This is a diary of my breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. I've been adding it in reverse order so the most recent information is at the top.
Thanks for the cards, e-mails and flowers. I do appreciate being in your thoughts and hearts and prayers.
Nancy
May 18, 2007
Whoohoo! Dr. Cortez' assistant called this afternoon to tell me that my scans are all normal. Yay!
May 17, 2007
I guess I just haven't felt like writing here lately. Since I finished active treatment, I've been trying really hard to get healthy. It's frustrating. It might be age but I think it's mostly chemo that keeps me from bouncing back. I was doing pretty good with walking and had started swimming laps again now that the pool is warmer. In April, I even walked for an hour on the treadmill at 2.5 mph, which is very good for me.
Jonathan & I took our long-awaited trip to the Caribbean island of St. Kitts. We spent ten nights at the Marriott Resort at Frigate Bay. We lounged on the beach and read and toured the islands of St. Kitts and Nevis. It was very hot there and humid - much more humid than Hawaii. But we had great air conditioning in the room and nice breezes on the beach. We had a nice relaxing time. It was good to get away from the farm and any temptation to work or be online or do farm chores.
Thanks to Jo looking it up and having confirmed it with all my doctors, we realize that I am at higher risk for blood clots - both from my DVT history and from having had cancer (any kind of cancer). So now if I fly on a plane for more than 6 hours I am supposed to have a shot of Lovenox (a blood thinner). It was a pain getting the two pre-loaded syringes before we left on our trip, but Long's had some. They don't take my insurance so I paid full price. We're working on getting a mail order approval before we go to Chicago/Florida in June. It's always something. Dr. Cortez gave me a letter to carry with it on the plane in case TSA has a problem.
A few days after we got back I started getting a sore throat and assumed I had caught a cold. As Jonathan & I both commented, better on the way back than going. Well, this "cold" didn't shape up to be a cold but a painful sore throat and cough, without the head cold part. After over a week of being run down, losing my voice and having trouble swallowing even liquids, Jonathan convinced me to call Dr. Cortez. Sure enough, he diagnosed me with strep and bronchitis. Antibiotics and cough syrup with codeine and I'm on the mend. I just can't believe I'm still coughing after over 2 weeks. I need to stop underestimating what chemo did to me, to my immune system and to my ability to rally to the fight so to speak.
My hair is getting long and bushy/curly. I do need to get a hair cut but want to grow out the weird layers left over from being bald. The hairdresser says I just have to tough it out for a while until it is long enough to give it some shape. The only other visible signs of chemo are my nails. Finger nails and toe nails are very brittle and break and tear very easily. My hands and feet are still a little puffy from peripheral edema, but it seems to be getting better slowly.
Yesterday I had my six-month scans - CT of chest, abdomen and pelvis, MRI of my brain and a bone scan. They tell me the tracers they use dissipate in 24 hours. Good thing or perhaps I'd glow in the dark. I was very proud of myself or enduring the MRI without taking Ativan. I needed the cough syrup with codeine worse so I could keep still and not cough. Wouldn't want to cough in the middle and have to do it over. It was difficult, but I kept telling myself how many times I've done this before and that I can definitely breathe. Mind games.
So traveling and illness have set me back a bit in training for the marathon. I'm feeling like I'm up for walking at the track in the morning so I will try to get up and get moving and see how it goes. I need to be ready to walk ten miles per week by mid-June.
I have and appointment with Dr. Cortez on Tuesday next week. I need to get the orders for my blood work. And then I'll have done all the tests I need before I go to Honolulu to see the oncologist June 12. I will see the neurosurgeon that day too.
Next week I'm off to Truckee for sister's week with Jo & Mare. Then Jonathan comes so we can celebrate our 19th anniversary. I think I'll have to go to GarWoods twice (aww, darn).
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