Thursday, December 23, 2010

Ocologist Visit and other stuff


So it was the radiologist that gave me the good news and then I had to go to the oncologist. First though I went to the radiologist because now I'm going to have some preventative radiation of the brain. Apparently this can mess with your memory and make your hair fall out but it keeps whatever cancer cells are left ( if any) from traveling north . So I went for the set up this week, interesting that's for sure. First they put this wet mesh mask over your face and they attatch it to the table you're laying on..if you are claustrophobic this is not for you. Then they do the set up as to where they're gonna ray gun you with radiation. Thankfully this time they marked the mask and not my head ( I had visions of walking around with black dots all over my head.) Anyway this took about 40 minutes ( hey take your time it's my brain we're messing with)and I have to say I was ready to be done and get that mask off by then, The actual treatment only lasts 10-15 minutes so after this set up that'll be a piece of cake. OK so I got that done I might start the radiation next week but I haven't heard from them so we'll see.
Next I go to the oncologist who is a rather bland guy, compared to the radiologist who is Mr. Sunshine. Anyway he dosen't know I know the results so he pulls out the report and asks if I have bronchitis ( I do) and then says well they say they can't find anything so thats good. A congrats we managed to get rid of this disease would have been nice but noooo. So then he starts to try and sell me on the preventative radiation and says he's gonna call the radiologist so I had to tell him he already knew and I'd seen him about treatment already, he seemed amused or maybe he was just happy he didn't have to try and talk me into this because it is a bit controversial. So that was all he had to say except I'll see him in 6 weeks...really exciting guy that one.
Meantime I went to my regular Dr this AM for a B12 shot and everyone in the offie was doing the happy dance when I left. Cool people there.
So tomorrow is Christmas, Chris, Jenny and the baby are coming up and the baby is teething..oh well nothing I haven't been through before.
I hope you all have a great holiday and you all get what you want ( I sure did). Remember the reason for the season ( no not the commercials. ) This year I will hopefully get to watch a Christmas Story all the way through, I've seen that movie at least a dozen times but never all at once.( I do love the Chinese restaurant scene though.)
Have a very Merry Christmas and joy to you all!

Friday, December 17, 2010

My Christmas Gift

This is the Christmas card from Chris' family, that's my beautiful grandson! The good news is I think I'll be around to see him say "Dad what were you thinkin' when you took that picture" LOL
The very good news is I got the PET Scan results from my wonderful radiologist ( I was supposed to wait until next week and get them from the oncologist) who wanted me to actually look forward to Christmas. The news is there was NO cancer detected...did ya get that? NO cancer detected. I cried when the poor guy told me over the phone.Now I get to have some preventative brain radiation so my journey isn't over yet ( so the blog goes on). I need to thank all of you because if I didn't have your prayers and support who knows what the results would have been? I believe we ALL made this happen and I thank you all from the bottom of my cancer free heart and lungs :) I guess I was right when I told Mr. Cancer he picked the wrong bitch!
Gee if I could eat a great meal I think I'd go have one but the side effects linger on, this too shall pass and if not, oh well, I made it through the worst part and I'll carry on from here!
So, that's the news sooner than I thought to be able to share it with you, gotta love Dr. DeBlazio!
Cheers!

Thursday, December 16, 2010

PET Scan Day



It's snowing here again, no big surprise and OK before Christmas, it can stop after New Years ad make me happy.

Today was my PET scan, for those of you who haven't had one or those of you who might I have one word BORING. Thankfully the tech was great and it took only one stick to make me radioactive. Then comes the fun, oh I should mention my hospital dosen't own a pet scan machine so they truck a machine and a team to run it in every Thursday. This truck comes from Massachusetts someplace and they cover several smaller hospitals in this area. So when the come for you they take you through the bowels of the hospital out to a loading dock and you get on this open elevator and up to the PET lab you go. OK so you're in this truck that's divided into 3 spaces ( that I could see) the room where they "stick' you, the room where the computers are that run the machine and the room where the machine is itself.

So I go get my radioactive shot and then the tech says " now you have to wait for 45 minutes" what? I'm sitting in a room on a truck in December, not a magazine in sight, no radio, no warning that this was going to happen so I could bring a book or a crossword puzzle...nope just me and the room. He leaves and shuts the door and says he'll see me in 45 minutes, gee thanks. So I sat for 45 minutes, trying to remember old song lyrics, renaming the 7 dwarves evil things, and generally thinking "this is stupid". So they came to get me and then I had to go to the machine room, the next tech said " butt here, head here and put your arms over your head" yippee! I got to lay that way for about 30 minutes although I must say at least the machine made a nice humming noise and I did move back and forth every once in awhile. Oh yeah did I mention by now it was almost 1pm and I hadn't had anything to eat or drink yet ( OK honestly I had some water because they said I could). The machine room was COLD( well yeah it's a truck), they told me to stay still...I hope my shivering didn't mess things up. Anyway finally they came in and said once I went back through the machine they would help me up and I could put myself together and then I was done. YAY We then ran to Dennys where it took me awhile but I found something I could eat and I had a nice hot cup of coffee and life was again good.

So now I get to wait for the results, I happened to run into the radiology Dr. and he said to call him early next week because he'd get the results before the oncologist who ordered the test.

I've decided I can get freaky about these results, they will be what they are and then we'll decide what the next step is, either way it's certainly not the end of treatment to be rid of this crazy disease and it's certainly not the end of me. I still have way too many people to drive crazy before I check out.

Anyway, I have gifts to wrap and some to finish sewing, it's snowing like crazy and it sure is pretty ( I'm home for the night, don't ask me what I think when I'm cleaning off my car in the AM so I can get to work).

When I get the test results I'll share them with you ( good or bad) but for now have a great weekend and let's all keep good thoughts !

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Drs. Drive Me Crazy!!



OK so I got a call this week from the PA of the Dr. who handles my radiation g saying they hadn't heard from the oncologist so he called and got the CT scan results and read them himself and everything looked good to him so when did I want to schedule the brain radiation ( that you can only have if there's no cancer detected).

I was confused and told him that the other oncologist had scheduled me for a PET scan because he wasn't sure that I was cancer free. The PA said that the radiologist read the results and he had read them and everything looked fine to them but if the Oncologist wanted a PET scan that was OK. He asked when it was and I told him and told him I had to wait over a week for the results and he said they could get them sooner because I'm having the test at the hospital where I have the radiation and he would have the radiologist call the other Dr and he could let me know what the results were sooner if I wanted him to. ( if I wanted him to???) These guys need to talk to each other !

So I'm now confused, am I OK or not OK? I certainly want to believe the radiologist who BTW worked at Sloan Kettering before he got here so he could "relax" a bit. I had pretty much decided that the results of the PET scan would be what they would be and once we found out what they were we'd decide what to do from there, the party isn't over we're just trying to figure out if it's a sit down dinner or a buffet. Either way I'm not going to let it ruin my grandson's first Christmas!

OK enough of my frustration, I guess they're both looking out for my best interest in their own way they just don't communicate with each other very well ( you'd think they would since they're both the only cancer specialists in this town). My GP who hasn't seen a test result tells me I'm going to be fine, maybe I should just listen to him I've been going to him for over 20 years he knows me better than the other 2 do.

Well it's time to go make some more presents, it keeps me busy and my mind occupied with things other than cancer...that's a good thing.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Another Week


This is a picture of me and Rex from Thanksgiving. Normally I hate pics of me but with the cutest little guy in the world in it I suppose I can stand it.
I think Chris took about 50 pics of us so this probably isn't the best one but I like it. Aren't digital cameras amazing? I remember taking the pics then going to the drug store or Photo Mat and waiting 3 or 4 days if you were lucky. Digital photography is awesome! I must have over 1000 pics of Rex by now, Chris is a little camera happy :).
It's been a quiet week here except for the several inches of snow we got yesterday. The roads are all clear and the snow is still clean so it looks nice. Makes me feel like the holidays too.
I've been shopping and wrapping presents, sometimes I even forget I've been sick until I tire myself out.
Even though I still can't eat alot of different things, my appetite is back..now all I have to do is figure out how to keep this weight off that I've lost when real food ( at least what I can eat of it) tastes so good. I even got my taste back for coffee, for the longest time I couldn't drink it because it tasted so bad to me, then all of a sudden it's OK again...go figure.
I still have a couple of weeks until the next test so I'm trying to enjoy the holidays and keep myself busy. I made another rag quilt this week and I still have some gifts to make so maybe I can sew instead of eat :).
I did find out that cleaning the snow off my van with only one fully working lung can be a challenge, I've decided that turning it on, going back in the house and hoping enough snow melts off so I can drive it is a better plan. We'll see when the real snow flies. Otherwise I'll just have to start sooner and take more breaks I guess. Could be worse, at least we do have someone who plows the driveway.
Work has been keeping me busy, we got new computers that seem to have strange messages on them every day or my old programs won't work with the new OS. Today it told me that my Windows program wasn't the real thing, we called the guy we bought the computers from, hopefully he has an explanation. The person who's going to be doing the other 1/2 of my job starts next week so I guess I'll be busy training her for awhile, that should be fun.
Well I guess I'll go sew something to keep me busy, have a great week!