3 Years - Should I celebrate or cry?

July 13th, what should have been a harmless Friday in 2012 turned out to be a life changer. It is now 3 years since my diagnosis. I should get up and dance and celebrate that I have made it this long but this day also marks the end of life as I knew it. Sure, no one truly knows what will happen once they get out of bed each day......Will today be the day the random driver busy texting schmucks me as I am crossing the street? No one really knows how their life will go so all we can do is rely on the statistics.

The median life span after a stage IV breast cancer diagnosis is 29 or 28 or 26 months depending on who you ask and I'm at 36 months. Based on that I guess today is a day of celebration. I should be breaking out the champagne but it might interfere with the meds I am currently on, but more about that later.

Since it has been a while since I have talked about the realities of living with metastatic breast cancer here is a little video with a theme song that I am planning to add to my playlist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDQ0FjP7J-c

Ok, lemme see, my last post was in March. That was after my surgery to get my lymph nodes out and before my travels started so here goes......

In mid March I met up with my friend Laura and we spent a weekend in snowy Montreal. Trust me that it was snowy, all I have to show for it is this.....

Nutella and banana. Yum.

From Montreal we hopped the Amtrak and headed south to New York City!!!! I ❤ New York.

We met up with my friend Sarah and then Kara joined us and we had so much fun! A St. Paddy's Day parade, The Cloisters Museum, Central Park,

 The American Natural History Museum to see the dinosaurs,

 a couple of shows, the

Here's the view from the 89th floor:

We managed to time our visit perfectly as the clouds started coming in just as we were leaving.

After a week in NYC I continued on to Toronto where Ian met me and we spent a week with my little nephew and his parents.  It was Ian's first visit to Toronto so it was unfortunate it was still so cold.  We did do some touring around, we visited the Mill St. Brew Pub, Niagara Falls - so amazing I have never been there before, and we learned about the production of maple syrup at the Kortright Centre, a good Canadian activity.
There were also a couple of family gatherings.  It was so fabulous to see you Ilana after 18 years!! And congrats on your engagement!

After a week of Toronto cold Ian and I headed back to the balmy west coast. My gardening began in earnest while I waited for radiation to begin on my right armpit where I had the lymph nodes removed.

Radiation started on May 1st and ran for 16 sessions.  I ended up getting the lesion on my right 6th rib irradiated at the same time as I managed to aggravate it with a cough I picked up during my trip. Radiation went very smoothly, especially with the gardening help and company supplied by Keetah and Satori.  Keetah was my travel companion for half my radiation appointments and it sure made the drive to the Cancer Agency less depressing.

Once radiation was complete my life settled down and it was just me and the garden most days.....any one in need of tomatoes let me know.  I went a little overboard things grow so well here. Also tomatillos if you like green salsa.  And lettuce if you need it right now.  And let's not think about the cucumbers or zucchinis.

There was a brief interruption of my gardening when I had my normal check up with my medical oncologist.  It was decided that since I had just completed radiation there should be a delay until my next scan even though I had not had any scans since January.  The delay will make it easier to tell if the areas that were irradiated are healing or staying the same or growing.

Ian has made jam, marionberry (similar to a blackberry),sour cherry, and raspberry so far.  We also have pounds of regular cherries in the freezer.  Mom helped me make grape juice with some of the grapes left from last year since we need to make room for this year's crop soon.

And our blackberries are starting to ripen.

Needless to say I won't starve even if I don't visit a grocery store for the next month.

In the middle of June Ian and I sent the pets to Pender and we went up the island to Campbell River to visit another St. Paul's escapee and her husband in their new home.  They rent a suite and a cottage on their property and I highly recommend it as a place to stay.  We made it to the Courtney farm market which was excellent with a fabulous assortment of produce and other farm fresh foods available.  And the northern part of the island is also wine country so we had to pop into a local winery as well.  We also had time for a fishing charter and Ian and I came home with a good sized spring salmon.  Yay! Smoked salmon in the freezer again!

After we got home from Campbell River I had my last visit with my radiation oncologist.  My skin withstood the radiation with only tan lines.  Aside from my regular herceptin,  zoladex, pamidronate, and medial oncology appointments that was the end of my extra appointments until the end of August.  Or at least that was what I was planning.

On the 4th of July I was off to Vancouver to pick up Keetah and Satori.  We had a holiday planned with Sarah on the beach at Shuswap Lake.  Lucky for us we left Vancouver just as the smoke from the Sechelt forest fire started to get bad.  We had a fantastic 6 days just outside Tappen with a lovely lake beach to visit every day

We had a very tasty Thai dinner one night in Salmon Arm, visited the local gouda farm and a tasty butcher, and tested out the breakfast offerings at a nearby native run golf resort.  All in all a lovely break from my day to day life.  Thanks for being such a great hostess Sarah!

Keetah, Satori, and I returned to Vancouver on Friday and I was noticing that my right eye felt a little dry.  It had been a little scratchy earlier in the week but I didn't think much of it due to the drier air and the smoke that was around and the car air conditioning.  By Saturday when I returned to Victoria things were getting worse and I was noticing the right side of my mouth did not feel right.  Just when it seemed like my weird tongue had just gone away too.

Off to the Royal Jubilee Emergency we went.  Yes, other hospitals are closer but I worked at the Jub and that is the place I like the best.

As I suspected the tentative diagnosis is Bell's palsy which happens after cranial nerve 7 sustains damage, most often after it is infected by a virus.  I did have a head CT done just in case and the good news is that there is no sign of any new mets in my brain or skull.

There were however some changes from the MRI I had in January.  The changes may be due to the differences between CT and MRI scans so I am just waiting for an appointment to be scheduled for a head MRI.  I am also going to be booked in to see my neurologist again.

In the meantime I am on a high dose course of prednisone and antivirals and I have to put the gooiest eye drops in my eye to protect it from drying out as I have lost the ability to close my right eye most of the time.  That also means I have to tape my eye shut at night so I am not sleeping with one eye open.  Eating is a bit of a challenge and I can only drink using a straw unless I want to dribble my beverage all over.

Supposedly 80% of people recover with no adverse effects within a few months so I hope I am in that 80%.  Gotta say this is freaking annoying.

Anyhoo, I think that pretty much covers everything since March.......Montreal, New York, Toronto, gardening, Campbell River, Shuswap Lake, and Bell's palsy with the regular mixture of infusions, injections, and treatments thrown in with a couple of med oncology appointments.

Just a reminder, I am approaching my long term goal of reaching 40.  The big day is November 10th and I am planning to throw a shindig in Vancouver the following Saturday.  Let me know if you would like to attend as I hope to start the planning some time this summer.

Happy July 13th everyone! I hope your 13th is always less eventful than mine was in 2012.

Bye bye lymph nodes

As expected the surgery to get my lymph nodes out was done a tad suddenly. I had talked to my surgeon's assistant and we arranged a surgery date of April 1st. The next day, Friday Feb. 20th a message was left on my phone while I was on my way to the cancer agency for my herceptin.
It was my surgeon's office.......some O.R. time had opened up on Feb 24th and they were holding the time for me. Would that work?
Sure.

I have this policy about my treatment that started back when I had my wisdom teeth pulled. When in doubt, just agree. "Sure, pull my wisdom teeth, I just have to be able to go to my cake decorating class at 7 p.m."

If a time really doesn't work, for example, the first surgery date suggested was March 6th, um, no, I have to be on a plane to Montreal on the 13th, then say no. If there is nothing either truly life changing or just too much fun to pass up, just go with it, especially if it is a short wait time. I already have to plan my life around enough medical treatments, if I can cut down on wait times my life just goes more smoothly.

So, yes, last Tuesday my lymph nodes were taken out and the bump on my chest wall was cut out some more. Overall I feel much better with the lymph nodes gone than I did before even with a couple of incisions and a yucky drain sticking out of me.
Hands down the worst part of lymph node surgery is the drain. I live in fear that I'll do something dumb, forget it is there and accidentally yank it out in the middle of a store. Gross.
Aside from that it is no big deal. There pain has been pretty minimal and I haven't taken any pain killers since Saturday, day 4 post surgery.

Ok, I do admit that I do blow things off a bit........I think this would be item #11 on my 10 things list, but then it would be 11 things and then I'd have to change the title and then it would just be a pain in the butt. Let's just call this an addendum to the list.
I will down play things on occasion, partly just as a way to deal with them. Eventually I will admit if something really sucks, but in general it is way easier to deal with things if I don't build anything up to much. In a good year I have 50 medical appointments. If I made those into big deals then the last 15 extra appointments I have dealt with in the last few months would just make my brain explode.

This whole surgery thing, however, isn't one of those things I am just blowing off. It really hasn't been a big deal. A big deal was the radiation to my skull. And I don't think anything will be a big deal until it can surpass that radiation in suckitude level. Hopefully I have to wait a long time for that.

Enough blather, it is 10 degrees and sunny. Time to sit and enjoy the sun and wait til Monday when the gross, nasty drain comes out 🌞

My 10 things

I saw a post on my Facebook wall a few days, or maybe weeks, ago posted by one of the chemo support sites I randomly decided to follow during the dark days of chemo. It was a blog post that has apparently gone viral but I hadn't seen it before. It really made me start to think about my life and the things I do and don't tell people.
The original post was from Roadkill Goldfish. I don't know anything about the blog or its writer other than the woman has thyroid cancer, but here is a link to the post http://roadkillgoldfish.com/friends-cancer-want-know/.

Since I finished chemo and no longer deal with the crazy steroid induced insomnia of treatment day I haven't done any fun posts so I thought while not necessarily fun it would be worthwhile to do a similar list.

Here goes......

1. Chemo does not suck. 

Cancer really, really, really sucks. Chemo kills cancer cells. And you know the saying, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Nuff said.

2. Being called strong, inspirational, heroic, a fighter or any of the zillion other words people use for cancer patients just feels weird.

I suppose I could spend the rest of my life curled up in a little ball and hiding under the bedcovers but that seems a little pointless. Why go through all the crap I've already been through and all the crap I still get to go through just to do that? Instead I do what I'm told, jump through the hoops and enjoy my life as much as I possibly can, but I don't do anything different from what everyone else in this situation does. Seriously, when was the last time you read about a cancer patient that didn't battle valiantly?

3. I do occasionally spend time curled in a little ball hiding under the covers crying my eyes out.

I think it is just necessary. It is like an emotional reset button. Once it is over I get up and get on with living again.

4. The next time I lose my hair it is going to be a disaster.
You have now officially been warned. Losing my hair once is ok. It is part of the chemo process and fortunately I have a nicely shaped skull, but I'm sorry, having to go through hair loss a second time is just plain cruel.  Plus, it turns out I love my chemo hair is even more than my old hair which will make losing it that much more difficult. I can only hope it is a long time until I have to go back on chemo.

5. Do everything you can to reduce your cancer risk.
Let me repeat, cancer really, really, really sucks. You do not want to go through this and I wouldn't wish it on another living thing. I am proof that a healthy lifestyle doesn't necessarily prevent cancer but you should still do whatever you can to decrease your risk.

6. When bad stuff happens to other people I have sympathy and compassion for them.
Life is not a contest. There is no bad news measurement stick. When I hear bad news about someone whether it is about the death of a family member, a fender bender, a sick pet, or any other bad whatever that happens to everyone that is human I don't compare the situation to my own. I take the news for what it is, bad news, and offer support.

7. I am so jealous of everyone that is working.
I am surprised no one has commented on the blindingly green shade my eyes must turn whenever someone's job is discussed. Being 2 1/2 months into my dream job and then getting handed a cancer diagnosis kinda makes we want to start screaming and throwing dishes. Fortunately for the dishes that also sounds exhausting so it ain't gonna happen.

8. I appreciate every email, text, or message you send me.
I probably should tell everyone this all the time but I am terrible at responding to those same emails, texts, and messages. I do promise that I will eventually respond to all communications.

9. I can be fine today and dead in 3 months.
I live with that every day. I watched it happen to a woman in her mid-40's with a similar diagnosis to mine last year on one of the online support groups I belong to. I find it much easier to get out of bed every day by just putting it out of my mind, but it still colours many aspects of my life. So, if I suddenly go crazy and drop everything to go on a trip or even just buy another pair of shoes by all means come join me, it might be my last chance.

And on that note,

10. Stop and smell the roses.

Actually, I have told you all this before. I wrote an entire blog post about it. Here's the link in case you need a refresher http://nspip.blogspot.ca/2014/01/stop-and-smell-roses.html.

If I think of it, I'll review this list in about 6 months and see if anything has changed. Now, I have to go make some chocolate cake, gotta take #9 to heart ;-)

A little neurology goes a long way

I saw a neurologist last week about my tongue thing.  He was fantastic and I am very happy to have him as the newest member of my healthcare team.
The good news is that I do not have MS, ALS, or epilepsy.

Due to some very old scar tissue in my brain my neurologist suspects that my tongue issue may actually be congenital and for some unknown reason has decided to start showing symptoms now. It is possible that for another unknown reason the radiation I had to my skull is what kicked started the symptoms.
My neurologist would not be surprised if the symptoms disappear as suddenly as they appeared. I am going to hope for that.

At this point it doesn't feel like the symptoms are appearing any more frequently which is good. If the symptoms do get worse and start impeding my speech more my neurologist has offered to send me to a speech pathologist if I deem it necessary.

Early on Saturday....... Yes, Saturday.......morning I had to go to Victoria General for my first infusion of Pamidronate. This is the new bone drug I am switching to, replacing Clodronate. I was getting really tired of the timing of Clodronate since I had to take it first thing in the morning then wait an hour to eat.
Turns out one of the great things about Pamidronate is that in the future I will have to go in to get my IV inserted and the drug attached but then I can go home. The drug is infused using a portable infusion pump bottle and not a regular infusion pump.
This is what the bottle basically looks like:

The balloon inside is filled with saline and the drug is added. Then the balloon slowly collapses and the drug solution is infused. Pretty cool.

I have to remove my IV after the drug finishes running, but that is fine if it saves me from 4 hours of hanging about in a hospital.

After I got home from that adventure I felt okay. For Valentine's Day dinner it was cheese fondue and pain au chocolat bread pudding. Very tasty.

By the time I went to bed I was definitely feeling off. Heart burn, achiness, and general grossness. I still had some of the peppermint spirits I used during chemo for upset tummy and it worked its usual miracle.

Sunday morning I woke up and I believe I felt sort like a person would about a week after being hit by a bus. Every part of my body ached except for my left elbow and I was so tired. I'm not quite sure why my elbow got to escape the joy.

After some Tylenol and several hours of not moving on the couch the ache started to fade. By Sunday evening it was pretty much gone. Monday morning I felt normal again.

Now I know, the day after Pamidronate will be a write off. Over time I am hoping the side effects will decrease.

Ok, back to waiting for surgery dates.......

The saga continues

Hmmmmmmmm.............la la la la la la la la la.............I don't remember where I left off in my last post (if I knew how you'd be listening to the Jeopardy theme as you read this) and I don't feel like going back and rereading it. I think I'll just wing it.

January has been chaotic.

I think I have already posted that the bump above my mastectomy scar and my enlarged lymph node were both positive for breast cancer and the node is estrogen receptor negative so the zoladex and letrozole I am on are not useful in slowing cancer growth.

The second week of January I was scheduled for a breast MRI and I also started getting a weird new thing going on with my tongue. Just before I went to bed on Monday I lost control of the back part of my tongue for a couple of minutes. It was very strange.
On the Tuesday afternoon I went for my breast MRI. Not overly exciting, lie on a bed facedown and don't move. The machine used to take the pictures includes a large magnet (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) so there are a few interesting pre-test questions. The most interesting one, have you ever had any metal objects, such as iron filings, stuck in your eye from maybe an industrial type accident? Doesn't that offer up a rather gross and extremely painful mental image? Yowzers!!
They also ask if you have any shrapnel, joint implants, a pacemaker, or other random metal medical items stuck inside you but the eye question is the one that really gets me.
The sucky part of the test is that while each set of pictures is being taken the machine makes an incredibly loud noise. The tech puts headphones on you and cranks music through them while the pictures are bing taken, but it still sucks. There are 5 or 6 sets of pictures taken and each set takes between 30 seconds and about 3 minutes. If you have decent hearing the end really can't come soon enough.
I stopped to do some shopping after my MRI and the tongue thing happened again. It happened a few more times that day. So annoying.

On Wednesday the tongue thing started up just after I got up for the day. It only lasts for maybe a minute or two each time, but now that it is day 3 and happening more frequently I emailed my oncologist to tell her about it. She responded right away and agreed that it seemed very weird and she was going to send in a request for me to get a head CT done to see if showed anything new.

On Friday I met with my surgeon to discuss the lymph node issue. It is generally agreed that the lymph nodes should be removed. She had the results of my breast MRI and it is possible that there is actually breast tissue involvement right at the lymph node as well as the lymph node being cancerous.
Also, it turns out that when she removed my bump one of the margins was not clear so she needs to go in again and remove more tissue and hopefully get a clear margin then.
I asked about lymphadema and blood work and scans and treatment if I get the right side lymph nodes removed. I got the normal surgeon response of "there is no real proof that getting iv's or blood work done will actually cause lymphadema" speech. And, as she pointed out, I have lymphadema on the left side so it could be used for procedures now since we are no longer trying to prevent lymphadema. True, and I have no idea why I got the lymphadema anyway. I had no visible cat scratches (probably for the first time in ages) or any other injuries I could see so having it occur when it did is a little weird.

I also learned at my appointment that the cancer in my lymph node is still Her-2 positive. That means herceptin should be effective but it is currently not preventing cancer cell growth. That is finally some sort of good news.


Immediately after my surgeon appointment I had to go zooming over to Vic General (my surgeon's office is across from the Jubilee, so pretty much across town, and of course the appointment was late starting) to get my head CT. I am still a little stunned that I got fit in less than 2 days after the request went in. A little scary.
The head CT was uneventful, except for the 20 minutes it took to find a parking spot, and I was told the results would be ready early the following week.

On Saturday I headed off to Vancouver. I had a wonderful visit with everyone!! Thanks for all the distraction and fun, you all really help keep me from being boring and dreary and overwhelmed by all the crap going on. And extra thanks to Laura, Ian (Laura's Ian, not my Ian ;-)  ), Polo, and Pi and Keetah, David, and Satori for putting me up while I was over!!!

I had my PET scan at the Vancouver cancer centre on the Tuesday. It is the really fun test that does not allow any exercise the day before, no gum chewing the day of, and involves relaxing in a dark room for 45 minutes after being injected with a radioactive glucose solution.

I came home on Thursday and on Friday morning I received an e-mail from oncologist. She already had my head CT and my PET scan results.
There was nothing on the head CT to explain what is going on with my tongue. So after talking to my surgeon and radiation oncologist my oncologist put in a request for a head MRI.
The PET scan showed 2 areas of activity, the right lymph node and my right 6th rib. Neither was a surprise as the lymph node has been thoroughly inspected and I have been having random pain in the area of that rib for the last month or so that I figured was probably a met that was acting up.

I saw my oncologist in person a few days ago, after being seen by a resident. Since my case is nice and complicated any resident interested in breast cancer gets to see me so it turned into a long, tiring appointment. The decision for treatment is to continue to follow an aggressive path. This means my oncologist is recommending lymph node removal and mastectomy for the right side (yay! I really want the right breast off, the imbalance drives me completely insane and it is my only regret in all my treatment decisions that I didn't have the right mastectomy done at the same time as the left.) I would then have radiation to the right armpit and to the 6th rib. The radiation to the rib should stop cancer growth there and reduce the pain.
I also requested at that appointment to switch from the clodronate pills for my bones to an iv drug. Having to wait an hour to eat after taking the pills in the morning drives me crazy these days and I am ready for a change. My onc decided to put me on something that is a monthly injection. I asked if that would be at the cancer agency because having to go to a walk-in for my zoladex injection is a total pain in the ass. She had a little hissy fit at me for not telling her that my zoladex was being done elsewhere and she said she would get it reinstated at the cancer agency for me in time for my March injection. The bone drug injection would also be at the cancer agency. Yippee! So much easier.

I had a few hours to kill post appointment so I spent some time with some old friends at the Jubilee lab. It is nice knowing people in so many hospitals :-)
Then it was time for my head MRI (yes, already. I think this tongue thing of mine has really freaked people out. It is extremely disturbing how fast I am getting in for tests). This MRI was much better than the last MRI even though it was the classic type of MRI machine that is the long narrow tube.  Fortunately I have absolutely no problems with claustrophobia. I got to lie on my back which is more comfortable and I got earplugs that had the music piped in. Way better for blocking the sound of the machine!!! Good thing too since there were more sets of pictures and they all took longer. It seemed like about 10 sets and each set took between 3 and 5 minutes.
Finally with the pictures all acceptable I got to escape the medical facility. I ended up picking up Ian from and we met my parents for some sushi. An excellent way to end the day.

Since then I have visited with some relatives and watched the Super Bowl. No comment about that other than, it was 1 yard!!!!! What on earth made you think throwing the ball was a good idea??!?!?

So, a quick recap, node, bump, and rib are all cancerous, some of which is ER negative and I am waiting for dates for lymph node removal, mastectomy, and radiation.

Congratulations if you made it all the way thru this long, convoluted post. Have a drink.

Happy 2015! Wake me up when it's over

Happy New Year! 🎉🎉🎆🎇🎇🎉🎆🎇🎉

I hope everyone had a fun and safe time ringing in the New Year.

My Dec. 31st was pretty quiet. My parents came for dinner so we could celebrate Christmas, Dad's birthday, and New Year's all in one go since Mom and Dad were in Mexico (no fair!) for the first 2 occasions.

Now that we are 12 days into 2015, I am ready for it to be over. I don't normally wish for time to pass too fast but this year has not been filled with much good news. So far, I have 2 of the 3 biopsy results I'm waiting for and I'm  batting a pretty big zero.

First off, the biopsy result of the little bump came back. Positive for breast cancer. That means I will need surgery to make sure all the cancer is removed. When the biopsy was done my surgeon had to go right down to the muscle so surgery may not be much fun. I don't have much tissue left above the muscle.
In the same phone call from my oncologist I learned the cancer in my lymph node is ER negative. That means the presence or absence of estrogen does not effect cancer cell growth so the letrozole and zoladex are not helpful. There is a question of whether the cancer in the lymph node is a mutation of the original tumour or is it a new primary. My mammogram came back negative for cancer which is an indicator the new growth is a mutation. But, since mammograms aren't the most sensitive screening tool, I am scheduled for a breast MRI tomorrow to see if there's something really tiny going on.
The Her2 results are not back yet, but I should hear something soon.

When my oncologist called me with the results, she had already brought my case before the local tumour board to brainstorm what the appropriate treatment of the lymph node should be. Turns out my current situation does not have any reported precedent so the docs are winging it.
After reviewing my history, the tumour board recommendation was that I go for a PET scan.
If the PET scan shows the only really active cancer is in the lymph node, then the recommendation is that I go for surgery and have the right axilla lymph nodes removed. The consensus was that it is worth going with an aggressive treatment since my original treatment plan was so aggressive. No point in going hard core at the beginning just to wimp out part way through.

The idea of have more lymph nodes removed doesn't seem like a great idea to me. I am still dealing with the lymphadema in my left hand. And there is the question of what do I do about blood work, treatments, bone scans, CT scans, or anything else I may need done that involves a needle? Does that mean I will have to get a port? I really don't want a port. I don't have much excess fat in the area where it would go so it would stick out and drive me crazy.

I am scheduled to see my surgeon on Friday to discuss the idea of lymph node removal. Perhaps she will be able to suggest other locations for port placement or at least have suggestions for what to do if both arms are at risk for lymphadema.

My PET scan is booked for next week in Vancouver. That is one positive I get out of all this, an excuse to visit Vancouver and all its wonderful people 😀

So, the beginning of 2015 is starting off the way 2014 ended, tests and more tests and with nothing actually being resolved yet. The next week will be action packed. I'll post again once I learn something new.

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 🎉