Not setting off metal detectors anymore

Today I had two doctors appointments. I met with the oncologist today. This was very important on many fronts. It was the first time Jeff got to meet Dr. McCoy. He is a gentle man with a great bedside manner. He talks in a soft tone and seems very loving and caring. Personally, I think he has one of the crappiest jobs in the world, but he is necessary and I'm glad he does what he does.

Here's the thing about the oncologists office. Unlike the other Drs. I have dealt with in this process there is really no good reason to go to an oncologist. I have been to surgeon's offices before as follow up from a birth or to have a mole removed. There is a hundred rather minor reasons to go the surgeon's office, it doesn't have to be that traumatic. Then there is the plastic surgeon's office. There is almost more good reasons to be in his office then bad. In the waiting room you see pamphlets for botox, boob enhancements, tummy tucks, and permanent make-up (I have since learned that is where they actually tattoo make-up, like eye liner, on so that it is permanent). However, as soon as you walk into the "Blue Ridge Cancer Center" i.e. the oncologists office, you know there is no good reason to be there. It gives me a pit in my stomach both times I've been in there. It is just a necessary evil in all this.

Having said all that, I got great news today. Some not great parts mixed in, but all stuff we can deal with. First, I am officially now considered a Stage 1 breast cancer patient. There is one better stage, stage 0, but I would have never been considered that because that is reserved for people who have a cancer that never goes outside the duct. Sometimes this is considered a "precancer". So I will take Stage 1. I am in this category because my tumor was less than 2 cm (officially considered 1.8 cm, because that is the measurement of the largest part) and my lymph nodes are negative. My cancer is progesterone and estrogen negative. This is bad, but not surprising. Almost all premenopausal women are negative for these hormones with their cancer. This matters because it means I will not benefit from long term medications that help deter cancer, like Tamoxifin. My HER rating is still undetermined. It came back negative on the surface, but he has ordered some additional tests on this to confirm this finding. We want this to be negative, because positive just increases my chances of reoccurrance. They also determined that my histological grade is 9 out of 9. This means that the tumor/cancer they removed is the most aggressive kind on all levels (very happy we found this when we did, or chances are it would have spread quickly).

This means that I will still do chemotherapy (which all parties had fully warned me of, so I am not surprised about) but it also means I will only have to do one type of chemo. As of now I am scheduled to do 4 rounds of AC chemo. (If you care to know more details of chemical names feel free to look it up online, I won't bore you with the details here.) Or there is a possibility if I qualify for a research study I will do 6 rounds of FED. A "round" means one treatment every 21 days. Why would I opt for the longer treatment? Being in a study means that you get equal to or GREATER treatment. In other words it would be at least as affective as the default treatment, but it might possibly be better. Also, being in a study allows you to be followed more closely for years to come. This would provide a little tighter screening for my future. I will know if I qualify for the study in the next few days. In either case I am scheduled for my first chemo on Thursday, August 3rd at 10 am. I have been told that chemo of this day and age is much better than chemo of even 10 years ago. Only 10% of patients experience some kind of nausea and they have great drugs for all that now. One of them is one that costs $100 a pill. We are hoping our insurance covers that, because we are told many do not. I was told that other than that I should expect a tired feeling 7-10 days after treatment because that is when your white blood cells tend to dip and you lose some of your "spunk." I am told that after 1 or 2 treatments, these cycles become quite predictable and you can begin to make plans around them.

Will I lose my hair? Almost definitely, yes. I know you probably know people who have not lost their hair during chemo, but with this drug and this type of chemo that fights specifically breast cancer, it is pretty much a guarantee. Dr. McCoy said, "I can't promise everything, but I can promise you will lose your hair." I'm bummed, but have already began to face that reality, so I will just have to decide if I am a wig, scarf, hat or bald kind of girl. Everyone embraces it differently. Here is the funny thing...your insurance covers the cost of a wig. He sent me home with a prescription for a "Cranial prosthetic" Yah, no kidding, that's what the prescription says.

The timing is good. They are encouraging our trip to go to Disney World (July 6-21) and allowing us to move into our new apartment (barely, we move in August 2nd) but I will take it.

They showed us around the chemo room and told me each of my treatments will be about 2 hours. I would love to set up some chemo buddies to come play games with me during that time if anyone is interested.

My second appointment was with my plastic surgeon. He removed all of my staples, YIPPEEE! So I am in no danger of setting off metal detectors any more. He said I am healing pretty nicely. The only problem spot is at the site of where they injected the dye for my biopsy. It is starting to form a pinkish spot which may indicate some of the tissue under the skin is dying. (Die as in death, not dye as in color) This is not good, but can be dealt with if it happens. Dealing with it involves cutting open the incision there, so you can imagine we want it to just get better. We are in a wait and see mode on that, but he is not majorly concerned. This is something that happens as a side affect to the dye they use and it is pretty much unavoidable.

For those of you who are curious about Jeff's dad's situation. He had tests this week and we will not know his course of treatment until at least next week. In the meantime, maybe we can encourage him to start his own blog. He has a great wit, I imagine his blog could be fun and inspiring.