Categories
Breast Cancer

Incoming!!!

Fall out has officially begun in one of the strangest of places…probably harder to see the hair fall out on my head since those hairs are so short.  I also have a couple nail beds where the ‘moons’ have a purplish tinge to them.  Next round is on the 26th/27th, hoping the migraines won’t continue…but if they do, its still a small price to pay to wipe out the cancer.

Lots of family flying in to help out; I’m super excited about seeing everyone…but hate that its under these circumstances 🙁
My sister flies in tonight and will be with me until the 26th
My brother will be here from the 25th-29th…I hope to be ‘up’ for celebrating his birthday while he’s here.
My mom arrives in October and will be with me for 3 weeks.
I may be 41, but in times like these, I want my parents <3
Tonight is the Homecoming game, so will be braving going out in public to partake in the festivities.  Saturday night is the Homecoming Dance – very exciting, Sam has her first ‘date’.  I’ll post pics later on this weekend.
Extra special thanks to Debbi for bringing by 5 meals – what a great cook and what a super friend.  Thank you so much; I really enjoyed the visit and the much needed laughter!
Categories
Breast Cancer

Red Hot Part 2

I met with my medical oncologist today and got some not-so unexpected news and some very unexpected news…

First off – as a result of my final biopsy, my cancer has been re-staged; I am now Stage 2b, borderline stage 3. That wasn’t unexpected since 40% of my tumor mass ended up being grade 3 (aggressive growth pattern).

The other not so great news…My oncologist is very concerned about my red, hot mess; which is still red and throwing off heat despite being on antibiotics for about 5 days now. She has only seen this type of reaction after chemo once before and long story short, they had to take the breast. So I have been put on notice that if the redness and heat intensify again after the next round of chemo, that I will likely be recommended for a mastectomy. The concern is that there are numerous individual cancer cells throughout the breast and are just not in a ‘lump’ formation. We’ll know more in 2 weeks when I start the next round of chemo.

I also asked about the chemo migraines that I’m getting daily…I guess on top of all the usual side effects, patients get 1 big bonus one (trying to be lighthearted here lol) and this one seems to be mine. So doc will keep me fully stocked on meds to help manage the chemo-migraines.

On a side note… A huge thank you to those that have been making casseroles for us! The help is incredibly appreciated…we’re learning that we can’t make it through this alone and feel blessed to have people in our lives stepping up to help. Please keep them coming 🙂