I love love love this shot of Angelica. She is such a toot!!
Things are really coming together. They fit me in for my MRI and PET scan tomorrow (or today - Wednesday - since it is the middle of the night). Then more tests Thursday and Friday. By the end of the week I will have had all the preliminary tests done. Yahoooooooo! Then on our way to a plan.
Michele in Dr. Grant's office called to say that my insurance company did not even balk at the PET scan. She said that this was highly unusual (she said she was shocked and was sure to get the person's name, title, etc...lol). Thank you God. Thank you SkillSoft.
I am not sure how long before I know the MRI and PET scan results but I am thrilled at how things are moving along.
Love to you all!
Maureen
2 comments:
Hello Maureen-
First off Cancer Sucks and I hate hearing ,through my Dear friend Noelle, about your DX. This being said, your attitude is the best and do not let ANYTHING take this away from you, it will be one of your best tools in your kicking the ass of cancer. By the way you are a breast cancer survivor the day you are DX.
I am JoAnna Bartle, 42, single Mom of the most beautiful 5 yr. old Ralei James and was DX w/breast cancer shortly before I turned 40. No lump, just had not been feeling well for a while(the 6 months or so prior I had moved from LA with my 2 yr old son, divorced, bought a home and commuted to work to LA and then to Atl from a small town in AR to Lit and on...I was stressed and tired)...after a few Doctors visits we decided to do my mammo early and that is where it all began for me....one thing that made a huge difference in my Dx was in my earlier 30's I had seen a breast surgeon for a year due to breast pain in my left breast, yes the breast and the place I ended up with cancer 6 years later???!!!
It is sounding like our cancer is very similar. I started out dcis which I am not certain, but may be the dci you are talking about?? It is often called precancer....in my opinion cancer is cancer...it is the sheryl Crow cancer...cancer that is contained within the mild ducts....however, you already know IDC is present in your tissue as well-invasive cancer and you are HER2 positive and not hormonal driven...no ideal in terms of cancer....however, as you will find there are very NEW things happening on the part of aggresive HER2 protein for us this is fantastic....Herceptin is a targeted chemo which only goes in after the nasty protein and unlike other chemo's does not knock out all the good and bad. There is also a back of med in case herceptin does not work for you and it is very very new, but being used in higher staged cancers and for those whom herceptin does not work....Tykerb....so do not fret...FIGHT you have many tools.
I hope the scans go well, mine took a few days to get results. I always asked a time and begin calling the day I am told b/c you are your best advocate you must, in a kind way, let everyone know there will be no slack on your end as the patient. Get second opinions when you get into this...keep copies of all scans and med info, get scans on discs if you can mammos everything...these things can get lost, I know more than a few whom do not have earliest mammos b/c lost in the midst of sending from office to office. Record things while with Doctors to go back to....it is a lot of info at first and sometimes when you are sitting there you hear so much, but really do not hear it at all....its great if someone can be with you to be your true ears. Research, talk to people, make lists of questions....do not be afraid to ask anything....if you have a doctor whom is not open to answering all your questions or helping you get certain tests or ideas on meds or things that may help you ....then you have the wrong Doctor. Some like to just be guided by a Doctor through the cancer battle and this is fine...I am not feeling you are that type of person.
I will be in Dallas next Thur. if you want to get together, love to, if not I totally get it also. You do things as you need to and everyone is going to give you advice....bottom line you have to go with your gut and do what is best for you and your family. You will need to be surrounded by a great group of supporters, which sounds like you are....do not be afraid to ask for help and tell others what you need. So many want to do something, but do not know your needs; you will help them by letting them know....I will pray for you and God is with you and your family. Your spiritual, physical and mental need to be very balanced right now. I have done everything from western to eastern meds and believe being open to all things is the way to be....diet will be a huge thing...juice, plant based with lean organic proteins, detox and peace. It will all come....do not let the coming days overwhelm you it is not a race think things through....your Doctors should be willing to do what you feel is the best course after you have heard all of their information.
Final, I finished a year and a half of chemo, 35 rads, 7 surgeries so far....one more to go(many to do with reconstruction issues) chose bi lateral mastectomy.....in Dec I will be a 3 year survivor, I have been in remission 1 yr and 3 months. My exact Diagnosis- Infiltrated DCIS with 2mm of IDC in breast tissue(no LUMP) 1 cm of clear margins from chest wall, er/pr neg, her2 positive: 3.8 out of 4,lymph node involvement: 3 out of 13, 1 node 2mm idc, 2 node 4mm idc, third node 7mm idc, genetically negative at this time(they will continue to test your genes if you call every year or so b/c gentic info is changing daily) 4 treatments of A/C, 4 treatments of Taxol/herceptin with a continuation of a full year of herception....all chemo through a port o cath. and 35 rads after first 8 what I call "hard core" chemos. "Fists up-we never give up".....be a warrior...now is the time to take your time and take care...I know my situation was similar in that its not cancer, it is cancer, it is not invasive, it is invasive, it is not aggressive, it is agressive blah blah blah...once I got the pages together after a few knocks I got my boots on and have never stopped. I know this is a lot, its just a passion from one to another, I know where you are and just keep moving, you will walk through fear...absolutely...you will see then it leads you to a stronger better person/place.
Email me if you wish, call me, visit with me in Dallas or do nothing you have to do what you have to do....everyone will get that...josiedo@sbcglobal.net, 501-247-3218 and I will be at Noeller's Thur night until Mon morning with my wild child, whom himself has been through a lot and believes a fox came by me, even though he tried to stop him, and blew cancer into me...they certainly have their own way of understanding things. JoAnna
ps....breastcancer.org is an incredible page and the community page for dicussions is invaluable. You can just read or join in, no pressure, up to you.
First, Angelica is so cute!
Second, I was talking with Ben last night and I let him know about your cancer. As you know, he has a lot of experience with the subject. He wanted me to give you a couple of pieces of advice from him.
(1) Keep smiling. He said this is the absolute most important thing. Although some days are so tough you don't know how you will get through them, if you try to smile and keep a positive attitude it really will make a big difference.
(2) He said don't worry about your hair falling out. Ben thought he looked cute bald and his hair grew back really quickly and so much nicer than it ever was before. He loves his new hair.
He had lots of other advice and comments, but they mostly had to do with what he calls the awesome hospital food (all the nurses were amused he actually liked the food) and video games you get to play at the hospital so probably not so relevant.
We love you and think of you always. Thank you for keeping us updated by your blog!
Love, Nicole, Scott, Ben and David
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