Monday, February 25, 2013

Second verse, same as the first

So here we are again. For those of you who aren't in the know (and I apologize if I haven't been able to reach out to you, individually), my cancer's back a little bit. This has all come up pretty quickly, so that's part of why I haven't reached out & emailed everyone.

So last year, I felt a lump right above my collarbone on the left (same side I had the cancer on - get your lumps checked, people!). Went to my primary care doctor who recommended going to see my oncologist (who was in the middle of moving to the Mayo Clinic!), or my surgeon. When I went to see my surgeon for my regular annual checkup, she recommended a biopsy of the lymph node, which came back positive. Boo. So bad news there. But the good news is, after a bone scan, ct scan, and pet scan, they're pretty sure it hasn't spread anywhere else. So this isn't considered metastatic, but a regional recurrence. Dr. Susan Love is almost dismissive of it in her book, which actually makes me feel a bit better! My new oncologist (who had my old oncologist as her resident back in the day-small world!) wasn't happy that this showed up while I was still on tamoxifen, bc the tamoxifen is supposed to stop any remaining cancer cells from being able to uptake estrogen. So she recommended chemo & radiation and surgery-the whole shebang.

So in the last three weeks, I've had surgery (which was the most painful of my life), a port put back in, and today was my first chemo. I will be taking time off of work this time, too. My tentative last date is March 15th, and I'll be off through June. Possibly a bit into July, but well see how I'm feeling. Then I'll have radiation, then a different hormonal therapy to completely block estrogen production. So hopefully after all this is done, I'll be through with cancer for good.

My mom is putting together a food list, so I can focus on relaxing! If you'd like to do something, and that something might involve feeding me, let me know & I'll put you on the list! Don't worry, some of you are already on it ;-) And let me know if you want to hang out any time, since I won't be working & and all.

So I'll be trying to keep this blog up to date again. Maybe I'll even finally post about the third day of the walk! If I can remember that far back...