And one last thng ...

Today I had a bad hair day.

Yay!

Two in one day

Well, in addition to seeing my oncologist this morning, I saw the radiation oncologist this afternoon after my radiation. That's more poking and prodding I've had in one day in quite awhile. He, too, said everything seems to be going well, and added something that I thought was quite amazing. He said that in 22 years, I am the first person he's seen that had the tumor gone by the time surgery came around. Usually, there's some small amount of the tumor to be found, but not in my case. Another first chalked up to me!

Doing OK

Visited with the doc this morning and she says I'm doing real well. I asked her about the article from yesterday about cancer spreading to the brain, and she said mostly she's seen that when there's a recurrence, so she's not too concerned about it with me. In my case, she said, she'll watch for the symptoms. So I'm not as worried about that now, because I am NOT going to have a recurrence.

More cancer news

This one is kind of scary:
Doctors want to find spreading cancer

More patients are surviving initial tumors long enough for their brains to be at risk, as treatments get better at battling cancer below the neck yet fail to protect the brain.

Now, breast specialists in particular are reporting an increasing number of women who beat back cancer elsewhere in the body, only to have it flare in the brain. It seems to be a special concern among users of Herceptin, a powerful drug that targets an aggressive type of breast cancer - everywhere except in the brain, because it's too large a molecule to penetrate the blood-brain barrier ...

It's scary because Herceptin is the drug I'm on through the end of the year. Fortunately, I see my oncologist tomorrow, so this will be something to ask about.

I had an MRI soon after I was diagnosed, and at that time it was clean. But I think at least one followup ought to be in the plan for the year. I've seen on a couple bulletin boards where women with bc had it spread to their brains, and it didn't sound good -- headaches, vision problems, vomiting, surgeries, rehab. Since I'm in the car about 30-40 minutes a day (that doesn't include if I have to go get lunch), I really don't want to risk something happening while I'm behind the wheel.

Anyway, it's the start of week three of radiation. So far so good. The breast is a bit tender and itchy at times, but no burning or anything yet.

I'm back

Back in the newsroom, that is. My last lab work was normal for all readings, and the nurse practitioner told me this week that the radiation shouldn't affect my counts too much. So I had my computer moved back into the newsroom Wednesday. It's kind of hard getting used to all the noise and activity again. On one hand, I missed all the noise, but on the other it was kind of nice to be away from it and have a private place to talk with co-workers.

I'm feeling great, physically, too and it feels good to feel good. I feel as good as I did before all the chemo started, in fact. No fatigue, stomach aches, constipation, etc. etc. And there's no affects from the radiation yet, either, except some soreness at my incision scar. It's not anything major, though; just some occasional discomfort. I expect to see something soon, though, as from what I've read it does take a couple weeks for anything to show up. I've been using aloe vera gel and trying to exercise. It's going to be pretty cold through the next handful of days, though, so I don't know how much exercise I'll get.

It's nice that things are really looking up again.

Breast cancer news

British court denies cancer drug plea

Quiet weekend

Again. It was a good one to decompress from a hectic Friday at work. Saturday, I did absolutely nothing. I didn't even get out of my PJs. I slept late, stayed up late, and in between surfed the Web, snuggled with the dog, watched the birds at the birdfeeder, surfed the Web, watched a movie, channel surfed and surfed the Web.

I made up for that today. Not that I didn't have a lot of down time to just relax, but I did load up the dishwasher and do my laundry and change the sheets on my bed. I watched some of the Olympics coverage (poor Apolo!) and did some reading. So now I guess I'm ready to face Monday. Or as much as I ever can be to face a Monday.

Cancer in the news

Good news about cancer out today. The number of cancer deaths in the U.S. has decreased, at least in 2003.

-- Breast cancer remains the most common cancer other than skin cancer among women, with an estimated 212,920 new cases and 40,970 deaths expected in 2006. Despite increasing incidence, the breast cancer death rate continues to fall.

Biopsies are best. Studies show biopsies are still the best way to determine breast cancer.

This one is incredibly sad. A woman in New Zealand begs for the money to pay for Herceptin.

Government funding of the drug is available only for women in advanced stages of breast cancer and others have to pay between $70,000 and $120,000 for a course of treatment.

Health advocates have said the policy means women with early-stage HER-2 positive cancers must choose either to find the money to optimise their chances of living or go without and accept the risk of a worse outcome.

New Zealand isn't the only country where there is probably happening, though.
Herceptin protester ends vigil after vote
Judgment reserved in Herceptin case

Considering the recent studies about Herceptin's effectiveness, I hope other countries come to realize it should be made available to those women it would help.

Piece of cake

... or easy as pie, whichever dessert you prefer.

Today was my first radiation treatment. From the time I sat down in the waiting room to when I walked out the doors to my car was all of 15 minutes. And next time will probably be even less because they took a couple of measurements that they won't have to do every time. Basically, I go in and partially undress (at least I don't have to have my bare bottom hanging out of the hospital gown), then lay on a table. There's a big machine at the head of table, part of which curves up and over and ends in big circular part that can rotate above and around you from one side to the other. The radiation therapists push and pull me around until I'm all lined up properly, then they leave the room to operate the equipment. The machine rotated first to above and to my right, and there was a couple moments of buzzing. Then it moved to below and to my left, more buzzing, and that was about it. I thought I felt a warm sensation in my breast during the treatment, but that might have been in my head.

There are things I have to remember, though. I can't use deodorant on my left side, because the metals in it can react with the radiation, apparently. So I use cornstarch instead. I'm going to try and put aloe vera gel on every day to help keep the skin from drying out or getting red. I also need to remember to drink plenty of water, since that will help hydrate the skin (and keep future kidney stones at bay) and eat plenty of protein, which helps the skin to rebuild. We'll see what happens.

On a side note, why is there more and more hype about the Superbowl every year, but the next day all anyone can say is how much the game itself sucked?

Inked up

Tried to post last night, but Blogger wouldn't respond for some reason, so here goes again.

Thursday I finished the set-up for my radiation. I met with two radiation therapists, probably two I'll see a lot of (and they'll see a lot of me, in more ways than one), and they had me lay on a table while they shoved me around to match up Tuesday's drawings and put even more marks all over my chest. I look like someone was trying to draw some directions to somewhere ("you go up over this hill, then turn south at the armpit ... "). Then they took pictures to help make sure everything was set up how the doc wanted. When that was OK, I got my tats. Nothing cool. They just smeared a little ink on six spots and jabbed me with a needle. That was it.

I think I'm going to continue with the Herceptin, despite the lowered reading on my MUGA scan. From what I've been reading, MUGA scans aren't all that accurate, off either way by as much as 5 percent. I feel fine, and the heart damage Herceptin causes is correctable by going off the drug for a short time. A lot of people on the discussion boards also mention getting exercise to help keep the heart in shape. So I'll get back into the habit of walking the dog every day after work, and maybe trying yoga at least a couple times a week. That should also help keep the fatigue from the radiation at bay as well.

I had lunch with a prof from college on Wednesday. It was good to talk to her. She's had a rough year herself. She thinks I should have enough credits that I could get the bachelor of general studies without having to take any classes. That would be great, although I can't remember how many math and science classes I've taken. I tended to avoid that department. She also encourage me to go for a master's. I'm not sure what I'd do with that. Teaching is a possibility, but I think I'd have to shoot for the college level for that. You can't teach just journalism in too many secondary schools that I've ever heard of, and I'm not sure I want to take four or more years to get an education degree and find another area I could teach. I also have to keep in mind I don't want to lose my full-time status at work while I'm still in treatment. That Herceptin is expensive! So I have some thinking to do, I guess.

Good news and eh kind of news

It's been a busy week, what with medical appointments every day for three days.

Today was a follow-up on my kidney stone. I had an X-ray this morning before meeting with the urologist, and he said it showed the left kidney is clean, and the small stone in my right kidney hasn't grown any. So that's at least good news. He said I could go ahead and have another lithotripsy and go ahead and get rid of that one, or wait and see if I pass it. I decided to wait and see. I'm just really tired of having things done to me, so even if it causes me pain again, I'd rather skip another visit to the OR. But he said if I drink plenty of water and avoid too much tea and cranberry juice (there's some substance in those that cause stones), it shouldn't grow.

Tuesday was my first visit with the radiation oncologist. I was impressed he could recite my treatment history without having my file or any notes in front of him. He answered my questions nicely, too. We met with a nurse first (Kelly, one of my favorite chemo nurses. She's a "floater," working as a fill-in, and is working in the radiation side for a while) and had the usual rundown of history and so forth. Then we met with the doc and his assistant (her name is Babe, believe it or not) and kind of went through some of the same info. The doc explained what else I would go through that day and what the radiation sessions would be like. Then a brief exam, and it was off to have a CT scan so they determine what radiation dosage I would get and to help them pinpoint what areas to radiate. The radiation tech had me lay on the scanner's table, and get into the position I'll be in during the treatment. Basically, I lay flat on my back with my left arm above my head. I was on a pillow full of Styrofoam pellets that was then vacuum-sealed so I can lay in the same position at each treatment. Then the doc came in and drew on my chest and side with a Sharpie, then the tech (who had VERY cold hands) drew some more. His marks were covered over with tape so they don't wash off. Those marks will be used when I go back tomorrow to finish the set-up process and to put the tattoos on me that they'll use to line up the equipment. It was kind of hard to hold still while they were marking up my sides, 'cause I'm awful ticklish. But I managed. Then it was into the scanner. This all took a little under a half hour.

I always thought if I got a tattoo, it would at least be something cool. But alas, my first ones will be little dots on my chest. They'll use these to help make sure I get radiated in the same place each time. I start the treatments on Monday, and it'll done five days a week for seven weeks. Most of the treatments will radiate the whole breast, but the last ones will be what they call a "boost," which are directed specifically at the site where the lump was. The actual treatment takes only about 10 minutes. I'll probably try to schedule it during an extra-long lunch hour, since the afternoon will work better with our production schedule at work.

After that, I'm basically done. Except for the Herceptin treatment, which may be extended. Monday, I had a MUGA scan, which basically measures how my heart is doing. Herceptin is known to cause heart damage, and I have to have a result of at least 50 percent to continue treatment. This time the result was 52 percent, down from 59 at the last one in December and 65 percent at my first one in August. When the cancer center called about it this morning, they said my oncologist said I have a choice. I can continue the Herceptin for four weeks or I can halt it for four weeks. Either way, I'll have another MUGA scan in four weeks. I haven't made up my mind yet. I feel fine, but that might not necessarily be an indicator something is wrong. I suppose if I decide to continue it, I can always change my mind if I start feeling funny.

The busy week has come to an end, though. Tomorrow, it's back to my usual schedule. At least this has made for a short work week. I hope I remember what my job actually is.