Update for week of Sept. 22 - 26,2008

Tues. - had to go a day early for my CAT scan in Windsor -
interesting experience but no pain involved!

Wed. - had to go for my regular Dr. visit - she promised me
no nausea or vomiting and wrote out a shopping list of meds
to get filled at the pharmacy - filled a whole little brown
paper bag when I picked it up yesterday. Also found out that
afternoon that I have been admitted to the experimental group
for the research drug ! Will receive that over the course of a
year - will slow to 3 week intervals when I'm done the main
ones. This also means that my CAT scan was clear, I think -
at least nothing showed up that would keep me out of the clinical
trial. No official word yet but it's good enough for me! So -
both bone scan and CAT scan are clear = no spread, although of
course it would only take one little cell floating around out there,
hence the chemo + radiation to come. But it's amazingly good news.

Thurs. - first chemo day - nervous. My app't was for 9:30 -
left the house about 8:00, in the cancer clinic for 9:15. Had to
get some blood drawn before the chemo started - problems with that
took over an hour. Some chemo meds are not mixed until you are
ready for them - more time...finally started about 11:00 a.m.
Each med is delivered separately and because it was the first time,
slowly. The first one came in three large syringes - red liquid -
known as the 'red devil' or 'red bull'. The nurse told me that my
hair would start to fall out in a few days - I said that the dr.
had said 3 weeks - she said, "That's when it's ALL gone'" Next one
could just be an IV drip, 45 min (will shorten to 30) and the last one (experimental) was also IV but 90 min.(will shorten to 60, then
30 for remainder.) These meds are all delivered through my 'port',
a little access thingy that was inserted into my right chest 2 weeks
ago - they just clip the connector into it and I have no needle in my
arm. So - it was a long day - left the clinic about 4:00, home about
5:00. But - was feeling well enough to go out briefly for
supper with the teachers' group that have been meeting for over 10
years now. Drove myself and came home early but it was good to be
with them.

Here's the best part: I've had absolutely NO nausea or anything
else - yesterday, I felt sort of heavy and worn out a bit -
like my body was saying "What the heck was THAT that just
happened to me??" but I took it quiet after I got home, slept
well and got up this morning feeling normal again - made my
breakfast, took all my pills, etc. I have to go over to the
Chatham hospital this p.m.to have an injection that will help
my white blood count stay up so that they can keep me on a 2-week
delivery schedule for the chemo. But, I feel GREAT - compared
to some of the stories I have heard,etc. I am doing extremely well.

Amy is here - came down last night and will be here until Sun. I
think. Nice to have the company - I should get sick more often !! ;-)

So - I continue to float on the river of prayers that are being
offered on my behalf and I am at peace.

Fri - needed a diversionary tactic so went shopping in the afternoon
with Amy and also attended a training session to be a Deputy
Returning Officer for the coming election...see ?
I am REALLY doing OK !

First posting and background to date....

For those of you who have not been in the loop, I'll add a little background here. I was diagnosed with breast cancer July 28 and had a meeting with a surgeon July 31. The decision from that meeting was a mastectomy, which was done Aug. 18. As you can tell from the dates, I was swept into a 'different stream' of the river of life and faced with decisons and experiences that were shocking. However, God met me and gave me His assurance that He would be with me in this experience. The day after I found out that the lump was malignant - and not a cyst as I was expecting - the verse of the day in my devotional book was "I am the Lord your God who holds your right hand and I tell you, 'Don't be afraid; I will help you'." That has certainly proved to be the case - the help has come from many different hands and many prayers have been offered on my behalf, providing a strength and a peace of mind that have sustained me through this and continue to do so.

The next step was to get assigned to an oncologist, at either the London Regional Cancer Centre or the Windsor one. I asked to be submitted to both and to request a specific doctor in Windsor whose name kept popping up in various places. When I went to see my surgeon for the follow-up appointment on Sept. 2, the news was not good - tumour was 4.3 cm, Grade 3, and they had removed 27 lymph nodes, 24 of which were 'positive'. I heard later that afternoon that I had an appointment in London on Sept. 30 (with another good oncologist) but I asked them to keep trying with Windsor. Two days later I received a call telling me I had an appointment in Windsor the next Monday, Sept. 8, with the doctor I had requested. I felt that that was another answer to prayer.

And so, my new life began...when I went to see the doctor in Windsor, she laid out a schedule of chemo to be delivered every two weeks instead of the usual three. In order to be able to keep to this schedule, I would also need a shot to keep my white blood cell count up. In addition, I was offered a chance to apply to be part of a clinical trial for a new drug because of the type of tumour that I had - triple negative (not poisitive for either of two hormone receptors or HER2/neu) - lots of new terms to learn ! This chemo schedule would be followed by 6 weeks of radiation. This is a very aggressive plan, because of the number of positive lymph nodes I had and because of the grade of the tumour; I was staged at IIIC. Scary - but those verses kept coming - Sept. 4 - "He is my defender: I will not be defeated" and "Remain calm; the Lord will fight for you". Also, I felt better and better as I recovered from the mastectomy surgery - having the tumour out of my body (and all those lymph nodes !) - seemed to be a very good thing - I could feel myself improving to the point where I felt I was almost lying about having cancer. My sister had the best line - "she's not sick; she just has cancer." And that's pretty well how I felt, too.

Then the various tests began - phone rings - "You are scheduled for a *** at ***" - no question of whether or not it is convenient - one day we had to be at the Chatham hospital for 7:30 for a heart scan then at the first Windsor hospital for 11:00 to sign papers to be admitted to the clinical trial and at a second Windsor hospital for 12:30 to have my 'port' installed for the delivery of my chemo (no IV needed). Left that hospital at 5:00 and went straight to Red Lobster for a restorative supper.

So that brings the story up to date for this past week and that will be another entry.