quickly. (Yeah!!)
- the main tumor is still large and hard to say if it is being affected.
Two more sessions of chemo are still planned. Next one is Thursday.

Camerons for Carolin

Ready for the walk.

Strong loving women  

CIBC Run for the Cure

Today Carolin , family and 15,000 close friends participated in a cancer fund-raising run. Actually we did the walk part which was 1 kilometer of the toughest flat, paved downtown road that you can imagine. It was cool but the spirits were high and it was a lot of fun.