Breast Cancer

Finished With Phase Two

We had a “final” meet with the Hemo Oncologist this afternoon and got the pass off to the Radiation Oncology side of the building. Final is in quotes because there is a continuing relationship between Donna and Dr. Ergul because there will be quarterly blood testing for a year to be sure nothing pops up, then semi annually for the following 4 years while she is taking the hormone preventative medicine, Tamoxifen (AKA, Phase Three.)

First meeting with the radiation doc will be next Thursday which I guess he will outline Phase Two of Donna’s treatment, six weeks of 5 days a week of microwaving breast tissue. I’m sure there will be pretreatment tests of some sort before that can begin. As it is they won’t start treatments until at least 4 weeks after cessation of the chemo and this Friday will only be 2 weeks.

All in all for just 12 days post chemo Donna is doing pretty well. No more nausea, but she has some mouth sores that are limiting what tastes good. Her energy level is pretty good and she is wanting to start back working eight hour days, I talked her into waiting until next week before trying that.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 251

That Was An Interesting Start

Yesterday was Donna’s 4th and final chemo session. I went with her for her first and was going to go to all them, but she rather I just drop her off, come get her afterwards and then spend the afternoon with her. This worked for sessions 2 and 3. It was a good plan because for the first two sessions she didn’t start to feel bad until later in the afternoon. We even went out to eat lunch together those 2 days. But during chemo number 3 she started to feel punkish part way through, so she asked if I’d come with her for the last one. To which I readily agreed.

We went out to eat breakfast at the New Moon as usual, she had a bagel and I got one of their giant muffins. We finish the paper and headed over to the cancer center. The first thing they before anything is take some blood and analyse it to see if it is good enough to be zapped down with the chemo drugs. Her numbers came in great, everything was in the normal range with even one a little high. The numbers might even have been better than the ones that were from before the first session. Donna settled in the recliner, I got comfy in a chair beside her and he nurse got the IV started. First up in the IV is saline to keep her hydrated and then they start an anti-nausea agent before they get to the real juice. Donna has always brought some light snacks to nibble on during the treatments and this morning she ate some watermelon pieces first thing.

Not two minutes after finishing the watermelon Donna reached for the trash can near the chair and threw it right back up. The nurse ran off to get some towels to clean up and I got her a wet paper towel to sooth her forehead. Just about the time we got everything settled back down, Donna grabbed the can again and Mr. bagel joined the watermelon. This, all the while she is getting the anti-nausea medicine in the IV! The nurse went off for a couple more towels and brought back the doctor. The doctor came in and said, “OK, you are not feeling good we’ll postpone the chemo until Monday or Tuesday.” Donna said, “NO WAY! I’m here let’s get the show on the road.” He said, “Maybe it is just nerves. If you want the chemo now, fine.” She said maybe it was nerves, but she really hadn’t been feeling well since Wednesday and now that she had thrown up she felt pretty good.

After that interesting start, things went smoothly for the rest of the session.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 220

Snack Attack

About 9:30PM, when the FRS were safely ahead of the dreaded Yankees and Donna bouncing around on the couch because of cabin fever I decided that now would be a good time to go get that snack she asked for earlier. Her taste buds are all out of whack the last couple of days. Yesterday she would drink nothing but hot chocolate and earlier today it was pink lemonade. Tonight she wanted a Frosty from Wendy’s or one of those dollar “sundaes” from McDonald’s.

So we climbed on the tandem, fired up the lights and wound our way through neighborhoods taking the long way to Mickey D’s that is about a mile and a half from home. At 99 cents it is hard to beat a cup full of creamy soft-serve vanilla ice cream with hot fudge on top. With tax it set us back a whole $1.06. Donna left the 4 cents change as a tip for the barista.

7 miles.

The Third Shoe Drops

Chemo treatment number 3 for Donna was Friday and this one made the last one look like vacation. The last two we were able to leave from the Cancer Center and have a nice lunch, this time it was straight home for chicken & barley soup thoughtfully provided by a friend. More soup for supper too.

The last two chemos caused a lot of stomach pain and low grade nausea that we kept pretty much in check with the 3 different meds we were given prescriptions for. This time, in spite of trying to stay ahead of the nausea with medicine, early Saturday morning Donna was visited by Mr. Upchuck, twice. Mid-morning on we didn’t feel terrific, but everything stayed down. We made a short trip out to the Cancer Center for another Neulasta shot at 11:00AM and managed a slow walk around our 1 mile long block, but other than that the couch was her friend. This morning we had a repeat performance of Saturday morning, but once again the stomach settled for the rest of the day. She even felt good enough to get a cup of ice cream and walk a block of downtown Aiken tonight.

We have a couple of things we would like to blame for being hit so hard this time. Four days prior to this chemo we spent 4 long days on the road to and from Virginia which was tiring. By Thursday she wasn’t feeling good, stomach-wise, already and we went out to eat with the Miata Club to a not so great restaurant. At least we hope this is what caused it, because we can control them and the lead up to #4, and last, chemo will be less eventful and less stressful.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 184

Sanford

Breakfast was at the “River City Diner” that was attached to the Holiday Inn. Could be a chain restaurant and seeing as most big towns have a river running thru it, it would fit right in nearly anywhere. The waiters wore bowling shirts and the waitresses wore something with very short sleeves and a collar that were left over from Rizzo’s closet. All shiny chrome and vinyl, the only thing missing were the classic diner shape and little jukeboxes in the booths. The food was diner plentiful, I ordered pancakes with 2 eggs scrambled and the flapjacks were as big as Frisbees and the eggs must have been from ostrich-sized chickens.

After saying so long to Sally and “little” Claire we were off to the west side of Richmond to visit Donna’s cousin Sue and family. Susie and Alex live in a tree lined planned community that is the picture next to the term suburb in the central Virginia encyclopedia. They have three beautiful girls and whenever we pop in for a visit (approximately every half decade) we bring gifts for them. This time it was t-shirts with Aiken and horses on them, three different designs for three different ages. When kids are little they will put on anything mom pops over their heads, but at some age they will develope a style sense of their own making clothing a risky gift, so who knows they might put them on and never want to take them off or the only use they’ll get is to wipe up spilled Pepsi. The only daughter home was the oldest, 13 or 14 and she hung out in the kitchen with us adults as we discussed Donna’s breast cancer which then segued into medical insurance. Maybe there was nothing on MTV or she just wanted to hang with the grown-ups. I just hope in 2055 or so she thinks back to that “aunt” who had breast cancer, was cured because they caught it early and starts getting yearly mammograms herself.

We didn’t leave there until about 10:30, so we hopped on I-95 and started south. Donna drove for 60 miles then I did a 60 mile shift before we stopped at a Cracker Barrel for lunch where we both ate too much again. After lunch, I continued south on I-95 until we could take the monotonous snapping of tires over concrete expansion joints no more. We jumped onto the back roads and made our way over to the town founded by Fred and Lamont in 1977 after they quit the junk business, Sanford, North Carolina.

There was a Sagebrush right across the street from the hotel, so that is where we went for a late dinner. This is the fourth different Sagebrush I have dined at and they are now batting .500. Rock Hill, SC and Monroe, NC are winners, every time I’ve been there I have wanted to go back. The one that lasted a year and a half in Aiken was awful all three times we went. Sanford, NC now joins them in the losers column. Our waiter had to be asked to bring us the usual bucket of peanuts that are their equivalent of the chips and salsa at a Mexican eatery. Our salads arrived 3 or so minutes after our main course. My blue cheese dressing was the worst I ever had and that is saying something. The steak was good, except the cook was a little heavy handed with the grilling spices. Plus I think whoever cooked up the Bunkhouse Beans mistook the teaspoon abbreviation for tablespoon, because those bad boys were peppery. I didn’t say anything because this is the first time I’ve had them and for all I know that is their signature way of doing beans…

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 171

FOD

Donna’s stomach is feeling a lot better now. Took about 10 days this time as opposed to just 3 after chemo #1. She is still only going to do 5 hours days at work, because she tires easier than the last chemo too. But because she is feeling better she wanted to go back to her usual chores, one of which is mowing the lawn. I told her no, but she could help by doing the FOD walkdown prior to my mowing, picking up all the broken branches and stray pieces of paper that have ended up on the lawn.

FOD stands for Foreign Object Damage and is a left over from our Naval Aviation days. On shore duty every morning after after mustering in the whole squadron would go out on the ramp behind the hanger and walk in a wide row down the flight line picking up any detritus laying around. On the ship before flight ops the air boss would call for a FOD walkdown and everyone on the flightdeck would gather in a line on the bow and slowly walk all the way to the fantail cleaning every square inch of the deck. You would be surprised just how much damage a 1/4 long #10-32 screw can cause when ingested by a jet engine.

We were supposed to have tacos at home for supper tonight, but we ended up at Chili’s for ribs because of some FOD. Because it is only the two of us we only do half the meat of the usual dinner kit. I split a pound of hamburger in half, one part went into the freezer in a plastic bag and the other went into the pan. We had a half a pack of the powdered seasoning mix left from last time, so I used that instead of the new one. After I got everything mixed up in the pan and it was simmering nicely I noticed what looked like a big piece of red pepper. And a few pieces of green pepper or plant matter. WTF? Was it something in the meat? Something left in the 1/2 pack of seasoning mix? Nothing had gotten near the pan, so thinking better safe than sorry, we tossed it all in the trash and went out to eat.

Started up, went down, went up, back down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 155

I Feel Naked Without It

I have kept my hair very short for maybe 8 or 9 years. I would have no trouble passing the haircut regulations of any military service. This is done for two reasons, one it is easy to take care of and two it diminishes the noticeability of the thinning hair. Consequentially I haven’t needed a comb for nearly a decade, but I have continued to carry one. I carried it for my wife. We drive in a convertible so every time we’d stop she would ask for the comb to realign her tousled locks. Somewhere along the line she stopped asking to borrow my comb and started to ask for “her” comb.

Now that Donna doesn’t have any hair I felt safe stopping carrying a comb. It does feels weird though because I’ve had a little black comb in the same pocket as my wallet since I was probably 12 or so. Now every time I pull out my wallet I notice there is no comb and start looking for it on the floor near me to see if I dropped it.