A Little Bump in the Road

Portland was awesome! I will post pics and talk more about it next post but right now I am posting on my phone and pics are a pain in the butt.

I got the results of my head CT and it turns out the spot found on my skull is a new spot of metastasis. Grrrrr. That means the spots on my spine that seemed a little brighter last time really are brighter and it is not just machine variation. On the plus side, because the contrast dye was used they can confidently say that my brain is currently not affected.
Still, that means a change to my treatment.

I saw my wonderful new oncologist on Wednesday.  We both commented how we felt bad for each other. She said she felt bad because I had just had 2 successful years of treatment in Vancouver then as soon as I was officially in someone else's care all hell starts to break loose. I laughed and said that I felt bad for her, my new oncologist thought she was getting a stable unexciting patient, then as soon as she is in charge all hell starts to break loose. :-P
After that we did discuss my new treatment plan. Lucky for me the new plan doesn't involve chemo.
I am continuing on the Herceptin IV every 3 weeks, the Zoladex injection every 4 weeks, and the daily Chlodronate pills. The daily Tamoxifen pill is being stopped and switched to Letrozole which is an aromatase inhibitor.

Yay! The hot flashes will continue........and the insomnia.......and I might get joint pain......and my risk of osteoporosis goes way up. I'm so excited!!!

Basically, what the treatment change does is switch how the cancer is starved of estrogen. The Zoladex stops my ovaries from producing estrogen and chemically puts me into menopause. Other tissues in my body still produce low levels of estrogen.
The Tamoxifen worked by blocking the estrogen receptors so the estrogen had no where to bind. Now, the Letrozole stops the production of the rest of the estrogen so the receptors just hang out with nothing to do.
I wasn't sure about switching to an AI, but a quick scan of some literature told me that it is pretty common for Tamoxifen to start failing after about 2 years. I was on it 17 months. A generally very successful route to go after Tamoxifen failure is AI with ovary suppression so it seems worth trying.

I am starting out with a trial month. The side effects can be really horrible and difficult to tolerate so there is no point in prescribing several months of the drug if I'm going to have to drop it in a few weeks. It has been 5 days and so far so good. Besides, I had my Zoladex injection on Friday and that gives me such brutal hot flashes and a few days of really bad insomnia that I wouldn't notice any other changes right now anyway.

I was scheduled for my routine abdominal CT scan in mid September so it is going to be bumped up to some time in August to make sure there aren't any more new spots or reactivation of the splotch in my liver.

The stupid spot in my skull is also giving me headaches now. In particular I notice it if I have to turn my head to the right very much or when I lie down on my right side. It was probably at it's worst Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. It seems to have improved a little bit today but that might just because I didn't do as much yesterday after having my Herceptin infusion on Friday. Maybe I'm getting a really awesome placebo effect from the new drug as I think it is highly unlikely that it is already causing the new met to shrink and stop causing pain.

Because I am now having symptoms I am going for a radiation consult at the beginning of September......I had to move our moving date around as the consult ended up being scheduled for the same time the movers were going to arrive, of course!
I am hoping that the new drug really does kick in and my headaches go away so they decide radiation isn't needed.  Since my brain isn't affected it wouldn't be whole brain radiation but it would probably still hit at least some of my hair and I really don't want to lose ANY of my hair right now.

I think that is all for now. I should have my CT some time in the next couple weeks, we get possession of our new house the end of August, and then radiation consult the beginning of September. All in all things just seem to keep carrying on.

I promise to post about Beerfest soon! Right now I think it is time to try and get a little sleep.

Have an excellent Monday, everyone :-)

Waiting

I am on the ferry on my way to Tsawwassen, the first leg of the adventure to Portland. A quick update on my head CT.......I got a phone call Friday morning from the scheduler at my oncologists office. The scheduler could not get me in last week and she didn't want me to wait until I was back to be scanned. The requisition was faxed to the medical imaging department at Saanich Peninsula Hospital so I could go out there as a walk in patient.Yea

Turned out to work well, I only had to wait about 10 minutes before the tech called me in. He was really nice and had apparently been working in the department for about 20 years. The disturbing part was that I had a suspicion that he felt sorry for me. An odd feeling, that.

The head CT is pretty similar to a regular CT except there was a specific head rest used. Also a strap went across my forehead so my head doesn't move and my eyes get covered with a folded Kleenex........I guess in case I open my eyes I don't stare right into the laser beam.
Since I have never had my head scanned before the tech started an IV on me so he could use contrast dye. By using contrast he can also scan my brain which is probably a pretty good idea right now.  Unlike my experience last week it only involved 1 poke to get the IV in. Yay! Improvement!

The scan itself was super quick, maybe 5 minutes. The tech said the results should get to my oncologist either the same day or by some time on Tuesday. So far I haven't heard anything.
If I still haven't heard anything by tomorrow afternoon some time I will call my onc. I kinda want to know before I actually leave for Portland so I don't have to dwell on the not knowing the whole time I'm gone.

Once I know anything I will post again. In the mean time I shall enjoy the awesome view ;-)

Hmmmm a Head CT

Last Friday turned out to be an adventure. It started off at the inhuman hour of 7:30 when I had to be injected with the radioactive tracer for a bone scan. That took 4 pokes. The nuclear medicine tech diagnosed me with self-preserving veins.  My veins look beautiful and feel great but as soon as the needle pokes into my skin the vein disappears. Yay.
The scan itself was uneventful and I'm happy to report that yet again I did not get squashed.

The needle fun continued Friday afternoon with my herceptin treatment. Four more pokes.

I'm going to blame it on dehydration since it has been warm here for a while. It is definitely not an indicator that it is time to get a port. I'm positive of that.

My parents were in Victoria for the weekend so Ian and I had weekend access with the pets.  Thank goodness when we get the animals back we will be in a house. I suspect they would both rebel if we tried to move them back into a condo after their summer at Pender.
I can just see Orchid riding Jasper as they try to find the ferry to go back to Pender. Although, I could also see that after they pack their food they both decide to dive into their kibble and gorge themselves so they don't get very far.

On Monday I had recovered sufficiently from my needle trauma and I decided to try making fig newtons. Mmmmmmmm........they turned out fantastic. I'd be really nice and post the recipe for anyone that would like to give them a try but I mashed about 7 recipes together and then made some changes, sorry :-P

And......that brings us to today. I know, I'm skipping Tuesday but that's because Tuesday was totally uninteresting. Ian did make a yummy ling cod curry, but that was the only excitement.

Today I got a call from my oncologist with the results of my bone scan.  There was something suspicious that showed up near the base of my skull on the right side. The scan wasn't totally conclusive, but was a flag that more investigation is needed. Sooooo, that means I am on the list for a head CT scan. I assume it is the same as a regular CT it just scans my head. We shall see.

There was also a little more brightness in a couple places on my spine but my oncologist is not totally convinced that means anything. It is always more difficult to compare scans done on different machines so there is always a chance that is part of the issue.

For now I just wait for the CT scan and then we go from there. If there are signs of progression it may mean dropping the tamoxifen and moving on to an aromatase inhibitor which will continue to decrease my estrogen production. Goodie, that means the wonderful hot flashes will continue but at least that isn't more chemo.

As a fun activity, I am heading to Portland in a week and a half with a couple of friends to take in the Portland International Beerfest. I can't wait! It will be a great way to have time pass while waiting to find out what is going on in my skull.

Ok, my hot flashes seem to be in a lull so I can get some sleep. Good night :-)

2 Years

July 13th went by very quietly for me. Two years ago I received my initial breast cancer diagnosis. I know many breast cancer patients who celebrate each year on their cancerversary to mark that they have managed to beat the disease for another year. I am so thankful that at 2 years I am stable, my treatment is tolerable, and a can lead a somewhat normal life.
At the same time I wish I didn't have to celebrate this anniversary. Truly an anniversary that is a double edged sword.

Ian and I are now officially living in Victoria. We emptied out our condo

and put most of our stuff into storage as we have taken over my parents' condo. The pets are having a wonderful summer at Pender, and Jasper looks pretty impressive with his haircut

At the end of August we will be moving into our new to us house.  We have found a place out in Central Saanich so we are close to the ferry and the airport. It's not an 18 minute train ride to the airport like it was in Vancouver, but it is close enough. Our front window looks out over a horse farm with a red barn so it will be a big change from downtown condo living.
I wonder how long it will take for Jasper to stop barking at the horses.

In the mean time, Ian and I drove down to Manzanita, Oregon for a wedding.  The weather was pretty horrible on the way down but the rain went away in time for the beach ceremony.

We are now settling into island life. It is definitely more relaxed than Vancouver and even going for treatment is different. In Vancouver the chemo unit was divided up into about 15 rooms containing 2 to 4 infusion chairs per room. In Victoria the infusion area is one big room with 12 or 14 infusion chairs.

I have my own volunteer that I share with a couple other patients. My volunteer meets me in the waiting room and points out which chairs are empty for me to choose from.  The volunteers also get us patients coffee or warm blankets or magazines if needed.

I apparently made an impression before I had my first treatment. When I went to chemo reception to get checked in for my first treatment in Victoria, I got an "Ohhhh.....the lady that just moved here from Vancouver....." That didn't sound promising. Turns out the Vancouver Centre was very slow in sending my chart over and the receptionist didn't receive it until the afternoon before my scheduled appointment. I was warned the receptionist and clerk will be keeping their eyes on me to make sure I don't cause more trouble. :-P

I have also been enjoying the beautiful weather and the Songhees Walkway

 and I have been visiting the inner harbour, the Parliament Buildings,

the Empress,

and the random totem poles.

The next big thing is a bone scan next Friday. I am aiming for another stable result.

I'm a bad blogger part II

Hmmmmmm........where did I leave off?  Oh right, this is supposed to be a blog about my cancer adventures so I guess I will leave Belgium behind for a bit and think about cancer.

I had a CT scan in February.  I was a little stressed but the fantastic news was that I continued to be stable!!

During the month of March I suffered from cyclical feel like total crap syndrome. I would be totally sick for about a day and then start feeling better to the point that I was pretty much normal then the next day I would be totally sick again. It was a couple weeks before we left for Belgium that I decided it was time to get it checked out. Good thing I did, turns out I had a rampant C. diff infection. Huh.
C. diff is a bacteria that is normally found in hospitals or retirement homes and can kill people with lowered immune systems. No idea where I got it from but fortunately it was easily treated with antibiotics. 

Just as we were leaving for Belgium we put our condo up for sale.  Ian had the opportunity to transfer to the Victoria office and we decided it was time for a change.  Our condo is now sold and we leave Vancouver in a week!
We haven't found our new home yet so my parents have generously opened their condo to us as a home base while we do our search.  We want to try out house living and have actual space to do things and not risk pissing off the neighbours with Ian's smoker.  

We are pretty sure Jasper wants a pond and his own room.

Orchid just wants to go back to the kitty kennel.

As a part of the planning for the move, my oncologist has been organizing who my new oncologist will be.  We also decided I was due for another CT scan.  I have a small bump right above my surgery scar that appeared suddenly not long before my last CT.  It shrank a bit a couple days after I first noticed it and it hasn't changed since.  It did not show up on my last CT so it is just being monitored.

This time around when I went in for my CT I was surprisingly calm. It has been almost 2 years since my original diagnosis and things have been going so smoothly that anything could happen. 
And something did happen, 2 enlarged lymph nodes were noted in my right armpit while everything else remained stable.  The nodes were only about 1 cm each but my oncologist thought that it was worth doing further investigation just in case.  We had a discussion about possible treatment changes as it is possible that any recurrence will not have the same genetic markers as my original tumour.
I was put in the queue for an ultrasound and biopsy, and I was expecting it to be at the end of June.  Instead, I only had to wait about a week.
I managed to remain calm while the tech was doing the initial scanning.  She took some pictures and told me that based on what she saw nothing appeared to very abnormal.  She left the room with the pictures and a report to consult with the radiologist and I waited about 10 minutes.  The tech and the radiologist returned and the radiologist told me that the lymph nodes, while appearing slightly enlarged, did not appear abnormal.  There wasn't even a suspicious area for him to target, so........No biopsy!!!
Yay!!!!

I went to Victoria for a few days last week to hang out with my mom, to meet my new oncologist, and to check out a few properties.  I had some wonderful weather for the ferry trip

My current oncologist picked my new one for me and she did a fantastic job! I already love my new one.
I scouted out a few properties for Ian and I to go look out once we are actually in Victoria but I didn't do any spontaneous offers on anything.

Now that the move to Victoria is completely official I have started to tick off my list off things that I am doing for the last time as a Vancouverite.  I had my last Medina Cafe brunch with Grace a couple of weeks ago,

 
the week before she participated in the Ride to Conquer Cancer, a 200 km bicycle trip to fund raise for the BC Cancer Foundation, the fundraising arm of the BC Cancer Agency where I received all my treatments.
I had my last lunch with my friend Donna today, and tomorrow is my last volunteer shift at the Canadian Cancer Society, another fantastic organization to support.  I have felt such a wonderful sense of family while I have been volunteering there and it will be sad to say goodbye tomorrow.  Friday is my last Kadoya day......might have to get a volcano roll, it has been a while.

The move to Victoria is one that I truly make with mixed emotions.  I moved to Vancouver in June of 2002 and I have had an amazing 12 years here.  I met my wonderful husband and I have gained one of the most spectacular and supportive circle of friends.  Without the people I have met in Vancouver I don't know how I would have made it to the point I am at now.  So many people tell me how amazing or inspirational or strong I am.  I am that way because of the support of the people around me.  It is like all the endless condos being built in Vancouver, I can only stand tall if I have a strong foundation.
At the same time Vancouver is where I was diagnosed and Ian and I are both ready to make the next step with the hope that my stable status will continue for a long time.  Leaving Vancouver helps us to close the door on all that initial shock and fear and open another door to whatever our future is.  I know that I will be back in Vancouver on a regular basis, but visiting is very different from living.

Alright, enough with the heavy stuff.  Here are a few more pictures from Belgium:

Baby ducks in Oudenburg

The Saint Niklaas statue in Sint Niklaas

The Antwerp train station

I'm a bad blogger part I

Hah! I had every intention of becoming a really awesome blogger this year. So far you could say I am a gigantic failure. Now, I would like to say that my life has been a little busy, which is true, but the reality is I just got freakishly lazy.

In no particular order here are the things that have happened since I last posted anything:
1. Jasper was diagnosed with Addison's Disease
2. We spent 3 weeks in Belgium
3. I have had 2 CT scans
4. We are moving to Victoria
5. Our condo has been sold

I'll start off with the tale of Jasper and his Addison's. We started having a few issues with Jasper not liking his food last year. He had been eating the same dry food for the previous 5 years so we thought perhaps he had just gotten tired of it.  Also, it was dental food, so large kibbles, and maybe he was dealing with some pain in a tooth.  We decided he was due for a teeth cleaning so at his annual exam in October he had a full panel of blood work done. Everything looked fine so we went ahead with the teeth cleaning a couple weeks later. He handled the anaesthetic very well and for a week or so after he was eating better. By December he was back to being Mr. Picky.

We were in Victoria at Christmas time with the whole family and Jasper was exhausted when we got back to Vancouver. We expected after a couple days he would catch up on any missed sleep and be back to normal. Nope. He got more and more lethargic, to the point that he would snap at Ian sometimes when Ian would try and get him going for a walk. At that point we decided it was time to go back to the vet.

More blood work was done, including a lipase, and it was determined that he had a bit of a campylobacter infection and he had pancreatitis. The pancreatitis could be secondary to the infection and could cause enough pain to limit Jasper's appetite. We came home with antibiotics and painkillers and something to increase the appetite. He had been eating poorly enough that his albumin was down to 17 and it shouldn't really be below 28 (look at that!! No units! I assume g/L but what do I know these days?). A urinalysis was also done and his kidneys were leaking protein which could be the partial cause of his low albumin.

At that time, the vet hoped it was all infection caused and we didn't need to take Jasper in again unless after the end of the antibiotics there wasn't significant improvement. After about 3 weeks it was back to the vet again. More blood work. This time Jasper's album in was down to 10!! If he got surprised or overexcited there was a possibility he could go into hypovolemic (low albumin causes low blood pressure, hypovolemia) shock and die. Crap.

And by that point he had lost almost 10 pounds from his 55 pound frame in the previous month.

As an addition to his blood work we also had an ACTH stimulation test done as by this point we were all suspicious about Addison's Disease, something that is just starting to be recognized as relatively common to some lines of Duck Tollers. His stim test results came back positive for Addison's so that means pills twice a day forever.

At that point, Jasper was still not eating well so I was getting a little desperate to get anything with protein in him in an effort to increase his albumin. Yogurt and peanut butter were utter failures so I got my best bud Keetah's recipe for puppy meatloaf. That worked like a charm.

Now, with his daily pills and puppy meatloaf Jasper is pretty much back to his old self. He still needs to gain back a couple pounds and rebuild some muscle he lost but overall he is doing fantastic! Thank goodness.  And every time I don't let him to something he really wants to do I can just see him thinking "I almost died and you barely figured it out, obvious you should let me ______" and fill the blank with eat goose poo, have second helping on dinner, or pretty much any other food related dog thought you can think of.

Purely by coincidence, just after Jasper got all sorted out, Ian, my parents, and I packed up for a 3 week trip to Belgium with a few days in The Netherlands to start off. Keetah and David took control of Jasper who loved getting the chance to hang with his dog friend, Satori

and Orchid got to go to a kitty kennel. Any cat people that need a good kennel......Urban Tails (http://www.urbantails.ca) on Commercial Drive are awesome!!! I think Orchid was a little ticked when Ian and I came to pick her up after the trip. She didn't seem overly pleased to see me.

The trip was so fantastic!!!! I ate so much and drank so much.

We flew into Amsterdam and stayed there for a couple of days. We spent 3 hours in the rain lined up to get into the Anne Frank House. So totally worthwhile. Anyone going to Amsterdam really should go there.

Of course, since pancakes are one of my favourite foods we had to have pannekoken......

We went to a gigantic tulip park, Kuekenhof Gardens, that is only open a couple months of the year. There were a lot of flowers and a few goats......

Then there was Brussels and Mannekin Pis.........

And lots and lots of waffles. Unfortunately I seem to have lost the picture of my first Brussels waffle.  Here was a waffle from Antwerp:

And beer. There was lots and lots and lots of beer. And fries, lots of fries with dipping sauce.

We rented a boat and travelled the canals for 10 days so there were also a lot of locks:

and some cool bridges:

As we travelled the canals we had the opportunity to spend a couple of nights in Ypres,  a sight of so much fighting during the first World War.  We heard from a taxi driver that about 600,000 locals were killed during the war.

To this day there is a ceremony every night to remember everyone who died and it includes the playing of the last post. I happened to find a great YouTube video someone has posted:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td3yNH4ixhg

We also made it out to the Canadian War Memorial, The Brooding Soldier

And here is a closeup:

There are lots more pictures and of course I need to cover items 3, 4, and 5 on the list.  I will get to those with the next post. This one is long enough.

Stop and Smell the Roses

Every once in a while something happens and I realise all over again that there truly can be silver linings to black clouds and blessings can be found within curses.  A few days ago, such an event happened.
I know that lots of you reading this blog don't really know that much about vancouver so I'll give you a bit of background first. What most people not from Vancouver call Vancouver is actually a collection of cities in a geographic area generally called the lower mainland by locals. Vancouver itself has a population of about 600,000 while the entire lower mainland has approximately 2.5 million people.
Vancouver the city is bordered by water on three sides; an arm of the Fraser River to the south, Georgia Strait to the west, and Burrard Inlet to the north.  On the north side of Burrard Inlet are the District of North Vancouver, the City of North Vancouver, and West Vancouver and are often grouped together and called the North Shore.
The North Shore is where the local ski mountains Seymour, Cypress, and Grouse are located. And for the record to be thorough, Whistler and Blackcomb are about an hour and a half north of Vancouver along the Sea to Sky Highway, and are not part of the local mountains. At least to me.

Okay, by now I'm sure you are wondering why I have been giving you a geography lesson when I started off talking about silver lining and black clouds and all that touchy feely type stuff.
On Sunday, Tim Jones, the leader of the North Shore Search and Rescue team suddenly died.  I think anyone who watched the news in the lower mainland knew who he was because that group was unfortunately very busy. Whether it was due to stupid people or unlucky people I can't say, but the group made the news pretty frequently for all of their hard work and Mr. Jones was always front centre making sure the job got done.  To say that he was dedicated to helping people might be an understatement. And that is just what I figured out from watching the news, I never had the opportunity to meet the man.

There have been a few different articles in the newspaper about Mr. Jones in the last couple days, mostly talking about what an amazing person he was and how he personally was involved in at least 1600 search and rescue missions. And another thing that is always mentioned is how, for all that he loved what he did, he was looking forward to the day he retired so he could spend more time with his family and pay back their generosity of sharing him so selflessly with the community.
And this situation brings to mind another similar situation with a fantastic woman I used to work with at St. Paul's.  She worked 2 jobs so that when she retired she could travel and do all the things she couldn't do while working. Then just a couple years before she retired she was diagnosed with a brain tumour and she unfortunately only made it a couple more years.

Alright, by now you are probably beginning to think that I am going off my rocker, first geography then depressing stuff, but really, I have a purpose. I promise!

As I am sure everyone who either reads my blog or talks to me knows, the primary side effects I am now dealing with are fatigue, insomnia, and hot flashes. The fatigue in particular is what is preventing me from being able to work or even walk very fast or far these days. I really appreciate the dry weather so I can take the dog out to the seawall and just sit on a bench and watch the rest of the world go by. And if it was summer I would be stopping to smell the roses a little more often than I ever have in the past simply because I just need to take a break and rest.

And because I am not working I am also able to spend more time with my friends and family than I have ever been able to do. And I am finally a volunteer. Right around the time that I was leaving St. Paul's I had been looking into becoming a tutor for the Big Brothers and Big Sisters but I kept on putting it off because I was just starting a new job and I had no idea what the hours would really be like. And then, of course, I got cancer and that took over everything.  Now that I am in a stable treatment I volunteer between 4 and 6 hours a week for the Canadian Cancer Society and it gives me a sense of purpose.
It is unfortunate that it took cancer for these things to happen for me, but that really seems to be how we all live these days. Everyone so busy that we don't get to appreciate the little stuff.

So, as you have guessed, I have finally gotten to the purpose of this post.........no matter how busy you are, even if it is with something you truly enjoy, don't forget to smell the flowers or talk to a friend or just do a little people watching, because no one knows when you might not have the chance again.

So with those wise words, here is my next music selection, sorry, it is c & w, but it is really appropriate for the moment and I don't think I have shared it before. (Yay! I have finally figured out hyperlinks on my tablet!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xSGLZd9Vg4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Oh, and I have one other great suggestion for people that I saw on a sandwich board outside a coffee shop the other day..........be the reason somebody laughs today.