I promised a treatment update, so here goes!
I am going to trust that my blood levels will hang tight for the next month and I can get through my last two treatments so I can stay on schedule. They have started to waver a little, but not to the point where I’ve had to delay anything.
I can finally see light at the end of the tunnel! When I was on Treatments 1 and 2, and even 3, 4, and 5, Treatment 8 seemed like it was very far away…now though, the end is in sight!!
I am scheduled for Treatment 7 this Friday, and then I would be on track to have my last treatment the day after Thanksgiving. Turns out that the chemo clinic is closed that day though.
So Treatment 8 is on the books for the Monday after Thanksgiving (11/28). Do you know what that means?! If I feel like it, I can participate in Black Friday shopping! And get my tree up that weekend! And possibly make a trip to MaMaw’s before Christmas! I am so excited about those three things!
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Warning: Boob talk ahead. Boo.
[I hope this isn’t too much information, by the way…I know some of you have expressed your curiosity regarding my surgery. Everything below is pretty vague, but I’m sure I’ll be sharing more details in the days/weeks ahead.]On December 9 I have my appointment scheduled with the surgeon. I haven’t seen him since before I started chemo, and honestly we talked very little about this whole surgery process and what it would entail; we talked even less about reconstructive surgery options and timeline. I guess we were too busy discussing all of my scans, biopsies, lymph nodes, etc…
But I did ask my medical oncologist some questions at my last appointment and she informed me that I would not have reconstructive surgery until after my radiation treatments are finished.
She also told me that I could potentially have my surgery before Christmas. Seems so soon.
I’m torn on this. I don’t want to deal with it over Christmas. To be fair though…is there ever a time that I wouldn’t dread a double mastectomy!? I thought I was gonna die when I had my gall bladder removed and all they made was three tiny incisions! 🙂
A lot of things have to come together to make the surgery happen before Christmas though. At my appointment on Dec 9 I will be 11 days post-treatment. I know for certain I will have blood work done on that day. Before I have surgery though, I will also have to have some more body scans to re-evaluate the cancer and ensure that I don’t need more chemo. Is 11 days after my last treatment enough time for the chemo to do everything they think it will do? I’m sure I will discuss this Friday whether or not the scans can go ahead and be scheduled, possibly before the ninth…
If the scans can’t be scheduled for 12.9 or earlier, I think that will put us out at least another week before we could move forward with the surgery (time to schedule the scans, get the results, have the consult with the results). More of the waiting game that we dealt with at the beginning of this.
And although I had kind of hoped to have a NORMAL Christmas with a break from the chemo-surgery-radiation, Brandon will be able to take off more work around the holidays, as will my mom, MIL and other family that take such good care of me. Plus the girls would hopefully be kind of distracted with all the hoopla that surrounds us during that time.
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Speaking of, it has been weighing heavily on me how Cadence will take this whole surgery thing. She is VERY observant. In true form though, God opened a door for me!
Tonight before bed she randomly asked me a question about “Wade drinking boobie milk” … seriously, I have not heard her say “boobie milk” in months (possibly since the night in June that I hosted Canasta and she announced to everyone here as Wade cried, that “he probably wants some boobie milk, mommy!”).
Anyway, I took it as an opportunity to tell her that Wade didn’t drink boobie milk anymore, and that I didn’t need my old boobies and would be getting new ones. Woohoo. Not.
Then she asked me if they could be pink. Haha. Oh, to have the mind of a three year old…
Great is Thy Faithfulness 
I am praying for you as you go through the last treatments and approach surgery. I am praying for your doctors, that the Lord will guide them as your surgery approaches. I am praying that your family will handle the recovery period with ease….On a lighter note! I know you can relate and laugh at this one….In the coffee/tea/etc. aisle of Walyworld on Mon., Isabelle Adeline noticed a man grinding coffee, and wanted to take 3 beans (the tray beneath the grinder is always full of spillage) home so “Daddy can make his coffee”. Not wanting to explain Daddy’s “coffee-snobbery” and his preference for Fresh Market coffee, I let her take the 3 beans. About 5 aisles and 10 minutes later, she begans to scream and cry. SCREAM and SOB. She is able to tell me that the coffee beans are in her nostrils. One I was able to get out w/my finger, the other was lodged. Every time she breathed it smelled like a coffee shop and several concerned folks had gathered to ask the usual “Oh, poor baby, is your Mommy pinching you? Ha, ha!” Long story short, and gross details spared, Isabelle Adeline was able to blow it out herself AFTER we got home. SCREAMING AND SOBBING until then. The 3rd coffee bean? After much reasurance, she convinced me she had eaten it. No wonder it smelled like Java Express everytime she breathed!
Aww, bless Cadence’s little heart! She is such a doll. Thinking of you daily, my friend ❤
Your courage is awesome… and so your faith. God is with you. I went through chemo and radiation and what Cure Magazine says about PTSD being a result of cancer treatment, I concur with.
I love reading your posts and I pray for your total recovery and for ease in your treatments so that you get through them all in a timely manner.