So, it's official...I've got cancer. I wasn't surprised to hear those words. Sometimes you just have a feeling. We are still waiting for some results from pathology that will provide us with more details about the type of cancer. This information will be important for deciding on the sequence of treatment. The initial report shows that I have cancer in my breast and also in the axillary lymph node they biopsied. Based on our conversation with the doctor today, we are fairly certain that both chemotherapy and surgery will be required. On Monday I have an appointment with a surgeon and hopefully by then we will have most/all of the information we need to figure out what happens next. A good piece of news is that my bone scan was clear! I was very happy to hear this, because when you think you might have cancer you have the tendency to over-analyze little aches and pains. I'm glad my hips only ache because of 'old age.' ;) I am in very good hands. We are so thank...
Well, any of you who know me will understand that I don't like failing tests! Today I went for my pre-chemo bloodwork and my platelet level was lower than my oncologist would have liked. This means that tomorrow's treatment is postponed until next week. I find this annoying more than anything. I don't like changes in my schedule and I also dislike the thought of my treatment taking longer than I imagined. The silver lining (because I am good at finding those) is that I get another week of feeling AMAZING. More walks, more fun, increased enjoyment of food...I'll take it! Even though I don't have a choice. :) Also, more time to MAKE THINGS. This week I finished my latest embroidery sampler. It helped us learn 6 different 'filler' stitches and though it took a long time I love the different textures and colours. I'm thinking my nurses would dig it! Our visit with our Peterborough friends earlier this week was great. Like balm for my soul. We walked and pl...
This morning I had an echocardiogram to check on my heart health before I begin my treatment. Cancer treatment can sometimes be hard on the heart, so getting a good picture of my current heart health will help us identify if there are any changes over time. This was, of course, another opportunity to geek out a little bit. The 'echo' is an ultrasound of the heart. It took about 30 minutes to take the required images. They gather information about the heart muscle, the valves, and blood flow. After all of the images and videos were collected, the technician showed me a whole bunch of them. To look at blood flow they use doppler imaging, so the colour of something (in this case blood) moving towards the probe is different than the colour of something moving away from the probe. Very cool to see. I wish I had an image to share with you. I got a peek at several different parts of my heart including a really nice cross-section of my aortic valve (which is a normal, healthy tricuspi...
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