Merry Christmas biopsy #3

Today is Boxing Day and I decided to bypass all the sales and continue to recover from the past week. On Monday I had an appointment with a family doctor. Up to now I have not had a local family doctor. Unless you are over 55 they are very difficult to come by in Victoria. Aside from crazy Christmas vacation traffic on my way into town it was very unexciting and I will probably keep her as my doc if I can't find anyone in the near future that is closer to me. After the appointment I ran some errands to prepare for Christmas Eve dinner with my in-laws.

Tuesday on the other hand was quite the gong show. First I met Sarah for coffee and a bite to eat. More semi-crazy traffic but otherwise we had fun as always. Then I had to head over to the Jubilee hospital for the repeat biopsy on my enlarged lymph node. When my oncologist gave me the time for the appointment she said that she didn't know where the biopsy would be done so I should ask at the information desk.
I made it to the information desk with about 10 minutes to spare for my appointment. The clerk looked my up in the system and found a lab requestion for a fine needle biopsy. There was no other information. That seemed a little weird to me as the previous biopsy had been done in medical imaging but the clerk sent me to the outpatient lab that was off in a different wing of the building I was in.

When I got to the lab it was pretty quiet with only 1 staff member around. Lucky for me as soon as the staff member saw me she wandered off somewhere. I suspect that she was hoping I would just go away. After about 5 minutes she came back. I told her that I was scheduled to get a fine needle biopsy done and I wasn't sure if I was in the right place. She looked at me with a slightly scared look on her face and told me that they didn't do those things here. Here being the outpatient lab.
I told her that all that was in the computer was a lab requestion for the fine needle biopsy but the previous biopsy had been ultrasound directed. She very happily told me to go to medical imaging, which is in yet another wing of the building, so off I went.

When I got to medical imaging it was just a minute or so before my appointment time. I had to wait a couple minutes then I was called up to be checked in. The clerk looked me up in the computer and all she found was the lab requisition. She handed me off to another person that I think was the temporary scheduler while the regular scheduler was on vacation. The scheduler looked a few things up and couldn't find any information. Eventually she decided that she should call my oncologist's office since she couldn't find any paperwork for me.
So, she talked to the nurse that normally knows everything at my oncologist's office and nothing was figured out. The scheduler requested a requisition get faxed over to medical imaging and she could book me in for the following Tuesday. Ah crap.

I emailed my oncologist to let her know about the problem and then I decided I would grab another coffee before I headed home. I was standing in line to get coffee when I noticed that I had a voicemail on my phone. I checked the message and it was someone from the lab calling me to see if I would be coming in for my appointment as I was now half an hour late. The message didn't tell me where I should actually be so as I was calling her back I went back to the outpatient lab.
I got voicemail but I was back at the lab by the time I hung up the phone. This time there were 2 people at the lab outpatient check in window. When I told them I was supposed to be getting a fine needle biopsy done they immediately told me "those aren't done here you have to got up to the 5th floor to the fine needle aspirate lab". Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..........that makes so much sense. They gave me directions, I had to take a special elevator that was right beside medical imaging (of course, where else did you think the elevator would be?).
While I made the trek up to the FNA lab the clerk was going to phone up to left them know I was on the way.

Once I finally made it to the right place I only had to wait a couple minutes until the pathology tech came to get me. I was taken to a small exam room that had a bed and a cart that held all of the tech's supplies. For once I was appropriately dressed, I had on a button down shirt with a tank top on underneath so I didn't need a hospital gown with its special hospital laundry smell, I just had to take off the button down.
I chatted with the tech while we waited for the pathologist to come in. Back in the day, when I was a student tech, my very first rotation was in the anatomic pathology department at the Jubilee. Truly felt like my life had come full circle yet again.

After a few minutes the pathologist came in. Turns out he is good friends with my oncologist and he had done part of residency training in oncology at the Cancer Agency in Vancouver.
For the biopsy, the first part was a 25 gauge needle into the node and the fluid collected was put on a slide. The pathologist immediately took the slide out of the room to look at it under a microscope to confirm that he was in the right area and getting a good sample. He came back really quick and all things were a go.
The rest of the sample collection was 7 more needles, 1 was 25 gauge the rest 23 gauge, into the lymph node. The end result was enough sample to be able to confirm the ER and Her2 status of the cells. The pathologist said he would look at everything the following day, Christmas Eve, and I would be notified right away if there still was not enough sample and I would have to come back for a third attempt. The actual testing had to be sent to Vancouver so results will not come back until next week at the absolute soonest.
A bandaid was slapped over the poor, abused area of my armpit and I was told to expect some bruising, swelling, and pain. Then I got to go home. Yup. Got all 3. I have really only been able to start using my arm comfortably again today. My poor armpit sure looked and felt like it had been run over by a bus on Christmas Eve.

Then.......on Christmas Eve I went for a lymphatic drainage massage. For the last few weeks my lymphadema has been pretty bad and my left hand has been really sore to the point that there are times I really can't use it. I am left handed just in case you didn't know 😉
So, between the lymphadema on one side and the biopsies on the other side lifting and carrying has not really been a possible activity for a few days. I have gotten really good at sitting on the couch.

The massage itself isn't really as relaxing feeling as a muscle massage for me. With my hand swollen it hurt every time something touched the back of it and about a quarter of the massage is just my hand. By the end the swelling does go down so it does hurt less and now, 2 days later, it is a little better.
Not long after I got home from my massage Ian got home from work and he brought most of his family. It was so great to see everyone!
We had traditional tourtiere for dinner, always a treat on Christmas Eve. And we drank lots and ate lots of Christmas treats and generally had a great time. A really fantastic way to celebrate Christmas!

Everyone headed back to Vancouver that evening so Ian and I had a quiet Christmas day with the pets. Just what I needed after all the appointments I had been through.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I may not post again until after the New Year unless I hear something about my biopsy results. Have a safe and happy New Year's and I will be back in 2015 🎉

Christmas Biopsy #2

Let's see.....the last week has been a little action packed.

Last Tuesday I was called by a nurse at my new breast surgeon's office. My surgeon was scheduled for surgery on Friday at the Royal Jubilee Hospital so I was booked at a clinic for 07:45 to get the little bump biopsied. Uhhhhhhh.........07:45? I haven't been out of bed before 10 am in about 2 months. It is one of those suck it up, buttercup, and get it done moments. At least I am getting the biopsy done really quickly.

Later on Tuesday my wonderful bestie, Keetah, arrived for a visit with her mum, a couple of super cute pooches, and her long lost brother. It was a couple days filled with lots of food and drink and laughs. Orchid was awfully glad when they left. Miss Satori, the puggle, really wanted to practice her cat chasing skills much to the amusement of the humans.........our entire house is hardwood. There was a lot of running with no forward movement from the puggle.

Thursday afternoon I got a call from my oncologist. She had received the results of my biopsy (!!!!!). That was unexpected. The biopsy showed that the enlarged node was due to breast cancer. Yay! I haven't suddenly got lymphoma or melanoma. But, there was not enough sample to confirm the estrogen receptor and Her2 status. It is possible that the cancer has mutated and one or both of those markers has been lost. Fingers crossed that isn't the case.
If the cancer becomes ER negative then the letrozole will be ineffective and if it becomes Her2 negative the herceptin becomes ineffective. If the cancer loses both there will be a lot of chemo in my future.
So, because there was not enough sample to complete the testing, I am booked for a repeat biopsy on Tuesday afternoon. Joy.
My onc also told me that she has been in touch with my radiation oncologist and most likely I will be going for radiation on the lymph node at the beginning of January. The question now is how many treatments will I need?

Friday morning, dark and early, and rainy of course, I trundled off to the Jubilee. I got to the clinic where the biopsy was to be done and it was all closed up. The clinic was actually not supposed to open until after my scheduled appointment time. I waited a couple minutes and my surgeon showed up. She told me to just take a seat and she would be back to get me in a few minutes after she had set up.
A clerk showed up then and called me up to confirm my name and birth date then I waited a few more minutes.

My surgeon came back and showed me to the procedure room. Normally there is a nurse in the room to assist but the appointment was so early there were no nurses yet so we were on our own trying to figure out how to turn on the big light needed for my doc to see what she was doing. I had to change into a gown and my doc came back with a resident. He got to be the assistant.
The area around the bump got frozen with lots of freezing but I barely even felt the needle for the freezing go in. Goes to show just how numb I still am from my mastectomy.
Then I got sliced open and the bump was cut out. My surgeon was nice enough to show me the piece of tissue she removed. There was a clip attached from when my mastectomy was done. Possibly the bump was just due to me reacting to the clip. Sure hope that is the case.
I got sewed back up, the end result was a 2 cm incision in my chest. I got a few dissolving stitches, a few steri-strips, and a bandage on top just in case there was any residual bleeding. Results should be back in a week or so.
I felt alright when I left but I suspect that I was just slightly in shock. I had a little bit of lightheadedness and felt just a little icky. On the whole scale I was ok though.

I went home and went back to bed for a couple hours. After I got up for the second time that day I stocked up on fluids and got myself ready to back to the Jubilee, to the Cancer Agency to be precise, for my herceptin. Ahhhh, such a good day.
Only 1 poke was needed to get the IV and I was in and out pretty quick. Needless to say I was in bed before 8:30 that night.

I spent the weekend relaxing and socialising and enjoying the Christmas season. Next week the medical fun continues.

A Christmas biopsy

Last Friday I received a phone call from the medical imaging department at Victoria General. Would I be able to come in Monday morning for a mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy. Ummmm.........yea......of course. Such a silly question.

While I was waiting for that phone call I did manage to put up my Christmas tree. And I even fit in a Costco adventure with my mom and Aunt Gwen and the three of us got our Christmas baking done. The baking is a little late this year but it sure is tasty.
And Jasper is super lucky, I seem to have lost, or I may have thrown out while packing, his Christmas antlers so no Jasper wearing antlers picture this year.

The weekend was pretty uneventful and then it was Monday morning. The medical imaging scheduling person had told me to expect some delays once I was in the department. They are trying to fit as many people in as possible before Christmas. The mammogram should be on time but there could be a wait for the ultrasound and biopsy so I should expect to be in the department for a while.
With that advice in mind I arrived at the hospital and had to decide how many hours of parking to buy. I figured 3 hours would be enough. Turns out I can only buy parking in 2 hour increments. Glad to know hospitals like ripping sick people off.

In the medical imaging department I had to follow the pink line to get to the breast imaging area. Once there I was the youngest person by about 10 years although I could hear a child somewhere in the department who was definitely in the depths of despair. Poor little tyke.
With the warning that I could be sitting around for a while I came fully prepared with ebook and phone for entertainment. I only made it a few pages before I was called in for my mammogram.

It was a little strange, the radiology tech asked me some questions about my medical history, any history of breast cancer in the family, when was my last mammogram, what treatment I currently on, did I have chemo and radiation, were any lymph nodes positive when I had my surgery? Except for the current treatment question I really had to think about everything else. I don't think about the past stuff any more. It is just that, in the past. Can't do anything about it or change it so there isn't much point in thinking about it.
So the mammogram was quick and easy. A little squashing and body contortions and it was done. Certainly one of the easiest things I have to deal with so far.

Then, it was back to the waiting room. I only made it another 10 or so pages in my book before I was called in for the ultrasound. Not bad, I had barely been in the hospital for an hour at this point. The ultrasound tech repeated most of the questions the mammogram tech had asked. Much easier the second time through.
The tech also asked if I had any other concerns other than the enlarged lymph node. I mentioned the little lump above my surgery scar so the tech decided to ultrasound that first. Ultrasounds are another wonderfully uneventful test. I lie about and stare at the ceiling. Easy.
Part way through the ultrasound another tech popped into the room to see if we were ready for the radiologist to do the biopsy. We weren't. That meant the radiologist would do another case first so there might be a delay before my biopsy was done.
The ultrasound was finished up and the tech reminded me that there might be a wait for the radiologist. Turns out the tech doing my ultrasound was the supervisor of the department. She was the one that had ensured I got in really fast because my oncologist had supplied enough information in the ultrasound request to demonstrate the need for rapid testing without needing further information. I have to remember to tell my oncologist to keep doing what she is doing. It truly is a service to her patients.

After a short wait the tech and the radiologist came into the room. The biopsy was just going to be fine needle aspirates and not core biopsies. Yay! For those in the know, we are talking 25 gauge needles. Barely feel those going in. I did feel the next bit where the radiologist uses a combination of mushing the ultrasound wand into the lymph node and jiggling the tip of the needle around in the node to collect as many cells as possible. Then it was done 3 more times.
On the upside, the tech commented at one point that this radiologist was the best one in the department at fine needle aspirates. The radiologist always got bigger samples than everyone else. That is always a great thing to hear while you have a needle stuck into your armpit.

Altogether, the sample collection only took about 10 minutes and once it was done all I got on the site was a couple band aids. Getting this biopsy done does make me think of that day in July of 2012 when I had my original biopsies done. That time it was fine needle aspirates on a couple nodes plus 2 or 3 core biopsies of the lump in my breast. I remember the radiologist was called in from some other task to do my biopsies so she was wearing opened toed shoes, they may have even been heels, in the procedure room.
The other memorable thing about those original biopsies that were done late on a Friday afternoon was that the following Sunday morning I thought I would pass out while standing in the immigration line at the Vancouver airport. I was on my way to Rochester, NY for training for the job I had just started. I suspect that I was still in shock at the time and that trip was an adventure involving transfers in Denver and Chicago.

I'm getting so bad about tests that I totally forgot to ask when my oncologist will receive the results. Kinda makes the waiting easier. I'll expect the results some time in January.

CT scan #.......um.......I don't know

After much digging on my part I was finally able to feel the enlarged lymph node that I knew had to be in my right armpit. When I saw my oncologist last Thursday I was able to show her where it was. Turns out it is really deep which is why it has been so difficult to to feel during a physical exam.

Friday was CT scan day. It was the full meal deal, abdominal CT followed by head CT. 2 for 1 is nice since it saves me an iv and yet another dose of the contrast dye. Although, I am hoping that I end up having so many CT scans I eventually start turning purple from the inside out.
With scans done I was told I'd wait about a week for the results.

Bright and early Monday morning, or at least at 9:30, which I think is early for a Monday, a message was left on my phone from my oncologist. She already had my CT results. That was really fast so I couldn't decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
When I returned the call I found out it was a good thing.

As expected, there was an enlarged lymph node in my right armpit. No surprise there. The splotch on my skull is shrinking. Yay! There is nothing in my liver. Yay! And everything else remains stable. Yay!

With all these results it was decided that I would continue the current drug regimen of zoladex, letrozole, and herceptin. I am also going to be booked for an ultrasound and biopsy of the lymph node to confirm if it is breast cancer and to see if there has been any change in the estrogen receptor and her-2 status.  I am also waiting for a consult with my radiation oncologist as the plan is to use radiation to treat the lymph node.

On Tuesday I met with a breast surgeon. My greatest dream is to have a mastectomy on the right side and a double reconstruction. By doing a double reconstruction I don't have to worry about the problem of one perky boob and one floppy boob as I age. Unfortunately, I doubt I am a candidate for reconstruction since I am currently not stable. Even if reconstruction is off the table I would still like the right side mastectomy done. I have to say that I find the imbalance right now annoying and rather inconvenient.
If I get the second mastectomy and no reconstruction I am going to get a mastectomy bra tattoo. If you haven't seen one before, here is the general idea
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2281345/Photo-breast-cancer-survivors-tattooed-chest-shared-thousands-Facebooks-attempts-ban-it.html.

Hmmmmm.......I have digressed slightly. On Tuesday I saw a breast surgeon.  She is very concerned about 2 things. First, the lymph node. She finds it odd that the original tumour was on the left side and now the right lymph nodes are affected and there is currently no sign of any tumour in the right breast. Because of this she really wants the ultrasound and biopsy done as quickly as possible.

Second, I have had a small bump just above my scar at my mastectomy site. The bump is about 1 cm but after it initially showed up, in February???, it shrank a little and doesn't seem to have changed since. There is a slight red tinge to it which is apparently not good. Of course, I have no idea if it has always looked like that. I sometimes think I should reread all my blog entries occasionally, all the details start running together after a while.
Anyway, the surgeon thinks the bump should be biopsied as well so now I am waiting for that appointment as well.

And that is my life right now, endless appointments. At some point I need to find the time to put up my Christmas tree.

Another year older

November 10th was my 39th birthday. The third birthday I have celebrated since my diagnosis.  So far I have been travelling this road for 28 months. Apparently the median life expectancy for MBC is 26 months so I am doing good so far.
I celebrated my birthday early with a trip to Vancouver. I didn't get to see nearly as many people as I would have liked, but there will be more visits. The actual day was celebrated by getting my favourite, a zoladex injection, followed a couple hours later with a herceptin treatment.  I did get my free birthday beverage from Starbucks to add a little joy........mmmmmmmm........peppermint mocha...........

Two days ago I noticed the stiff neck and head pain from the splotch on my skull is finally really disappearing. Yay! Yay! Yay!!! I'd jump up and down with joy but I don't want to push my luck quite yet.
Of course, this happens as a weird pain is starting up in my right armpit.  I was finally able to sleep on my right side for a little bit before my skull would hurt and now my armpit starts to hurt. Go figure 😛
My last couple of CT scans have shown enlarged lymph nodes in the area but when I had an ultrasound nothing looked like a possible target for a biopsy. Plus, both my medical oncologist and my radiation oncologist have been unable to feel any abnormal lymph nodes when digging their fingers into my armpit.

I see my onc again next Thursday and my next CT scan is scheduled for the following day. Perhaps there will be some explanation for the pain with those appointments.

In the meantime I am continuing to recover some energy after my travels. My fatigue was back in full force when I got home. Perhaps I had not recovered quite as much as I had hoped from my radiation in September.
Somebody on one of the MBC email lists I belong to posted an interesting journal article about cancer fatigue. I am attaching the link http://m.jco.ascopubs.org/content/19/21/4180.full. I found it so interesting to read because it finally made me feel less crazy about what the fatigue does to me. There were two aspects of the fatigue description that I found particularly true, one was the fact that sleep has no effect. There are days I think I could sleep for 25 hours and I still won't have the energy to get out of bed. The second thing was talking about "empty being empty".
I remember when I was working evenings at St. Paul's, I walked to work, a couple of kilometres, then depending on where I was working I could be on my feet running for almost 8 hours then there'd be a sick call so I'd stay and work another 6 hours before walking home again. I'd be exhausted but there was no question I'd be able to make it home. Now, I can be mid-activity and blammo, I hit the fatigue wall, and quite literally, if I don't stop whatever I'm doing and sit down immediately I will fall down because I don't have the energy to stay upright. It really does make me feel better knowing I am not the only person who deals with that.

Alrighty, that is enough for now. CT scan is in 8 days. I'll post when I get the results.

Radiation to the Base of the Skull Really Sucks

In fact, I think it may have caused the worst side effects I have dealt with during this entire cancer adventure.

The last couple weeks have been a bit of a write off so I can't remember quite where I left off.  I know I posted about my head CT scan results being positive for skull mets but negative for anything in the brain.
Since then I have been dealing with headaches that were not too bad but often were accompanied by nausea. Generally unpleasant. And the pain was so nonspecific. It was inside the skull so I never could really pinpoint where it was coming from, just that the right side of my head ached.
And any sudden head movement or jarring cause instant, nauseating pain. All in all super fun.

On the Saturday of Labour Day weekend we gained possession of our house in Central Saanich. So awesome!!!
The view from the front of the house.....

The view of the backyard from the deck.......

The deck.......

We even have outbuildings!!

........we just don't have much to put in them yet. 😝

Because the thingamabob (did you know that is actually recognised as a word by my spell check ?!?) in my skull was causing me pain I was being referred for radiation. On the Wednesday after Labour Day I went for my consultation. Turned out to be a really good appointment.......
I really liked my new radiation oncologist for starters. It is always great when you like a new doc. She was only recommending ONE treatment rather than the five that is often suggested for bone mets since the location was not close to anything important like the spinal cord or major nerves. Apparently the brain isn't very important, who knew?? Since it is only one treatment there is much less risk of my hair falling out in the area the radiation would hit! Good news since I am not prepared to lose my hair right now, I am still loving my extensions.
Other potential side effects include headaches and nausea. Since I'm already dealing with those the radiation didn't sound like a big deal. Usually people get prescribed dexamethasone for head or brain radiation to help control any swelling and for nausea. I absolutely hate the stuff.......turns me into a raving carbohydrate junkie.......so my rad. onc and I agreed to only do something if the side effects were a problem.

Conveniently there was a cancellation in the radiation planning department so immediately after my consult I went directly to planning.  The planning session involves getting a plastic mesh molded to my face........

and a CT scan.
They do cut out the eyes and mouth before you come in for the radiation appointment so it isn't quite as claustrophobic.  Although they do actually snap the mask to the bed I have to lie on so my head is totally immobilised. For some reason it made me think of the Saw movies. I'm glad it wasn't closer to Halloween.
The planning scan only took a couple minutes all together so I was actually in and out of the Cancer Agency in less than hour. Not bad at all!

On Friday morning I received a phone call from the Cancer Agency booking office, my radiation was scheduled for Monday morning at 10 a.m. Wow! Really wasn't expecting it to happen so fast. Friday afternoon I had my Herceptin treatment and more great news......only 1 poke was needed!!!

Monday morning it was back to the Cancer Agency for my radiation. During the prep talk by then radiation tech she mentioned that she was a little surprised I didn't have a dexamethasone prescription but she totally understood why I was being resistant.
The treatment was quick and easy. Two zaps to the skull, one from the left side and one from the right side, and I was all done. In and out in less than an hour again!

I was planning to go to Costco after but I had forgotten my list and my cash so I headed for home instead. Boy, oh boy, was that ever fortunate.  Within a couple hours my head was hurting way more than it had ever hurt before and the nausea was horrendous. I took myself to bed but lying down did not help.
I phoned Ian and asked him to come home and to pick up some Tylenol on the way.  I couldn't find the Tylenol amongst all of our stuff so it is possible we didn't even have any.
Next I phoned the radiation nurse line to report my symptoms. Of course, I had to leave a message and wait to be called back. The wait seemed to be forever but I'm sure it wasn't actually that long. The nurse okayed me taking some gravol and she said to take whatever the maximum dose was suggested on the package.

I took my gravol and went back to bed to wait for Ian and the Tylenol to get home. That was not the most pleasant wait, the gravol did not seem to be doing much.  As soon as Ian arrived I took 2 Tylenol and continued to feel like crap. Then my fingers started to go numb. I wasn't sure if it was due to the gravol finally kicking in but it was a side effect I was supposed to report immediately so I phoned and left another message on the nurse line.

The call back was much quicker this time. The nurse said she had seen my rad. onc. recently so the nurse said she would go talk to my rad onc and request a dexamethasone prescription be faxed immediately to the closest pharmacy. The nurse said it would be at the pharmacy in a maximum of 10 minutes so Ian could leave immediately to pick it up.
Ian was home within half an hour with instructions for me to take one pill immediately and one in the morning. If I felt the need to take any more I was to phone the nurse line again. So.....I took a pill and I swear within 5 minutes I was feeling better and within 10 minutes I had passed out.

Since it was one of those totally drugged sleeps when I woke up I had no idea where I was or what time it was. Turns out it was 8 pm so I had slept for over 3 hours. Guess my fatigue was pretty bad since dexamethasone is supposed to make people hyper. I think I ate something then and then I passed out again, but I really don't remember now.

Tuesday morning I was still feeling pretty awful so more steroid down the hatch. I don't remember much but I'm pretty sure I did nothing all day. I still didn't feel great in the evening so I took yet another pill.....oops, didn't phone the nurse, but I figure all they would have told me was to take another pill.

Wednesday I was still not too functional but I had to get to the Cancer Agency to see my medical oncologist. I downed one more dexamethasone and then I went to wait for the bus. No way I was driving in the state I was in. Shoulder checking was out of the question and the general feeling of utter crappiness was not conducive to being safe on the highway. Fortunately there is a bus stop just down the street so it wasn't a big deal.

I saw my onc. and she said my side effects weren't a big surprise. If, however, they had not improved by the following we I was to notify her and my rad. onc. We also discussed my next scan date.......near the end of November, far enough away to give the new drug, Letrozole, a chance to actually do something.
I had to stop in at the Cancer Agency pharmacy to pick up more pills. Very annoying, the pharmacy actually closes for an hour for lunch every day. Seriously?? Could you imagine if the lab in a hospital closed for an hour? Some ER doc would have a total conniption. Any hoo, that meant that after my onc. appointment I had about 40 minutes to kill before I could pick up my pills........just enough time for a London fog (it made me think of Beyond.......I will try and make it to Vancouver soon for sushi and another London fog) and a honeybun. Time well wasted 😁

Once the pharmacy was open again I learned they had not received the updated prescription from my oncologist that would let me take home 3 boxes of pills, so I took the 1 box I could get and scaddled. Enough time wasted for the day. Then it was back on the bus and home again. Good to know the bus trip isn't too bad to the cancer agency, I don't know the next time I will have to do that.

Since then the nausea and headaches have been improving and the fatigue is very slowly improving. It is now 2 1/2 weeks post radiation and the nausea is totally gone and the carbohydrate cravings are slowly decreasing. I still have the occasional flash of pain but nothing like I was getting and it continues to get better. Now I just need the fatigue to go away. One activity a day still wears me out.
I did eventually make it to Costco though, and spent gobs of money. Even more important I made my first visit to Lee Valley.......so excited, I'm now on their mailing list so I should get their catalogues in the mail. Can't wait for my first one!!

I had another visit to my medical oncologist today and since it appears things are stabilising I am back to appointments every 9 weeks instead of every 3 weeks. I had my blood work done, no tumour marker results yet but apparently everything else is looking fantastic.......I decided to take a break from being a lab tech and didn't ask for any specific values. Usually I always want to know my platelets and haemoglobin. Must be a sign that the fatigue has totally gone away yet.

So for now I am taking things slowly as I deal with the fatigue but I am loving getting outside everyday to play in my garden. And pretty soon we will be allowed to have fires in our backyard fire pit..........mmmmmmmmm..........toasted marshmallows........

Now it is late, time for bed. Have an awesome Friday everyone!!!! And at 2:30 I have my herceptin so cross your fingers it is only one poke again 😉

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.

The Results Are In

I had my 9 week appointment with my oncologist on Wednesday so I finally got the official results of my bone scan.
The official impression is "continuing improvement of abnormalities in the sternum, thoracic spine, and pelvis."

Yay!!!!

Hard to believe that it could actually get any better than it already was, but what do I know?

Now onto a totally different matter.  As some of you may already know, I am thinking about not participating in the Run for the Cure this year.  If I am involved in the run I would like to be a part of the organising.  We'll see how it goes. With my fatigue, being on the organising committee may not be possible but I am sure there is something behind the scenes I should be able to do.

Coincidently, just as I am thinking of not being a part of the run, my wonderful friend Grace van der Gugten has signed up as a member of Team UBC for the Ride to Conquer Cancer.  This is a fundraising bike trip that takes place every year and participates ride from Vancouver to Seattle (!!!!).  The money raised goes to the BC Cancer Foundation which is the fundraising arm of the BC Cancer Society where I and all other cancer patients in BC are treated.  The BCCA is a huge participant in all sorts of cancer research and it truly is a great institution to support.

I am throwing all of my fundraising abilities behind Grace this year. I hope that all of you who are able will also show your support of both Grace and of cancer research by donating to her!

To make donating easy, here is a Link to Grace's personal page!

Thank you all for your support:-)

2014 Already???

I am still a little stunned that 2013 is over and it is 2014. Thanks to Suz and Wayne for a great New Year's Eve! It is always fun when the St. Paul's gang gets together:-)

While Ian and I were en route to the New Year's gathering I was thinking of where I was for December 31, 2012. My last chemo treatment had been on Dec. 28th so I remember I was layering up Advil and Tylenol to limit the joint pain as we went to Nick and Sarah's. Sarah was still pregnant and I couldn't handle any alcohol so we were celebrating together with our sparkling apple cider. I wasn't an aunt yet. I didn't have hair, eye brows, eye lashes, or nose nair. I had not decided at that point if I would have surgery and radiation was still a future idea.
Now it's been over a year since my last chemo,  the baby is 6 months old, my nephew is 11 months old, I have CURLY hair, and my brows, lashes, and nose have all recovered. I've had surgery and found out it's not as bad as some people say and for a little while the radiation unit of the BC Cancer Agency was my home away from home for a while. I've also made it through another PET scan, 4 bone scans, and 3 CT scans.

I guess you could say there were a lot of changes in 2013. Not as many as in 2012, but really not much can beat a cancer diagnosis for a life changing event.

After much consideration I have decided to only make one New Year's: I resolve to only make one New Year's resolution. Hope I don't fail!

And I want to send out a hello to a friend of mine who had the unfortunate luck to become a member of the breast cancer family just before Christmas. All I can say is that it sucks you are now a member but it a pretty amazing family all the same. You will never lack for support, advice, understanding, and most of all fun.  Cancer does suck so sometimes you have to look a little harder but I can guarantee there is still fun to be had.

One thing that I always found amusing was looking for music links while battling the insomnia I had during my taxol treatments and I will try an continue that even if I'm no longer posting at 3 a.m. The song I found for today was part of my radiation playlist.  Many other patients I was in touch with suggested having a fight playlist particularly for radiation as the daily slog to treatment gets a little hard on the spirit some days.
Some patients actually had their playlist played while in the treatment room.  I never got that hardcore but I only had 16 treatments so it was not as overwhelming for me.

Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V96r2046qjE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I hope it works. I was having some blogger/YouTube crankiness.