Breast Cancer

No More Elephant In The Room

For the last couple of weeks we have had an elephant in the room with us. The tests the oncologists ordered were not only to see if Donna could withstand the rigors of chemo, which we were fine with, but there was also a darker reason for them, to see if the cancer had metastasized to her bones or other places.

Today was truly “Good” Friday for us, as we found out that we dealing with nothing extra, just your run of the mill breast cancer. She will still have 4 sessions of AC chemo, followed by the 6 weeks of radiation to make sure there is not one single cancer cell left anywhere in her body. Because her cancer was ER+, after that she will be on Tamoxefin or similar for 5 years to foil any more cancer.

Although there are a list of side effects as long as your arm for each of the two drugs she will be getting, Adriamycin and Cytoxan, each person will have different reactions to the medicines. Hair loss is almost always a given, but we are physically prepared with out scarfs, turbans and hair tidbit. Nausea is another, but they have so many different anti-nausea drugs out there we should hopefully be able manage that.

Right now we both have a positive attitude about this and from all we have read, that is a big help in getting through this. Later when Donna is actually dealing with the chemo and the attitude slips some, then it will become my job to prop it back up. I don’t have a definite plan on how to do that right now, I’ve considered ordering “Clowning for Dummies” from Amazon.com, but any other suggestions are welcome…

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 110

Slice of Wife

Slice of WifeTwo weeks ago the oncologist ordered up a series of tests before he begins treatment. Last Thursday was 2 tests, an echo cardiogram (ultra sound of the heart) and a bone scan to make sure those systems are up to the rigors of chemo. This morning was a CT scan w/contrast.

We were supposed to see the oncologist this afternoon, but they called and left a message on our answering machine yesterday to reschedule the appointment until Monday because we were only having the CT Scan that morning. This did not sit well with either the patient nor her spouse because we had taken the day off from work, so we could do both things.

We went over to the hospital and did the CT scan early. I think Donna must have been the first patient of the day, because we breezed right through and were out of the building by 8:30. When Donna asked the tech how long would it take to get the pictures because we were going to have an appointment later that day, she said, “Hold on, I’ll burn you a CD.” Cool we thought, we’ll drop these over at the oncologists office and we can still keep the Thursday appointment. Nope, they not only needed the images, but they needed time for a radiologist to read them before we could talk to the doctor. But because we pushed, they could get the results of the scans on Friday morning and the doctor could see us at 11:00AM. This worked out almost as well because we have Good Friday off and won’t need to miss work.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 110

Kind Of Like Bankers Hours, Only Better

After our first consult with the Oncologist last week he outlined a course of treatment to rid Donna of any cancer. First up is systemic treatment with 4 rounds of adriamycin & cytoxin 3 weeks apart. After that it is localized treatment consisting of 6 weeks of radiation blasted at her breast.

Both of the chemo drugs list hair loss as a side effect, so to get prepared for that eventuality we visited the little boutique at the Cancer Center on Thursday. We had a about three hours to kill while waiting for the radioactive tracer to get distributed throughout her body for a bone scan test. With the help of the nice lady that runs the place, Donna tried on a whole bunch of styles of turbans, scarves, hats and such. We picked out two neat turbans, two more dressier hat/bonnets for work, a nice little cotton beanie for sleeping and under ball caps. Although Donna liked the scarf option they seemed a little tricky to get looking right. The last item we picked out was a small hair piece 6″ wide with about 4″ of hair to simulate bangs that give a more natural look to the other items.

The shop keeper took a copy of Donna’s insurance card and said she’d call and see if our items would be covered. We when back to the hospital and finished up the bone scan, etc. We then went home and had lunch. The woman called shortly thereafter to say that our insurance didn’t cover those kinds of things. We told her we still wanted to buy the items and would come over later to pick them up.

Donna called at about 4 o’clock to see how late they were open and was told the store was closing. Oh, well, no problem we’ll come over and get them tomorrow she told the woman. Tomorrow was today, so we took a lunchtime ride over and guess what? Right, the store closed at noon on Friday. The woman at the front desk had our stuff in a bag for us, but couldn’t take a charge card.

I guess we’ll try again Monday at lunch. We will call before we drive over though, as with our luck, the place is probably only open in the afternoons on Monday…

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 98

March Was A Blur

Alternate titles considered for this entry were: “Ladies, Get A Mammogram” to “Donna Battles Breast Cancer” to “$@%&!”

February 28th Donna had her yearly female checkup.

March 1st the doctor’s office called and asked, “Can you come back in tomorrow we want to take another picture of the right breast.”

March 2nd were called into the OB/GYN’s office and told that Donna had a suspicious lump that needed to be removed.

March 7th Donna met with a surgeon to get a sonogram to help in locating the “suspicious” mass, so he would know where to aim the big fat needle to get a sample.

March 9th we spent the afternoon at the Women’s Health Center for her to have a needle biopsy.

March 14th we get the bad news from the surgeon, the mass is malignant.

March 15th Donna spends a couple aggravating hours at the hospital doing pre-surgery workup.

March 16th we spent nearly the whole day at the hospital where Donna has the lump removed. They also don’t like the looks of the sentient lymph node so the doctor removes 10 more for sampling.

March 17, 18 & 19 Donna spends in a pain pill induced fugue state.

March 20th we meet with the surgeon to remove a drain tube and he tells us that the first lymph node has some abnormal tissue that had not tested as cancer, but they weren’t sure what it was.

March 24th we meet again with the surgeon and learn that whatever was in the abnormal lymph node was left over from possibly some childhood infection and the rest of other nodes were clear.

March 28th we participate in the local BMW Susan Komen Ultimate Drive supporting breast cancer with a real purpose this time.

March 30th we meet with the oncologist where we got a cancer primer written on the tear off tissue used to protect an examining table.

This is just the outline. There were many little stories that I could have easily filled a blog post with, but held off because we have been waiting for the one appointment where we would get a definitive answer on what we are facing and develop a plan to effect a cure. Trouble is it seems like at each doctor’s visit we were presented with a new surprise. They are not totally through either, we have more tests this coming next two weeks to see if her body is up to the things the are going to throw at the disease.

The next few months will be very interesting around the Bogardus household. Because of Donna’s foresight to get a yearly mammogram, we have caught the it at an early stage, so that not only survival but preventing any return of the cancer is into the upper 90th percentile.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 96