Surgery

We were at the hospital from 8:00 till after 5:00. They feel they were able to get good margins when they removed the cancer but won't know until they get the pathologist report on Thursday.

Yoga at the Swim Center

This morning I made it to the free yoga class at the hospital. It was lovely and the teacher (and the other participants) was really nice and sweet. At the end, she recited something while we all tried to meditate, and I felt a little teary. Another gal started to cry (it turned out she'd had to put her dog to sleep last night). I went over to tell her I'd started to cry to (so she wouldn't feel weird) and she told me about her dog, and the next thing I know I'm rubbing her arms and giving her hugs. I felt so badly for her loss.

Another lady, with sparse white hair, was looking at these cute little knitted caps the teacher had (kind of a flapper style with a big knitted flower) and admiring a tan one. When she asked how much they were (she wanted something warmer than a ball cap for the winter) the teacher told her folks at her church had knitted them and they were free. By this time, there's just me, the teacher, the crying lady and her husband, and the hat lady. The teacher was asking about the surgery, and saying she'd be thinking of me, and then offered me a shawl that was also knit by ladies from her church. It's a cream tweedy yarn with earthy shades of pink and lavender (it's really lovely), and it came with a poem. She put it over my shoulders and had the other ladies touch my back while I closed my eyes and she read the poem. I got a little teary again, but it was very sweet. Then they all wished me luck, and reassured me I'd be calmer once I had the surgery and the results and a plan.

Afterward, I went to the mall, picked up prescriptions at Target, had lunch and picked up a couple of CDs and a new pair of cozy PJs. Then I went to a nail salon and had a mani-pedi and a little massage. I feel quite a bit calmer than I did this morning. We're going to have to get up pretty early tomorrow to get to Greenwich by 8. The xanax helped last night, I had a good night - hopefully I'll sleep tonight as well.

Dumbledore is much better, he's off the meds and back to his old self, frisky and silly. He was savaging a rubber chicken this morning. (I love when he has something in his mouth and whips his head back and forth - he's such a nut). He's also been extra cuddly lately.

Freak Out

So I burned my hand on the oven rack last night (no more pain by this AM, but a small blister, so nothing major) and the next thing I know I'm having a full blown freak out, crying and shaking, right before Blair had to leave for chorus rehearsal. I think I'm most worried about the financial situation - and it's not completely dire, at worst we'd have to put most of our stuff in storage and rent until we figure out where we're going next, which we could swing on Blair's salary and my unemployment. But it felt last night like I was poised at the edge of a deep dark hole.

Blair comforted me and I knew I could have asked him to stay home, but this is his one leisure activity and he needs a break (and it felt nice knowing I could ask him.) By the time he got home, I felt better - I think it helped to let off some steam.

This morning I had a chat with the hospital. I had thought they were billing me because they didn't have the correct insurance info for September. Turns out all the bills were for events in August and they'd already been submitted to the correct insurance, so they were for our share of the bills. Ugh.

I had to run down to Greenwich this afternoon to drop off my films with my surgeon. (It took about an hour each way with traffic). They gave me the lowdown on where and when, and when to stop eating, etc. The upcoming surgery is getting more real.

I had lunch with a friend this afternoon - we ended up chatting for like 2 and a half hours. That was really nice.

I have to be at the hospital at 8AM on Friday for the thing with the dye to find the sentinel nodes. Then I get to wait around until noon or so for the actual surgery, and we'll be going home right afterward. I asked if I could take a xanax that morning, but she said no, but that they'll give me some sort of sedative before the thing with the dye (that's actually bothering me more than the surgery). The whole idea icks me out.

She offered to schedule me tomorrow for the dye thing, but I wanted Blair to be there with me without having to take the time off, so that's why everything is getting done on Friday.

After spending yesterday in my pajamas, and napping a lot, I was out most of the day (between lunch and the drive to Greenwich) so there was no napping today. I was thinking of taking a xanax at bedtime tonight (and tomorrow night too) so I can hopefully sleep well and avoid napping tomorrow. There's a yoga class at the hospital at 10 tomorrow that I want to go to - I've got to stop vegetating on my couch all day.

Susan G Komen 3 Day for the Cure

A friend will be participating in the 3 Day for the Cure event.  She's done this every year for several years.

http://www.the3day.org/site/TR/2010/WashingtonDCEvent2010?px=2261964&pg=personal&fr_id=1474

Sloane

Today's appointment didn't effect me the same way. The doctor at Sloane was less warm than the doc in Greenwich (she even rolled her eyes at one point). But, there were a few things that I hadn't heard before (or that hadn't really penetrated) so it was worth it from that point of view.


We're going to keep the surgery appointment with the doctor in Greenwich. So I'm having a lumpectomy on October 8th. Depending on whether or not there's lymph node involvement and the pathology results (either or both), I will need chemo.


What did sock me in the gut this afternoon was making the appointment with the oncologist for the following Wednesday (the pathology results should be back by then).

I had a lovely insurance scare the other day. The Greenwich doctor's office called to tell me that the insurance wouldn't cover the visit. I called Aetna, and they told me that my coverage was terminated on September 1st and that I should contact my erstwhile employer to see why. (Back in August, we had paid COBRA enough to cover us until his insurance kicks in on October 1st.) I was totally panicking as I called my HR contact. Turns out my former employer switched carriers as of 9/1 and they missed me somehow when the new cards got issued and packets were sent out. She assured me she would take care of it and that my coverage would be retroactive to 9/1. She should have a policy number tomorrow, and I can call various providers and have them resubmit to the new company. I had also received an $1100 bill from the hospital, so it's a real relief to find out why.


I had to give Sloane the wrong insurance info this morning (since I don't have the new info yet), and I'll have to call them too with the new info when I get it.

Update

We really liked the surgeon we met on Friday (in Greenwich). She was very warm and nice and has an amazing reputation. We made an appointment with her for the surgery for the 8th of October. Tomorrow, we see the surgeon at Sloan Kettering.

Yesterday was a bad day. I'm usually floating on de Nile, but I really couldn't after the appointment. I felt shaky and weepy all day. Just going to the grocery store left me exhausted. It seems better this morning.

Second Opinions

Today we're going to Greenwich to talk to a surgeon recommended by a friend of Blair's who's an OR nurse at the same hospital for a second opinion. On Monday we're seeing a doctor at Sloan Kettering that was recommended by my brother's MIL (who had BC).

After we get our second opinions, I'll probably schedule the lumpectomy with the doctor here in Bridgeport. If the margins and lymph nodes are clear, I'll have 7 weeks of radiation followed by hormone therapy for several years, but there will probably be no need for chemo (there's a test that will be done on the tumor after the surgery). If the margins aren't clear they'll have to go back in and take a larger area; and if the first lymph nodes they take are effected, they will take more lymph nodes - and I will need more aggressive therapy (ie chemo).

School Agita

We thought we were so clever.  We spent a lot of time deciding where to send Daniel to High School after he finished up with the magnet school he'd been attending since pre-school, finally deciding on the IB program at Harding High in Bridgeport.  We used CT's Project Choice program which is usually used by kids in cities like Bridgeport to attend suburban schools like Trumbull's - we were the first family in the state (we think) to use it to go in the opposite direction - because we felt the program would be rigorous and challenging to Daniel.



I got a phone call on Wednesday from Daniel's Math and English teachers. They were both concerned for him because they only have 15 freshmen in the IB program and they mixed them in with regular students instead of being sequestered into their own classes (9th and 10th grade are "pre-IB", so I guess they don't start an actual IB curriculum until 11th grade). Both teachers thought this mixed class wasn't going to serve Daniel well, that he'd be bored since the teacher would have to slow down for the less academically oriented students.


We had a family meeting and decided to pull Daniel from the IB program and enroll him in Trumbull High. We took him over first thing this morning and met with his guidance counselor. Dan took a math assessment while we ran over to his old school to pick up his records. When we got back Dan was ranking possible elective classes in order of his interest. Rather than stick him in any old class for today, he's going to start on Monday and the counselor will take care of getting him into the right classes for him (probably all honors, and honors classes need the buy-in of the department heads, so that will keep the counselor busy today). The three of us are back home, getting ready to go out to lunch.

Poor Dumbledore!

Dumbledore's been sleeping poorly the last couple of nights. Sunday night, he just could not settle down.  He'd lie down, then get right back up and made a lot of little noises - drove us crazy.  I didn't have a lot of patience for him during the night, but after some sleep I realized that there was probably something wrong with him.  He's also been hanging out on the floor a lot instead of hopping up by us.  I decided to wait another day to take him to the vet (since I'd rather take him to his regular vet today than the emergency vet on Labor Day).  Last night was a little better but not by much.


He's got some pain in/near his spine in the area of his rib cage.  She prescribed an NSAID, and rest.  No rough play, gentle exercise (like walkies), help him up and down from furniture as mush as possible and hold him parallel to the floor (no lifting him under the armpits like a baby).  I have to give the medicine with food, so I stopped at the pet store and got some canned food (he usually eats only kibble and I wanted to get something he'd be sure to eat when I gave it to him).  He wouldn't drink the medicine from the dropper like my aunt's dog does, but I mixed it in the wet food and he scarfed it up.  I went shopping for a bit and he seems a little better already.


He's supposed to take it easy for about 6 weeks.  Poor baby!


(Update from the next morning - he slept all night and seems much better already!)

Biopsy #3

Biopsy #3 is negative.  Whew.



So it's "just" one spot of the most common kind of breast cancer.  Next up is a lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy.  The pathology results from those procedures will determine the course of treatment.


I'm terribly relieved.  If I had cancer in more than one spot (especially in both breasts), I was seriously considering a double mastectomy even with the clean genetic testing.


Biopsy #2 was an intra-mammary (?) lymph node (I guess they aren't usually there?), and #3 was fibro-cystic tissue.  I'm glad they've been so meticulous, but it was scary thinking I could have cancer in three places.

Today's Biopsy

I should have results on Tuesday.

Finally Some Good News

Genetic testing - normal.  2nd biopsy - just a normal lymph node.  


One more biopsy tomorrow.