Surgery recovery and a Chemo update

Update on surgery healing first...
Many of you wanted to know why I was hosptalized last week. Here's the short answer: I had been weaned off a med that I should have not been weaned off of, which was causing my to be nauseated and throw up. Once we got that medicine back in my system (which took 48 hours) I started feeling better. I am currently feeling pretty great! Over that past 2 weeks I've been doing a lot of nothing! Just resting and taking pills. Recovering from surgery has taken longer than I though but I don't want to overdo it and end up causing problems in my healing. A HUGE thanks to my neighbors who've come over and helped with dishes, getting me lunch and helping with house work! It's hard for me to sit back and watch you all do this work for me! I want to be doing it myself, and I will be, ONE day!
Yesterday I stopped taking pain meds, which has been nice. I haven't needed any and can tell a difference in the way I feel by not taking them. I'm feeling more alert and great!! I am however not stopping with the anti-nausea meds. Those will stay on board for another week or two, or as long as it takes to finish filling my expanders.

Now on to today's chemo...
Stat's first:
Weight- 134
White Blood Count- 3.5 (between 4.2-10.5 is normal, so just a little low)
Red Blood Count- 3.75 (between 4.04-5.48 is normal, so just a little low)
HGB- 12 (between 12-16 is normal, so I'm right on!)
Hematocrit- 35.9 (between 38-48 is normal, so just a little low)
Neutrophils- 1500 (between 2000-6900 is normal, just a little low)
Overall the doctor was happy with my counts. He did say that with radiation my counts may be affected just a little bit, but again he wasn't too worried.

*Today's chemo buddy was my youngest brother Benjamin. It was nice to have him along! He asked a very good question to the doctor today too! He asked about my 'total and complete response to chemo'. He wanted to know what the percentage was for a total and complete response from my chemo cocktail. The answer was surprising to me, it has a 65% success rate. That means I had a 2/3rds chance of a complete response. I feel extremely blessed to have been on the winning side of this percentage!
*We talked about radiation. By my next herceptin treatment we anticipate that I will have started radiation. Before radiation begins I need to have an appointment with the radiologist and have my mapping tattoo's placed and then chemo can begin in about a week from mapping completion.
*I will see a Rick at my next appointment to go over any problems I may be experiencing from radiation or chemo. At the next appointment we'll discuss at which appointments I will see a doctor and which ones I can just have my chemo treatment with no doc visit.
*During chemo today my brother and I played UNO and I discovered that's a game I'm good at!!

I have an appointment this coming Monday to have my expanders filled again. Not sure how many times it will take before I'm filled up. Appointments for having my expanders filled can only happen once a week, and at some point they'll add more than just a few TBSP.

I met with a therapist last week to discuss lymphadema. I had my arm measure for a compression sleeve. I have the address to several stores in the valley that do fittings and make these sleeves, I just need to get in and have one done. I was also scheduled to start physical therapy in just over a week. This therapy will help me get my range of motion back. I'm scheduled to have physical therapy up at the Huntsman center, but I'm going to call my insurance and see if there is a location closer to home so I won't have to drive as far. Closer to home sounds much nicer, doesn't it?

Let me know if there are questions you have about my treatment that I'm not answering.

Thank for for being my support system, my angels here on earth! I am blessed through your prayers and your kindness! Thank you for loving not only me but my whole family! My kids are blessed by your love. My husband finds much relief when he finds so many helping with the daily upkeep of our family! You are ALL so amazing! And I love you all!

The Pathology Report!!

I can hardly contain my emotions! To say I am happy is an understatement! I am overjoyed! And I'm a blubbering baby! All for a good reason!
I got the phone call just a short time ago that my path report was complete. The results are that there are NO residual cancer cells AT ALL! ANYWHERE! They were able to locate the fibrous tumor bed on the left side and found no live cells. In total I had 11 lymph nodes removed, and of those, 5 showed signs of treatment effect, which means that at some time they were probably positive with cancer. But now? There was no live cancer cells there either! They found a fibrous adenoma in the left breast that was NOT cancerous, and a fibrous adenoma in the right breast (that we already knew about).
My cancer treatment will not change. I will finish healing from surgery, have my tissue expanders expanded and have radiation. Once radiation is complete I will start taking tomoxifen, and will take that every day for the next 5 years.

Was going through all this hell worth it? YOU BET IT WAS!!

Thanks for traveling this journey with me! Thank you for loving me and carrying me through my hard days!
I love you all!

Herceptin #3

I debated on whether or not to cancel my chemo for today as my surgery was just 11 days ago. The thing that helped me make up my mind was the fact that I'm tired already, and a chemo appointment wouldn't make it worse. So, with my mind made up and a plan in place for a nap after chemo I went to chemo. Today my chemo buddies were my good friend and neighbor Sarah and my Aunt Pam.
I felt nothing during the port access today!! Could be that the area where the port is numb as part of the mastectomy or due to swelling from the surgery. I am hoping that it'll be numb from here on out! The chemo room was quite full already. The wait to see the doc to a while, which isn't unusual. This was my first visit with my new doctor, Dr. Call. I was overall impressed with him, his knowledge and how he explained things.


White Blood Count: 3, Low
Red Blood Count: 2.99, Low
HGB: 10.2, Low
Hematocrit: 29.6, Low (still feeling super tired so this didn't surprise me!)
Nutrafill: 1200, Low (the same as last time. Still need to be careful around germs and sick people)


*The doctor asked if I had my pathology report back yet. I still have not received the results. I did get a call from the Huntsman Center yesterday letting me know they would call me with the results as soon as they have them. Dr. Call said that the lack of the report will not effect today's herceptin treatment. He will get a copy of the results eventually. I will make sure I have Dr. Nelson send the report to Dr. Call.
*I asked why chemo was done first instead of surgery, as doing chemo first didn't change my surgery outcome. His expanasion was super helpful! While chemo before surgery can change a mastectomy to a lumpectomy, my reason for chemo first in my case was to kill any microscopic cancer cells that may have spread outside of the breast and lymph nodes; stopping cancer before it got into any vital organs. Dr. Call is very pleased with the order in which things have been done and feels good about how it'll turn out.
*I will continue having an echo cardiogram every 3 months to make sure the herceptin isn't harming my heart. Herceptin only affects 7% of women receiving this chemo agent. 90 % of women experience nothing. The 7% of women who have symptoms usually have the symptoms reversed once the treatments stop. This is why I will continue having an echo cardiogram every 3 months. The next one will be in December.
*Radiation will begin once I get the green light from my plastic surgeon. Some things that need to happen before radiation are: having my (very unpleasant) drains removed!!, having my expanders filled (OUCH!), and making sure the incision has healed. After radiation Dr. Call will discuss with me the estrogen blocking tablet, tamoxifen. Tomoxifen is used in per-menopausal women; there are other estrogen blockers, but they are used in post-menopausal women. If I had side effects that are too bothersome there are some shots they can try, but they will have side effects too.

Today's treatment went by quickly, just long enough to enjoy visiting with my chemo buddies and my yummy sugar cookie.
After my chemo I met my grandparents for lunch. Not a bad way to end a treatment! I love how concerned my grandparents have been for me! They are so wonderful and I love them!

To all of you, thank you for the flowers, the text messages, love notes, phone calls, yummy meals and treats! This has been a very hard week! OR TWO! I have felt your love and concern for not only me but for Drea as she was hospitalized at the beginning of the week! My family is forever grateful for you love and prayers! We are truly blessed to know each one of you!
I love you all!

Got the call letting me know my surgery time for Monday. I'm pretty disappointed with the surgery time to be quite honest. I am to arrive at the Hunsman Cancer Hospital at 2:45 and surgery is at 4:15pm. No food or drink after midnight Sunday night. I can however take my anxiety pills if I need them, and oh boy I am pretty sure I'll need them!!
Dave and my Dad will be with me at the hospital. They will get to stay with me clear up until I'm falling asleep and being wheeled down the hall to the operating room. Just before going into surgery the Surgeon and anesthesiologist will meet with us to go over the surgery plan and at that point we can ask any questions we have. The surgery is scheduled to take 3 hours and then I'll spend an hour in recovery before being taken to my Suite. I'm sure it'll be pretty late by the time I'm taken to my room. I will spend one night at the hospital and will come home sometime on Tuesday.
Dave will call a few people with updates. Melissa will be sharing the update she receives via email to those of you following my journey.
A huge THANK YOU to those of you who have signed up to help with kids,meals, etc this coming week! This next leg of my journey is going to be hard and I'm going to need a lot of help, so thank you to those who have signed up and for those of you who will be lending a hand. Thank you for your prayers! I can feel them! While I am very nervous I do feel a sense of comfort and peace. I am eternally grateful to have such amazing family and friends!
I love you all!

Herceptin Chemo and a visit with the Plastic Surgeon

Last Friday I had my 5th Herceptin chemo. Only 6 more to go! I'm so happy that this chemo treatment is so easy!
My chemo buddies today were, my Dad, my brother Ben and my son Bradley. Three very special people in my life!
We saw the P.A., Rick. The visit was pretty quick with him as we didn't have a lot to discuss. I asked him about long term side-effects that I may have because I've had chemo. He said that most of my side-effects would have gone away when chemo was complete, with the exception of my chemo brain, that may take up to a year to improve. My blood work is still low, but its holding steady, and that may take some time for my body to 'bounce' back. Because I've had chemo I have a 1-2% greater chance of getting lukemia in my 60's than someone who never had chemo.

Chemo Stats:
Weight- 137
White Blood count- 3.3 (normal is 4.2-10.5)
Red Blood count- 3.93 (normal is 4.04-5.48)
HGB- 12.4 (normal is 12-16)
HCT- 36.6 (normal is 38-48)
Platelets- 168 (normal is 140-450)
Neutrophils- 1.3 (normal is 2-6.9)

The wait wasn't too long to get back into the chemo room. Once we were settled into our comfy seats the chemo went pretty quick. Bradley was very attentive to our food and beverage needs. He loves the kitchen nook in the chemo room and was great at keeping up set up with snacks and drinks. We played Uno to pass the time. This appointment was the fastest one yet! My next 2 chemo appointments I will NOT see a doctor! I'll have my port accessed and then start the chemo right away. Sounds wonderful to me! By my next chemo on Dec 1st I should have started radiation, so I'll have a chemo and radiation back to back. I have my appointment scheduled in the morning so that I can have radiation immediately following the chemo. I'll know more about radiation this coming week...which leads me to my visit with the Plastic Surgeon.
I met with Dr. Agarwal yesterday. He is happy with the way things looked, but wanted to do one more fill to make sure the skin was stretched enough. The fill was double what they have normally done. (The pressure is great and today I am sore!) He gave me the green light to get in for mapping for Radiation. Final surgery to remove the tissue expanders is usually 3 months after radiation ends, so we're looking at final surgery in March/ April. I asked if he would remove my port during the final surgery to save me from being under anethesia two separate times, he said as long as I'm done with my port he can remove it. Today I was also given the go ahead to start driving again. 8 weeks of not driving was pretty hard! But those 8 weeks meant Dallas got to drive herself to and from school, which I know she has loved! Looks like it's back to riding the bus for her :(
I have no follow-up visits with Dr. Agarwal. I will see him again once radiation is complete.

I called to schedule my appointment for radiation mapping (getting my radiation tattoo's). I have an appointment for this coming Tuesday. Mapping takes a couple of hours. I'll know more about radiation and when my 1st appointment will be after this coming Tuesday.

I am currently going through physical therapy. I found a place close enough to home that I can walk to and from my appointments. I love the excersizes they have me doing and my range of motion is improving a lot! I will continue having physical therapy until my range of motion is back to where it needs to be. They have me doing excersizes at home and those excersizes will continue during radiation to keep my muscles stretched and limber.

I am enjoying the tea's I received last week! And I'm loving the love notes I get in the mail! Thank you!
I love you all!

Herceptin treatment #2

Today's visit went smooth. The port access was not too painful. The wait to see the Nurse Practitioner wasn't too long either. Today I had an extra Nurse Practitioner in tow as she has just graduated and is shadowing Rick with his case load.
Today we talked about:
Body aches- This may last up to a year. I have been taking Ibuprofen when the aches are more than I can bare, but it doesn't seem to help. He gave me a prescription to see if that will help.
Fingernails- My poor fingernails. They look awful, and hurt. All of them have been affected by the taxitere. The nails are not attached to my nail bed and have turned white. 4 of them are missing and the quick is exposed. I'm trying really hard not to lose any more of my nails! He said it can take about 3 months for them to grow back out and be healthy again. I asked if I could take Biotene, and was told I could. He also suggested I could take a prenatal if I didn't take Biotene.

Today's stats:
Weight- 141
White Blood Count- 3 (still low)
Hematocrit- 34 (still low, which explains why I still feel so TIRED!)
Platelets- 136 (almost back to normal, but just a tad low. Last time they were much lower)
Nutrafill- 1200 (This was explained to me to be like the army that goes out to fight infection. My army isn't very big so it'll be harder for my body to fight off germs and infection, so I need to be careful around sick people (eg- Dallas))

The past week I've been cleaning like a maniac! I never did my spring cleaning because of chemo, so now I'm making up for it! Besides giving the inside of my home a good deep cleaning I'm also trying to get my yard ready for fall and winter! Can you say 'Not enough time in the day to do everything I'd like'?
This upcoming week I will continue to clean and get things organized so that while I'm out of commision my brain won't stress over certain details. I also plan to visit the temple one last time and get a pedicure.

I feel so loved! The outpouring of people's generosity is humbling! My heart is so full of gratitude! These experiences strengthen my testimony! Not only do I feel your love but I feel my Heavenly Father's love. I am not alone and I am important to Him! Thank you for cheering me on and encouraging me! I have the BEST cheerleaders!

I love you all!

New Doctors and a Surgery Date!

Both of my new doctors are at the Huntsman Cancer Center. This is a VERY pretty building! Very plush and nice inside. I met with the plastic surgeon on Tuesday and the general surgeon yesterday. First I'll talk about the surgeon, as he'll be doing the beginning part of surgery. This surgeon's approach will be a little different than than of Dr.Lloyd. He will do whichever surgery I decide to do, and I'm still leaning toward bi-lateral mastectomy. He will be removing  ALL lymph nodes on the side that had cancer, this is different than Dr. Lloyd. Remember she was going to take a few and check for cancer and only remove those that were positive? This doc believes that if he were to do that we could get a false negative because I've already had chemo. Not knowing which nodes were infected to begin with leaves us now knowing which ones may have cancer cells lurking. This news was very shocking to me. But now that I've had time to think about it I'm comfortable with the decision. The surgeon had not had time to review my imaging to see the before and after pictures of my tumor. He is going to have a radiologist review them and  get back to me on whether he thinks I'm a candidate for nipple sparing. If the cancer was to close to the edge then I will lose them. If it looks like I'm in the clear he will still do tissue testing during surgery from under the nipple to make sure there are no positive cancer cells, if there are then the nipples will have to go. Overall I thought this surgeon was nice, not as friendly as Dr. Lloyd, but I think he'll do a good job.
The plastic surgeon Tuesday. I thought he was a nice enough guy. I'm going to have to get used to have a resident Dr. and extra nurses in tow though. That's how the U and Huntsman work, they are training grounds. He'll place my expanders and do all my follow up visits, which means I'll be seeing him on a weekly basis for a while. One week after surgery I'll have my 1st set of drains removed (there are two drains on each side), and then at the 2 week appointment he'll remove the last two. Around 3 weeks after surgery will be when they start filling my tissue expanders, and this will continue on a weekly basis until we get to where I want to be. Depending on healing time and how long it takes to fill the expanders will determine when I can start radiation.

Surgery was scheduled for September 15th. They'll call me the Friday before and let me know my surgery time and instructions. I can expect a one night stay at the 4 Seasons resort called the Huntsman Cancer Hospital, which means I'll come home some time Tuesday. The only reason I would stay longer would be if there were complications or I am having pain management issues.

The surgery info has been sent over to my insurance to be preauthorized. There is a chance that they won't cover a bi-lateral mastectomy. Dealing with the Insurance is a big head ache!! I should know something before surgery I hope!!

I have moved my herceptin chemo to September 5th at 9am. I will not need a driver to this appointment.
I have also rescheduled my echo cardiogram to September 11th at 9:30am. Again, I can drive myself and won't need a driver.
It'll be nice to have those done before surgery for comfort sake :) Depending on how I'm feeling I may need to push my September 26th chemo back a week. For that chemo I most likely will need a driver, but I'll ask for help when it gets closer.

I am enjoying having my kids back in school! I plan on getting my house back in order and organized better while they are at school and before surgery. Cleaning makes me happy! And feeling good enough to clean is awesome!

Thank you for your continued prayers! My journey is far from over! This next part is very scary for me! Keep praying for me, your faith and prayers will help carry me through this!

I love you all!