Neulasta #1

The day after each of these first four treatments of chemotherapy, I go back to the hospital for a shot of neulasta.  It stimulates white blood cell growth and makes my bones (especially in my head) ache. :)  I also get IV hydration since it's hard for me to eat or drink.

Chemotherapy #1

Five years ago, I took a picture by the same mural each time I went for chemotherapy.  Well, I found my mural for this go-around.  Get used to seeing the ocean.

When Dan was taking this picture of me in my infusion chair, I heard a lady in a nearby chair say, "I don't want pictures of this.  I don't want to remember it."  On one hand, I agree; on the other, I really do want to remember this and everything I learn from it.

As you can see, there are big windows with a nice view and a lot of sunlight in the infusion room.

Port Surgery

I had a port put in today.  It's a small medical device that is placed under my skin below my clavicle that is connected to a central line and allows for blood draws and drug injections without the traditional needle prick each time.

 

Dan went with me early in the morning for surgery.  Kellie picked me up

 and took me home so that Dan could go to work.

 

Shopping!

I went shopping today for a new boob!  Okay, it's a prosthesis, but it's pretty cool.  It feels fairly normal, and it fits in a pocket in a special mastectomy bra.  When I got home, I was excited to show it off, so I tossed the prosthesis to my sister.  She caught it, handled it, looked pleasantly surprised, and said, "It's fun to play with!"  We gave each other weird looks, and she quickly gave the prosthesis back to me.

Talk About a Bad Day

A week after surgery, I had an appointment with my medical oncologist.  Dan took the day off so he could take me.  The pathology report we received the day before indicated that all the cancer was in breast tissue, so I headed to the doctor appointment with the belief that I would not be needing chemotherapy.  On the way, Dan noticed that we were really low on gas, but because of time, we decided to fill up on the way home.  Between the Thursday pathology report and the Friday morning doctor appointment, the pathologist took a second look at my tissue and found a lymph node that had cancer in it, as well as scattered cancer cells throughout the fat tissue, and also that one of the tumors was extremely close to my chest wall.  For these reasons, the recommendation came that I have chemotherapy.  My doctor suggested four treatments of two kinds of chemotherapy, Adriamycin and Cytoxan, but she said she wanted to talk to her colleagues and get their opinions as well.  Dan and I were surprised and sad.

We hadn't eaten breakfast, so we stopped at Sprouts Market to get an almond croissant, one of our favorite pastries.  We walked straight to the pastry case, saw flies in the cupboard, and walked right back out of the store.  Instead we went to Gourmandise Bakery, another place we like to get almond croissants.  As we arrived, Dan got a migraine.  We went in anyway and ordered our food, which by the way, cost three times as much as it would have at Sprouts.  We sat down, and I attempted to enjoy my breakfast while Dan was obviously miserable.  After a couple of bites of the delicious croissant, I took a big swig of milk and had another swallow in my mouth before I realized the milk was sour!  I spit it back into the cup.  Nasty!  I returned it to the counter and finished my breakfast with water.

I was only a week out of surgery and wasn't ready to drive yet, but because Dan was sick, I had to drive us home.  Coming down Victory Road, I noticed the fuel light on and saw that we had 4 miles of gas left.  I turned on to Beck Street, flipped a U-ey, and headed to the nearest gas station.  While Dan laid in the car, I put the gas in the car.  And then I drove us home.

Then I sat alone crying in my family room while Dan slept off his migraine.

A few days later, we laughed and laughed at the events of that day!

Pathology Report

My surgeon called with the pathology report today.  There were four tumors in my breast, but it looked like they were all contained within breast tissue, so that's good news!  We were hoping it hadn't spread beyond.  The report did not show the lymph node that my doctor knew she removed, though, so she said she would ask the pathologist to look again for that node and test it.