Surgery postponed - AGAIN

The plastic surgeon will not do the reconstruction while I am on chemo. That's a really letdown. But he says if my white count is too low and I get an infection that the transplant could be lost. I can understand that but it doesn't make it any easier. Looks like we are looking towards fall now. Even though 8 weeks of chemo and 6 weeks recovery put us near the beginning of July the doc says they do very little elective surgery in the summer. Too many trauma's in the summer and too few doctors.

Chemo #1 - Round 4

Wow time goes by fast. And here we are again counting the chemo's. This will be the fourth round of chemo that I have had. It went OK yesterday. About 3 hours from start to finish. Boy am I glad that I have this port. I may not get it taken out. They put me in a bed yesterday instead of a chair. That is always nice. I had a little nap which seems to make the time go by faster. By now I think I have ownership in the hospital parking lot. I should have my own space.

I feel a bit strange about writing about chemo yet one more time. I can't imagine that you guys want to hear these details AGAIN. Most of you could probably give me my chemo by now. I will have to send out mini medical degreees to you all when this is complete. Anyway, I would like to know if you readers really want to read about this topic anymore.

I go see the plastic surgeon tomorrow. I hope this little set back won't interfere with my reconstruction. I REALLY want to get that done. I'll let you know what he says.

Also my oncologist has taken me off Aromasin. This is the drug that I had my oopheractomy to take. He figures with the reoccurances that I have had that it isn't working. Too bad I can't have my ovaries back.

Anyway off to my HAIR APPOINTMENT. I don't know why I am so excited as I only have about an inch of hair. But maybe a little highlighting will give it a bit of punch - right now it kind of looks like a helmet.

Gotta run.

Happy spring to everyone.

Love Carolin

The good, the bad and the ugly

The good is that spring is almost here. My tulips are starting to pop out of the ground. I have a spring in my step and Jessica has her bike out.

The bad is that my neck is in a lot of pain. I started physio this morning. He says "no neck collar". This makes the muscles weaker. I had acupuncture, heat and some muscle stimulation. Many many exercises to do many many times a day. I have to say that this afternoon it is feeling better already. But I have put my gym membership on hold for a while. If I can't be doing weights I may as well walk outside with the dog rather than walk inside on the treadmill.

The ugly part is that I start chemo again tomorrow. I have a new spot on my liver which is 2.2 cm x 1.8 cm. Back on Navelbine. Same as before - 3 weeks on and 1 week off. After 2 complete cycles (7 weeks) they will do another CAT scan. I will continue with Herceptin as well. My veins are getting hard in my right arm from so many needle pokes - the nurse says they are like rope. I need to have a blood draw before each chemo. Could be a challenge in the near future.

Well that's all I know for now.

Enjoy your day.

Love Carolin

No news is good news

Things have been going along. I've been getting stronger and now the afternoon naps are more a guilty pleasure rather than a necessity before supper. The herceptin treatments every third friday are a habit to be scheduled in rather than something that is the focus of the week. And my hair is growing like crazy. April 7 is my first hair appointment in like, FOREVER, and it looks like she'll have hair to work with. Yippee.

My neck is getting better sloooowwwly. I still get tired and wear my neck brace for part of the day. I've decided to do some physio to speed things up.

Last trip to the hospital was for a complete neck to hips CAT scan. On the chart I saw that I was a breast cancer patient who had metastasized to her head, bone, liver, and lungs. Lungs???? That's something I'll have to ask about next time I see the good doctor. If this keeps up it'll be faster to say where the cancer HASN'T been.

More later. (words, not cancer)

Muga scan

Muga scan went fine. Checked in at 8 am and was out of there by 10 am. They take blood and then mix it with radioactive dye, reinject it and then take the scans. Other than the needles it is painless. The technicians aren't able to give me the results but I expect everything to be fine. I will continue to have this done every 3 months while on Herceptin. Herceptin can have an effect on the heart muscle. The scan is just a precaution.

No appointments now until next week. Hurray!!

Herceptin next Friday March 10 at 9:30 am.

Have a great week.

Carolin