Had the ultrasound today. One thing they didn’t tell me or I didn’t hear or have just had too many tests to remember is that I was supposed to have a fat-free dinner last night. Do chicken fingers, garlic sausage and brie cheese fall under that category? I got the ‘nothing to eat or drink after midnight’ part right. I told the tech about it and she said not to worry about it since I hadn’t eaten this morning. Anyhow, the way she sounded, it looks clear. Techs always have a way of being somber when things don’t look right. I drove today so I’ll be able to drive to the plastic surgeon Thursday. More freedom. Yeah! Sis and I did some shopping after my test and I was so wiped out after, I came home and had a late morning nap.
Tag: tests
bone scan
So the bone scan was an all day thing. Sorta 🙂 I was in at 11:30 for the isotope shot, then got to leave for 3 hours. My sis took me to my job and she got to meet everyone I always talk about-got to put a face to a name. It was good to go there and see everyone again and let them all know face to face that I’m doing ok. My boss was away tho, would have been nice to touch base with him too. The bone scan was at 2:50pm and the machine can be real scary if you’re claustrophobic. They tape your feet together at the toes, ankles apart and strap your arms in so essentially you aren’t going anywhere even if you wanted to. They lower the big x-ray machine over your head so it’s within an inch of your nose and tell you not to move. The scan goes from your head to your toes so your head is out of it after about 5 minutes. Then because I had (have?) breast cancer they scan your ribs from the side. I wasn’t sure I could do this cause I had to put my hands over my head but it was only for 3 minutes this time instead of the 30 it took for the full body scan so I was ok. Good thing is I can lift my arms over my head now…LOL My sister and I did spend some time at the casino today and no we didn’t win but it was still fun! Tomorrow morning is the ultra sound.
no infection
Saw the plastic surgeon today and he says I’m looking good, no infection. That is such a load off my shoulders because he’d freaked me out so much about smoking and healing. He still wants me to quit before he does the other side. I have to see him next week to get the stitches out. He says he did make me a little bigger, guess when I’m healed enough to fit into a bra I’ll be able to compare better. And I did pull the chest muscle from driving yesterday. Hurts like hell again today. I sure hope I can drive by Monday to get to New West. While I was at his office a couple of women in uniform came in with a 3rd person in a blue sweatsuit. I thought they were ambulance attendants. Reading the patch on the shoulder of one of them I realized they were corrections officers. Looking at ‘sweatsuit’ closer I saw that she had ankle cuffs on. Wonder what she’d be at the plastic surgeon’s office for…
On the way home I got the appointment for the ultra sound for my liver. I have 3 appointments next week on 3 different days. My surgeon wants to see me after the scans, I’m saving her for the week after next.
more tests
I go see the surgeon again tomorrow, I’ll be driving to that one, and the plastic surgeon on Thursday, and I’ll be driven to that one. I shouldn’t be driving yet I don’t think. At least not any great distance. I get the bone scan on Monday, have to be at Royal Columbian in New West at 11:30 for the injection, the test is at 2:40. Gonna be a long day. Then I see the Oncologist on October 11th here at home, yea! At least I don’t have to drive out to the cancer clinic for it. Still waiting for a liver scan date. I wonder if the rest of my surgeries are gonna have to wait till after whatever the oncologist says I need to do for the cancer.
more tests
As far as I know my next surgery is Sept 1st. They were gonna call me this afternoon just to confirm. No phone call so I assume it’s a go. She thinks the plastic surgeon will want to see me before, to ‘look at the area’. She’s also scheduling a bone and liver scan. I didn’t ask what those are for but I again assume, and mom agreed that it’s for the chemo. I’ve also got an appointment with an acupuncturist on Wednesday to quit smoking. Gonna be a busy 1o days. That’s a good thing. The busier I am, the faster the day gets here, the less time I have to dwell.
thank you
To my co-workers and the company I work for, you’ve been kind, compassionate, supportive and understanding and made this all easier for me to deal with. Thank you. And thank you for the gifts too! I do appreciate it all 🙂 To my family, for the stories of your own battles with breast cancer, the encouragement, comfort and support. Thank you. To my friends. Thank you for being there and just being you. I know my battle is really just beginning tomorrow but I know I couldn’t have made it this far with my sanity relatively intact without all of you.
My node dye injection is at 6:45am tomorrow in New West, that means getting up at 4:30. After the dye injection I go for the mastectomy at Maple Ridge. 40 minutes or so out, 40 minutes or so back. So what if I don’t sleep tonight. I’ll be doing a lot of it tomorrow. I spend the night in the hospital, then home Friday. I’m not as afraid of the surgery anymore, I’m afraid of the unknown, when exactly, on what date will I be ‘back to normal?’ And how much treatment will I need?
the surgery(s)
So I saw the plastic surgeon today. He’s got a great sense of humor. He said I was a perfect candidate for implants. He said he causes the pain and the other surgeon causes the scars. They take pictures of before and after and promised they wouldn’t show up on Facebook. I told him I wanted to be a little bigger than I am now, about the size his receptionist is (funny how everyone else’s boobies have become important to me) and he made a joke about not knowing what they looked like, that he’s married. LOL He also told me I have to quit smoking. 2 weeks before the implants go in and for 6 weeks after or the implants probably won’t work. The nicotine messes with the blood flow and will cause the skin flaps to fail and the implants will ‘fall out’. His words. I’m not sure how I’m going to do that. The patch has nicotine in it. Maybe I can do those now before the implants. Also, the boob with the cancer will get a new nipple built and tattooed. My mom hates tattoos but hell, this one I need 🙂
Then I went and saw the surgeon who will be removing the cancer. Because the plastic surgeon is going on holidays for 5 weeks, and leaves this Friday, I’m going to end up needing 3 surgeries. She did say I could wait till he got back and then only have 1 (implants going in at the same time as my boobs come off) or find a different surgeon who could do the implants at the same time but I like her, and him and I trust her. I couldn’t see wasting more time looking for someone else I like and it doesn’t make sense knowing the tumor is growing. She did indicate that this needs to come out sooner rather than later. So I’m having 3 surgeries. And chemo. And radiation. I asked her for sure on those and she said yes. The 2nd surgery is to put an expander in to replace the missing boob and stretch the skin making room for the implant and the 3rd is to do the implants. Her office will call me when they’ve made an appointment for me to see a surgical nurse and to do all the blood tests they need. I’m going to be out of commission for probably 4-6 weeks for this surgery.
The sentinel node thingy, they inject me with a radioactive dye, will be done the morning of the surgery and in New West. This determines the first node of my lymph nodes that the breast lymph ducts drain to. They can remove this one node at the time of the cancer surgery to be tested to see if the cancer has spread. Then back to Maple Ridge to have the cancer surgery.
I’m hoping that chemo and I play nice together because it’s going to be for 6 months. I am already losing my boobs, I don’t want to lose my hair too. Or get really sick, or bloat up. Or not survive the whole thing.
It finally hit me today how serious this really is. I have cancer. I’m having surgery on the 28th of this month to get rid of it. I didn’t ask for it, don’t want it and can’t control it. I should be saying cancer has me. And today I’m afraid.
Connie's Breast Cancer Journey 