Keeping my head warm

My oncologist said I will start losing a lot of my hair around day 14, 15, 16.  I'm trying to plan ahead and find a hat that will keep my head warm.  Since I have fibromyalgia, I'm concerned about how long I will be able to tolerate a wig on my head.  While I was in Wal-Mart, I found a hat I like. 

Oh how my neck hurts!!!!!

Boy!  My neck is still hurting pretty badly from the port and catheter.  It's hard to tell if the pain killers are helping.  All I can really say is the pain pill makes me sleep so I don't realize how much pain I'm in.  I have two of my favorites keeping me company while I lie on the couch trying not to cry from the pain.

Additional Pictures from my Surprise Party

 

TGIF ????

Today I had an appointment with my oncologist, Dr. Volas-Redd.  She told us the PET scan and lymph node biopsy came back clear.  Hallelujah!

She wants me to start chemo next Thursday, December 9.  Even though the initial breast biopsy came back as low nuclear grade, the stains were showing Hi 67 as the cells dividing rapidly.  So she is going to treat this cancer very aggressively.  My treatments will now be 3 weeks apart instead of 2 since we are going to be using a strong chemo.  I'll still have 6 treatments.  Looks like my mastectomy will now take place late April to early May.  Dr. Volas-Redd said that I should go ahead and get my hair cut short if I want to because my hair will start thinning quickly and by day 17 I will see a significant change.  Made my hair cut appointment for next Tuesday.  It will probably look similar to this.

Post-op

So my last blog post ended just before they gave me my versed for my lymph node biopsy and port being put in.  When I woke up from the surgery I immediately noticed my neck hurt A LOT.  I didn't understand why my neck would be hurting and in my drunkin' stooper from the anesthesia I asked why it hurt so bad.  The nurse told me it was from the catheter in the port.  I didn't understand what she was talking about, I just knew it hurt A LOT.  She went to get me a percocet so I could get the pain under control.  I didn't want Jeremiah coming back until that was under control because I didn't want him to worry about me.

Upon further investigation once I got home, this is how the port looks and works:

 

The round part is the port part that is in the upper part of my chest.  The catheter coming off of it runs under my skin up my chest and into the major vein in the middle of my neck.  THAT explains why it hurts so much.  In the middle of the round part is a rubber flap.  That is where they will draw all of my blood and administer my chemo.  

So now I have three incisions.  Under my left armpit where they did the lymph node biopsy, my upper chest where they inserted the port, and in the middle of my neck where the catheter feeds into that vein.  With all these bandages on me I look like I've been in a fight.  :)

I got up to use the restroom before they discharged me, and I thought I was going to throw up all over the place.  They finally got it under control so I could go home.  Dr. Johnson (my surgeon) had called in my pain medicine prior to the procedure, but unfortunately when we got to the Kroger pharmacy around 7:00 pm they couldn't find it.  I felt so bad calling Dr. Johnson on her cell phone to hook me up with the drugs...but I know she didn't mind.  I love that lady.  Thank you Lord for sending me to her first.  I kept the Lortab in me on a regular basis through Sunday and took my last one Monday night.  I tried to just control the discomfort with Tylenol extra strength the rest of the time.

2nd half of my surgery day -- Thurs. December 2

So.  We now know why we had to be at the hospital at 8:00 am for a 1:00 pm surgery time yesterday.  The first 1 1/2 hrs was spent getting fluids in my system.  At around 10:00 am, they took me to ultrasound for an injection to see what lymph node the left breast is draining into so they can get the right biopsy.  I didn't know they were going to do this.  When the radiologist told me they were going to be doing the injection in the areola area of the breast, I immediately asked for a shot of tequila before starting.  The radiologist told me he only had scotch back in his office.  After the injection was done I was taken to nuclear medicine to get images of the lymph node...then I was taken back to my little itty bitty area in pre-op.  I was given the metallic silver hat/shower cap to put on to help keep me warm when I go to surgery.  What a look, huh?

My new nurse, Nancy, asked me if I had any family members with me.  I told her my husband was in the waiting room.  She said she would go get him for me.  Guess she forgot.  Because I spent 30-40 minutes just counting the squares on my curtains, and playing tissue basketball with my box of tissue and the trash can. 

Finally another nurse peaked in on me because I was being so quiet.  She realized no one went to get Jeremiah for me.  Thank you nurse #3.  I was hoping I'd get to see my husband before the surgery.

 It was about 12:50 pm when the nurse came to give me my shot of versed.  YES!  Let's get the over with shall we?  I got to talk briefly with Dr. Johnson (my surgeon) before they willed me to the operating room.  When I woke up I was hurting badly.  Especially where the port is and the catheter that is running up my chest to the main artery in my neck.  Because I was hurting so bad I didn't want Jeremiah to get upset, so I waited until the Percocet kicked in before I had the nurses get him.  We finally got home around 6:45 last night.  I ended up sleeping on the couch with my Christmas tree lit up.  I made sure to get up every 6 hours and take my pain medication.  I want to stay ahead of the pain, not let it get out of control.  

What a day!

Yesterday was a fun filled day of everything hospital. I had to leave work at 10 a.m. to go to pre-op bloodwork, etc. at Northside Hospital where the lymph node biopsy and port placement will be done. While sitting in the 2nd waiting room, a sweet little old man sitting near me had A LOT of aftershave on and that made my allergies very unhappy. So the sneezing, coughing, and sinus pressure was on full force now. After 10 min I was able to relocate to another chair.

Then I had to go to Kennestone Hospital fo a diagostic mammogram on the right side. My insurance wouldn't cover the mammogram on the right innitially because it would be considered a screening since I had no symptoms and I was under 35 yrs of age. Now that I have a cancer diagnosis they will cover it. The radiologist confirmed that I have a normal mammogram on the right. Yeah!

After the mammogram I had to hunt down the area where my echocradiogram would be done. Just to get that scheduled was a rough experiece. I won't bore you with the details. Let's just say that yesterday was the last day I could get it done before seeing the oncologist on Friday. If I hadn't have been proactive and persistent, the lady from the oncologist's office in charge of scheduling it would have messed everything up.

It is 9:20 a.m., and I am in pre-op waiting my turn for the OR. I'm scheduled for 1:00 p.m., but for some reason I had to be here at 8:00 a.m. and couldn't eat anything after midnight. All my body gets for right now is an i.v.

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