Survival Files: Friday's Visit to Oncology

When your doctor has the report in her hand, looks at you and says "I really didn't want to have to tell you this..." Ugh! What now? Well...cancer in the margins. Two of the tumors that were taken out came back from pathology showing cancer cells in the margin or the tissue surrounding where the tumors were taken out.

Drowning my sorrows in a dark chocolate
coffee cooler

So, depending on what the surgeons say on Monday, looks like I am back in for another surgery before we get started with chemo. Yuck! There was some good news in all of this and that was that there were 23 lymph nodes removed (no wonder I can still hardly move my arm without pain) and only the one that was biopsied showed any cancer. WOO HOO! So there is definitely something we can celebrate there! I asked about my iron levels after the infusion and she sent me to the lab.

As we left there for the lab I really felt that if I talked at all I would start crying so we got to the lab and I was called back pretty quickly. Understand, there is very little to offer when I put out my left arm, and even less when there were two veins that had recently been used for blood draw and IV in the hospital.

The one who started the blood draw had to call someone else over to help and she used a small vein and a butterfly needle and syringe. I am looking forward to the results of the blood test even though I was feeling pretty down about the whole visit. When I saw the blood fill the syringe it looked thick and dark red. I haven't seen blood come from my body that looked that good in forever! I have been anemic for a long time.

As I let it all sink in David took me to the coffee shop there at the PCI building and I decided to order a large...with whip cream. It helped to have something to drink while I got used to the thought of another surgery. More than likely it will be out patient and I won't have to spend the night. I only say what I am guessing because I won't really know anything til Monday.

Matthew and Zachary acting out Elephant and Piggie

I am thankful for my family. I am thankful that I could come home and crawl into bed feeling defeated and just rest. My mom popped over the to find out how the appointment went. I shared with her what we learned and she hung out for awhile and we got my mind on other things. I was covered in my blanket and she was thinking of some old fabric that she might still have around to give me to work on some patches while I am still recovering.

Then, I got a message from my aunt that she may be coming through town tomorrow and could stop in and visit. Then my kids...they are just fun to hang around with! Matthew and Zachary decided to act out the first four books from their Elephant and Piggie collection. We have recently purchased the last book to make our set complete. Part of my recovery was going to be reading every single one of them together.

We ended up playing a game of Apples to Apples for a couple of hours with Grandma playing for her first time. It was a lot of laughing and fun. I was even able to start a new yarn project with the rest of the new yarn. I may report more about that as there will be more to show as I get farther along. All in all my treatment is what it is and we will deal with it.

My timetable is out of my control right now and I am thankful for sweet distractions. Another bit of good news is that the doctor told me that if I hurt to take the pain meds. I should not be rationing them out and taking what I "can get by on". She is right...today was the most comfortable day I have had all week. Mentally it is much better to have as little pain as possible. For now I am going to enjoy the weekend with my family. Monday will come soon enough.