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I had an actual treatment today. WOOHOO!!!!
OK, so for all the bitching and moaning I did about the treatment time, I think this 9:30 time slot is going to work out for me after-all. I am able to get the kids on the bus, take the dogs for a 2-mile walk around the neighborhood, then make the 3-mile round trip walk to and from the hospital for my treatment. 5 miles before 10:30 in the morning, and well over my 10,000 step goal for each day. Bonus!!!
The treatment itself was fast and easy. I was back in my clothes and walking out the door already at 9:44 a.m. They give me two, short 20-second bursts of radiation. It takes longer for them to align me on the table than to do the actual treatment itself.
I'm just happy I have finally started. I feel like there's light at the end of the tunnel now. It will all be behind my by the end of the year. Boy am I going to cut loose at Jessi's wedding! Ha!
Early Detection Saves Lives
SU2C
Stand Up To Cancer
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Oh. My. God.
My hospital sucks at customer service. I mean, really sucks.
I went for my first radiation treatment today and, oh, guess what? I DIDN'T GET ONE. Turns out that the first day is for x-rays only. Would it have killed them to tell me that?
Honest to God. These people need a serious lesson in customer service, which I was pretty happy to share with them this morning. Happily I was nicer about it than I really felt and they were open and receptive to the feedback, so there's that.
Still. They're just pitiful.
I went for my first radiation treatment today and, oh, guess what? I DIDN'T GET ONE. Turns out that the first day is for x-rays only. Would it have killed them to tell me that?
Honest to God. These people need a serious lesson in customer service, which I was pretty happy to share with them this morning. Happily I was nicer about it than I really felt and they were open and receptive to the feedback, so there's that.
Still. They're just pitiful.
Monday, October 20, 2008
It's "Cranky Mom" Night
Beware the wrath of a cranky mom. My boys, who aren't listening, don't know what's about to hit 'em. Life lesson #572.
On another note...........had my radiation treatment planning session today and everything went OK. I was not able to get the preferred treatment time that I wanted (8:30 a.m.) which everyone had led me to believe would not be a problem - hence the crankiness. (I mean, don't say it if it isn't true. Is that concept really all that difficult? It's just one of my many pet peeves about the medical community....but I digress.) So I'm stuck with a 9:30 a.m. time slot for at least the first two weeks, after which the 8:30 slot will be opening up at the end of another person's treatment session. OK. I'll deal.
As for the treatments themselves, I won't be starting with them until NEXT Monday now. I didn't realize - and wasn't told - that they would need that week to prepare everything before I could actually start treatments. Again - why don't they just SAY SO?????? (Yes, I'm cranky about that too.)
The rest of the planning session was fairly straightforward. They showed me an 8-minute video on what to expect during treatments, which I found to be fairly informative. Then they took me back to get the IV that I would need for the contrast dye for a CAT Scan. That was pretty much the suckiest part of the day. I must have the smallest veins in the world for an adult person and the poor girl had a really difficult time. I think I felt worse for her than I did for myself - that must be the most nerve-wracking thing. (Then again there have been so many other times when the technician and/or nurse has had no problems at all, so I think part of it is me, and part of it is them.) After the IV was in they used a "simulator" to set up my alignments. I now have four permanent little tattoo dots which will help them during the treatment process, which I find to be quite amusing, don't ask me why. Afteward it was on to the CAT scan, which took only about 5 minutes, then back to the treatment center to schedule my time and off I went.
Easy peasy, lemon squeezey. Heh. I'll keep you posted on the treatments themselves. Off to scare my kids. Whee!!!
On another note...........had my radiation treatment planning session today and everything went OK. I was not able to get the preferred treatment time that I wanted (8:30 a.m.) which everyone had led me to believe would not be a problem - hence the crankiness. (I mean, don't say it if it isn't true. Is that concept really all that difficult? It's just one of my many pet peeves about the medical community....but I digress.) So I'm stuck with a 9:30 a.m. time slot for at least the first two weeks, after which the 8:30 slot will be opening up at the end of another person's treatment session. OK. I'll deal.
As for the treatments themselves, I won't be starting with them until NEXT Monday now. I didn't realize - and wasn't told - that they would need that week to prepare everything before I could actually start treatments. Again - why don't they just SAY SO?????? (Yes, I'm cranky about that too.)
The rest of the planning session was fairly straightforward. They showed me an 8-minute video on what to expect during treatments, which I found to be fairly informative. Then they took me back to get the IV that I would need for the contrast dye for a CAT Scan. That was pretty much the suckiest part of the day. I must have the smallest veins in the world for an adult person and the poor girl had a really difficult time. I think I felt worse for her than I did for myself - that must be the most nerve-wracking thing. (Then again there have been so many other times when the technician and/or nurse has had no problems at all, so I think part of it is me, and part of it is them.) After the IV was in they used a "simulator" to set up my alignments. I now have four permanent little tattoo dots which will help them during the treatment process, which I find to be quite amusing, don't ask me why. Afteward it was on to the CAT scan, which took only about 5 minutes, then back to the treatment center to schedule my time and off I went.
Easy peasy, lemon squeezey. Heh. I'll keep you posted on the treatments themselves. Off to scare my kids. Whee!!!
Monday, October 13, 2008
Appointment with Radiation Oncologist
I had my consultation with the radiation oncologist on Friday. First of all, she is extremely nice. We bonded over having kids roughly the same age and our shared disdain for being expected to do MEAP prep with our kids. Not to mention she seemed extremely competent, too. Plus, she had a nice, good-looking intern working with her and it's always a bonus to go to a doctor's appointment and get some nice eye candy. Heh.
I asked her about the latest studies that indicate that 3 weeks of a slightly higher dosage of radiation are just as effective as the standard 6 week course of treatment that they are recommending. Her position is that there is more than 30 years of research to back up the effectiveness of the 6-week treatments, whereas there are only 10 years behind the 3-week treatments. She is recommending we stick with the 6-week course of treatment - why take our chances on regretting something, say, 15 years from now. I'm all on board with that - go with the thing that you know works!
We also discussed the rumor I had heard from a friend who went through this 8 years ago that I would not be able to have reconstruction surgery (if needed) following the radiation. She said that simply was not true. So that was also good to know (and I called my friend to tell her that, too!)
So the next step is to go in for my first "set up" appointment on October 20th. They'll get me "aligned" and tattooed (yes, I said tattooed with little "alignment marks" - barely imperceptible dots, I am told.) I'll also have a CAT scan (standard operating procedure) and will be able to schedule all of my treatment dates on that first day. We'll be cutting it close, but from my calculations I should be able to get everything in by the end of the year, no problem. My plan is to try to schedule the appointments for 8:30 each morning. That way, I'll be able to get the kids on the bus at around 7:50 and then walk to the hospital for my treatment. I did a "test walk" this week-end and it takes about 25-30 minutes to get there. So I'll be able to get all my treatments AND get my exercise in for the day as well. If only I could take the dogs with me and leave them outside the hospital someplace - then I would REALLY be multi-tasking. Obviously that isn't going to happen though. Oh well. Can't have everything, I suppose!
I asked her about the latest studies that indicate that 3 weeks of a slightly higher dosage of radiation are just as effective as the standard 6 week course of treatment that they are recommending. Her position is that there is more than 30 years of research to back up the effectiveness of the 6-week treatments, whereas there are only 10 years behind the 3-week treatments. She is recommending we stick with the 6-week course of treatment - why take our chances on regretting something, say, 15 years from now. I'm all on board with that - go with the thing that you know works!
We also discussed the rumor I had heard from a friend who went through this 8 years ago that I would not be able to have reconstruction surgery (if needed) following the radiation. She said that simply was not true. So that was also good to know (and I called my friend to tell her that, too!)
So the next step is to go in for my first "set up" appointment on October 20th. They'll get me "aligned" and tattooed (yes, I said tattooed with little "alignment marks" - barely imperceptible dots, I am told.) I'll also have a CAT scan (standard operating procedure) and will be able to schedule all of my treatment dates on that first day. We'll be cutting it close, but from my calculations I should be able to get everything in by the end of the year, no problem. My plan is to try to schedule the appointments for 8:30 each morning. That way, I'll be able to get the kids on the bus at around 7:50 and then walk to the hospital for my treatment. I did a "test walk" this week-end and it takes about 25-30 minutes to get there. So I'll be able to get all my treatments AND get my exercise in for the day as well. If only I could take the dogs with me and leave them outside the hospital someplace - then I would REALLY be multi-tasking. Obviously that isn't going to happen though. Oh well. Can't have everything, I suppose!
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Post-surgical appointment with oncologist.
Had my appointment with the oncologist today. As I suspected it was a bit of a waste of my time. We didn't review anything that couldn't have been handled over the phone. I swear, God is trying to teach me patience throughout this. I'm failing miserably, just so you know.
The next step (which I already knew!) is to start radiation. The oncologist's office was to contact the radiation department at the hospital to have them contact me and I wasn't really holding my breath.............and then, what do ya know??? I got the phone call from them already this afternoon. Wonders never cease. My first consultation is set for this coming Friday, and they already noted on the phone that they are aware that I would like to have this wrapped up by the end of the year. So yay for that.
The only question that remains up in the air is whether or not they will be recommending that I take the drug tamoxifen to help prevent future recurrences. Dr. E. mentioned that studies on whether or not tamoxifen is effective on hormone-receptor-negative cancers (like mine) are incomplete. As it stands right now, they wouldn't recommend it, but that may change by January when I go back to see him again. We'll see.
More to follow after my appointment on Friday!
The next step (which I already knew!) is to start radiation. The oncologist's office was to contact the radiation department at the hospital to have them contact me and I wasn't really holding my breath.............and then, what do ya know??? I got the phone call from them already this afternoon. Wonders never cease. My first consultation is set for this coming Friday, and they already noted on the phone that they are aware that I would like to have this wrapped up by the end of the year. So yay for that.
The only question that remains up in the air is whether or not they will be recommending that I take the drug tamoxifen to help prevent future recurrences. Dr. E. mentioned that studies on whether or not tamoxifen is effective on hormone-receptor-negative cancers (like mine) are incomplete. As it stands right now, they wouldn't recommend it, but that may change by January when I go back to see him again. We'll see.
More to follow after my appointment on Friday!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month
So that means it's time for my annual "PSA". In the past I have sent this out to only my closest friends. For obvious reasons I now feel I should be including as many of my friends as possible.
My personal screening recommendations are:
If you are 35 or older and have not already done so, please have a baseline mammogram done. If you have a family history of breast cancer, please talk to your physician about having a baseline done at any age.
If you are over 40, please have an annual screening mammography.
For "official" screening recommendations, please visit the following websites:
www.cancer.org
www.cancer.gov
www.breastcancer.org
www.komen.org
Early detection saves lives. It saved mine; it saved my sister's. If you are at all nervous about having your first mammogram I will gladly go with you and hold your hand the whole way.
Please join me in protecting other women and finding a cure by sharing this information with your sisters, mothers, wives and friends.
Love to you all.
M.
My personal screening recommendations are:
If you are 35 or older and have not already done so, please have a baseline mammogram done. If you have a family history of breast cancer, please talk to your physician about having a baseline done at any age.
If you are over 40, please have an annual screening mammography.
For "official" screening recommendations, please visit the following websites:
www.cancer.org
www.cancer.gov
www.breastcancer.org
www.komen.org
Early detection saves lives. It saved mine; it saved my sister's. If you are at all nervous about having your first mammogram I will gladly go with you and hold your hand the whole way.
Please join me in protecting other women and finding a cure by sharing this information with your sisters, mothers, wives and friends.
Love to you all.
M.
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