I forgot to mention two really cool things from yesterday:
1. Steve and Jude stopped by with the best Green Enchilada Casserole. It was great to have that all ready to go, because I didn't get home until 8pm tonight from the doctor. Ryan and Chantal had it ready for us when we got home. Yummy, Jude!
2. My good buddy Heather told me she will be with me at my next chemo appointment, May 11th. She recently went through chemo, is a nurse and one of my oldest friends. That is so awesome.
Today at work was very tiring - I was cold, achey and felt like I had a fever. I wore my coat all day. When I got home, I found that my temp was 100.6. It had been going up and down for a few days. The Oncology nurse asked me to go into Urgent care. Frank met me there and sat with me through urine tests, two blood cultures, blood chemistry, hematology studies and a chest x ray.
The only result of significance was a very low white blood cell count - no signs of infection however. The doctor put me on an antibiotic for twelve days.
I missed my friend Kathy, who stopped by today when I was at Urgent Care. She's the probiotic pusher, something I think I'm going to need!
I have decided to work from home for the next few days - to stay away from the germs and the bed is 10 steps from the "office." Otherwise, I will probably have to wear one of those annoying masks that make me claustrophobic.
Early to bed tonight!
Monday, April 30, 2012
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Introduction Jan's Journey - Chronology of Events
This year, Frank and I had planned a journey to France and Germany for two weeks in May - inspired by the two free tickets I had earned during the Air France Holidays Sales contest last year. We were to travel from Paris to Languedoc, Provence, the French Riviera, Burgundy and Bavaria to visit the home of our brother in law Johann.
Due to unforseen life altering circumstances, that journey has been delayed. Instead I am embarking on another path to concentrate on my health.
I wanted to write this blog to:
~Record the events as they happen
~Keep a journal of thoughts and feelings
~Document how things are progressing with my treatment
I have this idea that I will write a little each day, but that might be too ambitious.
I am going to start with a chronology of past events, so I can keep them straight in my mind.
So here goes:
March 21st - Self referred to Mammography for mammogram - I was worried about the size and shape of my right breast
March 28th - Office procedure in mammography to complete a needle biopsy of the right breast
April 5th - visit with Dr. Donald Stepan, Surgeon who specializes in breast cancer. He diagnosed my condition as Inflammatory Breast cancer and prescribed a regimine of several months of chemotherapy every two weeks followed by surgery.
April 10th - visit with Dr. Bruce Cutter and PA Donna Kentley, Oncologists, to map out treatment and order radiological tests.
April 12th - minor surgery to implant a "power port" in my upper chest to allow the medical staff to access my veins for blood tests, infusions and IV's. Saves the other veins in the arms. My wonderful sister in law Kathy, sat with me before surgery, which was really nice. I am so lucky to have her.
April 13th - I had three radiological procedures this day - CT scan, MUGA scan (for the heart) and a Breast Cancer MRI at the First Hill Clinic in Seattle. My power port was accessed for the first time by none other than my handsome and talented husband. It was a beautiful day, and I got a sunburn from all the driving around.
April 16th - Back to Bellevue Radiology for a Bone Scan ordered by Dr. Cutter.
April 17th - This day was supposed to be my last haircut for awhile before going on chemo. This was interrupted by a phone call from Dr. Cutter. He wanted me to come in and discuss the results of the bone scan. Frank and I met with him in the late afternoon - Dr. Cutter was to fly out later that evening to Spokane to start his new assigment to run the Spokane GHC Oncology department and wanted to make sure he could talk to me before he left. The results of the bone scan surprised him and us - the breast cancer cells are in the bones throughout my body. Because of this fact, the cancer will not be cured, can only be controlled by chemo, surgery and hormone therapy. This was a shock. The good news was that the chemo sessions would be spaced three weeks apart instead of two and then they would think about surgery.
April 19th - Meeting with Dr Callahan in Oncology and first chemo treatment
Asked the Dr. Callahan the dreaded question: What is the life expectancy for someone with my condition? He stated that in his experience it ranged from 5 years to 25 years. I'm going for the latter.
I then went over to the Infusion room and met with Jane the Oncology nurse. She set me up with the two treatments I was to receive that day. The first one was red and it's called Adriamyacin. The next one was clear and it was called Cytoxan. I was set up in a comfortable seat facing the window. I could see the new Uwajimaya store from there - woo hoo! Jane went over all the possible complications and ways to manage the symptoms - lots of really good advice.
A little later, a young girl who was a nursing student visiting came over to talk. She told me a story about a Doctor she met who wrote a book about her own breast cancer, called "Red Sunshine". This was an alternative term to the name given to Adriamyacin - known to some as the "Red Devil". I appreciated that she took the time to talk to me about that. She will make a great nurse I think.
April 20th - worked a full shift from home this day. Got a little tired about 1pm; it was nice to be able to lie down in the room next to the office.
April 21-22 - over this weekend, I wanted to stay close to home to see how I could manage the symptoms. I was given medication for nausea; one was a steroid. It actually made me hyper, so I was getting a lot of chores done around the house. I did not feel like throwing up, but did not have much appetite and my stomach was upset. The steroids and the volumes of water I had to drink kept me wakeful at night.
April 23 - 27 - Worked a 40 hour week in the office. On Wednesday, I was so tired that I wanted to take a nap in my car. I went out to lie down, but it was too cold! Plus I had to go to the bathroom so that didn't work!
April 26th - Had a visit with the Group Health Genetics department. Dr. Stepan had suggested I make this visit due to the prevalence of breast cancer a Ovarian cancer in my family (My Aunt Dorothy and my cousin Jocelyn on my mother's side.) I met with Shannon DeVange who took copious notes and put together a family tree. She has sent a referral to get tests done for BRCA at a lab called Myriad Genetics in Utah. The results may take 3 months or so to return. I wish to do this for my nieces and future granddaughters/grand nieces, in case they have an elevated risk.
April 28 - 29 - this weekend I have had a hard time eating; lots of gastric distress and "heartburn" type feeling. Frank spoke to the pharmacist who recommended Zantac - it seems to have helped. I have been running a low grad temp. I will follow this, as they want me to call in if it goes above 100.5 degrees.
Saturday was a good day - Chantal and I hit the garage sales and Molbak's - we scored.
Sunday was another fund day - celebrated the 90th birthday of Frank Shea, Senior - he's amazing!
Signing off for the evening.
Jan
Due to unforseen life altering circumstances, that journey has been delayed. Instead I am embarking on another path to concentrate on my health.
I wanted to write this blog to:
~Record the events as they happen
~Keep a journal of thoughts and feelings
~Document how things are progressing with my treatment
I have this idea that I will write a little each day, but that might be too ambitious.
I am going to start with a chronology of past events, so I can keep them straight in my mind.
So here goes:
March 21st - Self referred to Mammography for mammogram - I was worried about the size and shape of my right breast
March 28th - Office procedure in mammography to complete a needle biopsy of the right breast
April 5th - visit with Dr. Donald Stepan, Surgeon who specializes in breast cancer. He diagnosed my condition as Inflammatory Breast cancer and prescribed a regimine of several months of chemotherapy every two weeks followed by surgery.
April 10th - visit with Dr. Bruce Cutter and PA Donna Kentley, Oncologists, to map out treatment and order radiological tests.
April 12th - minor surgery to implant a "power port" in my upper chest to allow the medical staff to access my veins for blood tests, infusions and IV's. Saves the other veins in the arms. My wonderful sister in law Kathy, sat with me before surgery, which was really nice. I am so lucky to have her.
April 13th - I had three radiological procedures this day - CT scan, MUGA scan (for the heart) and a Breast Cancer MRI at the First Hill Clinic in Seattle. My power port was accessed for the first time by none other than my handsome and talented husband. It was a beautiful day, and I got a sunburn from all the driving around.
April 16th - Back to Bellevue Radiology for a Bone Scan ordered by Dr. Cutter.
April 17th - This day was supposed to be my last haircut for awhile before going on chemo. This was interrupted by a phone call from Dr. Cutter. He wanted me to come in and discuss the results of the bone scan. Frank and I met with him in the late afternoon - Dr. Cutter was to fly out later that evening to Spokane to start his new assigment to run the Spokane GHC Oncology department and wanted to make sure he could talk to me before he left. The results of the bone scan surprised him and us - the breast cancer cells are in the bones throughout my body. Because of this fact, the cancer will not be cured, can only be controlled by chemo, surgery and hormone therapy. This was a shock. The good news was that the chemo sessions would be spaced three weeks apart instead of two and then they would think about surgery.
April 19th - Meeting with Dr Callahan in Oncology and first chemo treatment
Asked the Dr. Callahan the dreaded question: What is the life expectancy for someone with my condition? He stated that in his experience it ranged from 5 years to 25 years. I'm going for the latter.
I then went over to the Infusion room and met with Jane the Oncology nurse. She set me up with the two treatments I was to receive that day. The first one was red and it's called Adriamyacin. The next one was clear and it was called Cytoxan. I was set up in a comfortable seat facing the window. I could see the new Uwajimaya store from there - woo hoo! Jane went over all the possible complications and ways to manage the symptoms - lots of really good advice.
A little later, a young girl who was a nursing student visiting came over to talk. She told me a story about a Doctor she met who wrote a book about her own breast cancer, called "Red Sunshine". This was an alternative term to the name given to Adriamyacin - known to some as the "Red Devil". I appreciated that she took the time to talk to me about that. She will make a great nurse I think.
April 20th - worked a full shift from home this day. Got a little tired about 1pm; it was nice to be able to lie down in the room next to the office.
April 21-22 - over this weekend, I wanted to stay close to home to see how I could manage the symptoms. I was given medication for nausea; one was a steroid. It actually made me hyper, so I was getting a lot of chores done around the house. I did not feel like throwing up, but did not have much appetite and my stomach was upset. The steroids and the volumes of water I had to drink kept me wakeful at night.
April 23 - 27 - Worked a 40 hour week in the office. On Wednesday, I was so tired that I wanted to take a nap in my car. I went out to lie down, but it was too cold! Plus I had to go to the bathroom so that didn't work!
April 26th - Had a visit with the Group Health Genetics department. Dr. Stepan had suggested I make this visit due to the prevalence of breast cancer a Ovarian cancer in my family (My Aunt Dorothy and my cousin Jocelyn on my mother's side.) I met with Shannon DeVange who took copious notes and put together a family tree. She has sent a referral to get tests done for BRCA at a lab called Myriad Genetics in Utah. The results may take 3 months or so to return. I wish to do this for my nieces and future granddaughters/grand nieces, in case they have an elevated risk.
April 28 - 29 - this weekend I have had a hard time eating; lots of gastric distress and "heartburn" type feeling. Frank spoke to the pharmacist who recommended Zantac - it seems to have helped. I have been running a low grad temp. I will follow this, as they want me to call in if it goes above 100.5 degrees.
Saturday was a good day - Chantal and I hit the garage sales and Molbak's - we scored.
Sunday was another fund day - celebrated the 90th birthday of Frank Shea, Senior - he's amazing!
Signing off for the evening.
Jan
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