Nancy's Health Blog

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

September 19, 2006

Let's see. On the 7th I saw Dr. Henry and all looks good. I asked if they had been able to get a copy of my MRI from 1997 and they did get a copy of the report. The MRI was only of the neck and did not show anything up high enough to know if the venous angioma was there back then. Oh well. Dr. Henry gave me the written order for my mammogram.

I met Dr. Clayton Chong in Honolulu on the 12th. The wait was long to get in, but we had no where to be. I was the last patient of the day. I like him and I like his somewhat aggressive philosophy. His only concern is our out-of-pocket expense to see a doctor in Honolulu. But when we explained that the cost was not an issue, he was fine with becoming my oncologist of record. I do not want to have the "doctor-of-the-month" in Kona nor do I want to have to introduce myself and go over my history every time I have an appointment. I need an oncologist who will be familiar with me and my history and my issues.

I have an appointment with my PCP tomorrow and want to discuss a plan for weaning myself off of Effexor. I have a bilateral mammogram next Monday, Herceptin on Tuesday and the GYN on Wednesday. Whoever said the doctor appointments dwindle wasn't entirely correct - at least so far. It is nice to not be in the infusion center every week any more though.

September 6, 2006

I had my three week dose of Herceptin yesterday. Just Tylenol, no Benadryl and no problems. I've resumed my physical therapy for my shoulder and overall upper body weakness. The swelling/breast edema is dramatically improved and not all red any more.

I have an appointment to see the radiation oncologist, Dr. Henry, tomorrow morning for a follow-up. I'm sure he will be happy to see the improvement in the redness and swelling. After that is my support group from 10:30 until 12:30. The group started out as six weeks but we all want to keep it going. Sometimes we have to meet somewhere else when the conference rooms at the hospital are unavailable. We have anywhere from 3-10 people with various cancer diagnoses and varying amounts of time since diagnosis. It is a very peaceful and uplifting thing to participate in. I'm learning how to meditate and "calm the mind" as well as some yoga stretches and relaxation techniques. It is very good to talk and to listen and learn from each other.

I am completely off of Ativan now. Next week when I visit the oncologist in Honolulu and also my PCP, I will talk about starting to wean off of the Effexor. I would like very much to narrow down how many pills I take per day. Right now there are seven (down from 10) that I take every day. Three are vitamins and three are for cholesterol (1) and reflux (2). After Effexor, I want to try only one for the reflux and see how it goes. I can't believe my last chemo was over two months ago. I'm slowly starting to feel more like myself.

Hey. And I booked us a cruise for May! We're going to do two cruises back-to-back on the same ship, Radiance of the Seas. We start in San Diego and go all the way north to Seward, AK. By May I should be done with Herceptin and be able to get my port-a-cath removed. Whoohoo!

Stage: IIb DX date: 10/13/05 IDC 2.1 cm. multifocal, Her2+++, ER-/PR-, grade 3, 2 of 6 nodes pos Treatment/dates: lumpectomy 10/18/05, re-excision 11/10/05, DD AC 12/05/05-1/17/06, 33 rads 01/31/06-03/17/06, weekly Taxol/Herceptin 04/04/06-6/27/06, Herceptin only starting 07/06