Tag: Cancer

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ALMOST TO THE FINISH LINE!

wooden picture frame hanged on pink wall

As I start my fourth and final week of radiation therapy, I am feeling grateful for the team at UPMC-Passavant, as well as the love and support I have received from family and friends! It has been a rocky road, and I still have the cardiac procedure to weather, but I am almost at the finish line, and I can begin to taste the sweetness of victory!

Update on My Team

The pregnant technician finally had her baby on Friday! Her labor stalled so she had to have a C-section, but mom and baby are doing well. I believe the baby was 9 lbs. 7 oz! That is a BIG baby!! My biggest (Seth) was 9 lbs. 1 oz. and that was quite big enough! I will miss seeing her 5 days a week, but am happy for her and her growing family!

Today we started the “targeted” part of my radiation therapy. In this phase of my treatment, the radiation is focused on JUST the area where my tumor was–in this case the upper inner quadrant of my breast. I am not sure if that will cause more skin changes in that area or not. I am hoping not! So far, I have been very lucky as far as side effects go (at least from the radiation). I am looking forward to ringing the bell on Friday to mark the completion of this phase of treatment. That will be the finish line for my acute cancer treatment. I will be on the Arimidex for 10 years, and there is talk of removing my ovaries, but the breast surgeries and radiation will be over!

Next Stop–Cardiac Cryosurgery

After about 2 weeks to recuperate, I have the cardiac procedure that is intended to fix my atrial fibrillation. The day before the procedure I have to have a test called a Transesophageal Echocardiogram (TEE for short). The ultrasound tech puts a probe down my esophagus and view my heart that way. I have never had this test before, but I’m not looking forward to it. Hopefully, the “mild” sedation works very well!

The day after the TEE, my Electrophysiologist will go into my heart with a catheter (through the groin, just like they do for a cardiac catheterization) and will attempt to freeze the area of my heart where the abnormal impulses usually arise. If all goes well, I hope I will be able to stop the Amiodarone and Eliquis. Fingers crossed! The picture below courtesy of Oklahoma Heart and shows how the procedure is done. This is for my medically-inclined friends and readers!

Image courtesy of https://oklahomaheart.com/

Virginia-Bound

Kendyl and I will take a road trip this weekend as we head down to Lynchburg, Virginia, for my granddaughter’s 6th birthday party! I wasn’t sure I would feel up to going, but I think I should be okay. Kendyl will drive, as I do not feel I’m up to 7 hours of driving. I am looking forward so much to seeing Riley and her family!! We will finally meet Ember and Rex, Haley’s part-wolf pups.

While we are there we will also get to see my ex-husband’s grandfather (so my kids’ great, and Riley’s great-great) who is 99 years young! As soon as I am able to request time off, I want to make arrangements to be there for his 100th birthday next March! We will also see his daughter (my former mother-in-law) who has been having some health challenges of her own recently. One of my most cherished pictures is one I took last August when we visited. In it are Tom’s grandfather, Tom’s mom, all 3 of Tom’s kids, and Riley Mae (and her then step-sister, also a Riley). It is a precious photo. It is quite sad that Tom isn’t alive to see it (and to have been part of the picture)!

I have decided to post to the blog every other Monday. I should have posted regularly before when I was actually posting my travels! Never fear, as I run out of health news I will post more travel-related content. I might even throw in some food-related posts as that was my original intention! As I approach that finish line, I intend to plan my 2024 trips. It feels good to have something to look forward to again!

Post-Radiation and Virginia Update

I got to ring the bell after my last radiation treatment on Friday (11 August 2023)! It felt good! I crossed that finish line with a smile and even a few tears. You get used to seeing these people every day and they feel like friends! I took in an assortment of cookies, many of them symbolically pink. Hopefully, they were enjoyed by all!

Shortly after I returned from radiation, we packed up the car and headed to Virginia! Kendyl’s boyfriend, Ray, ended up coming with us, so she and I were “passenger princesses.” I am usually VERY anxious when someone else drives distances, but sitting in the backseat where I could not see the road ahead was VERY helpful (as was half of a Xanax).

Ray and his two passenger princesses on the road!

Our tradition when we visit Haley is to meet her at a hibachi restaurant called Wasabi. This trip was no different! Neither she nor her fiancé had their kids, so we let loose in our celebration of being together AND radiation being over! I have not been drinking much at all, so I was pretty tipsy–AND hungover the next morning! Since Saturday was another day without kids, we just vegetated all day reading, watching TV and cooking. Haley made my recipe for stuffed salmon, and Kendyl made her vegetarian risotto. I taught her how to make risotto a few years ago and she VERY quickly surpassed me–she is the risotto master! We also got to meet Ember and Rex, the part-wolf pups. They are already bigger than our Buddha, and they aren’t even a year old yet!

Ember and I bonding!

Sunday was a very eventful day. After breakfast Kendyl and I went to visit her grandmother and great-grandad. We came at the right time, because he had fallen and no one there could get him up. Kendyl and I were able to, and he was thankfully not injured. We had a nice visit, and got to see Barbara’s brother, Uncle Jimmy, who stopped by. After that, it was off to the birthday party and we FINALLY got to see precious Riley!! A good time was had by all, and it was great seeing Haley’s family. Some people think it is odd, but I have become friends with the whole family of Tom’s first wife (Haley’s mom). I have remained close to my first husband’s family also. The more people we care about in our lives, the more joy we have!

I didn’t take many pictures over the weekend, but I will include a few. I may update early next time since I have those cardiac procedures on my scheduled posting date! Thanks for reading and sharing my excitement over this finish line!

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My New Journey

wooden picture frame hanged on pink wall

I have been absent from my blog for a very long time. The pandemic, understandably, prevented my travels for a couple of years. When I did start traveling again, I did not get back into writing regularly. I did take a few domestic trips and one international trip (a Douro River cruise in November 2022), but found it difficult to resume blogging.

Then the bottom fell out of my world. In March 2023, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. This came as a shock because I have faithfully gotten my mammograms every 1-2 years for the past 22 years. I ended up having a lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy in April. My 3 nodes were negative, but they did not get ALL of the cancer–it had invaded the muscle of my chest wall. After discussion with my family and doctors, I elected to have a complete mastectomy instead of just going in and removing more of the breast and muscle.

Nothing could have prepared me for the first time I looked at myself after that second surgery. I never thought about my breasts much, but having a large incision across my chest with no nipple was a shock. I have since gotten used to it, but that first peek was difficult. On top of that, I suffered a second degree burn on my chest from using heat–I am numb in the area and didn’t realize how hot the compress was. This is what I call a “rookie mistake” for someone who works in healthcare and should KNOW better.

Fortunately, my oncotype showed that chemotherapy would not be beneficial, but I do need to get radiation. I am waiting for that to be scheduled as I write this. I have also been undergoing physical therapy since much of my chest muscle was removed on the right side. I was given the option of having a bilateral mastectomy and/or a reconstruction, but I have significant cardiac issues so I elected NOT to do either.

Speaking of cardiac issues, they have worsened. My cardiologist feels it is due to the stress of having two surgeries so close together. I have developed intermittent atrial fibrillation and now have to take a potent antiarrhythmic agent (amiodarone) as well as a blood thinner. After my 4 weeks of radiation is over, I will have to have a procedure on my heart called a cryoablation to try and kill the aberrant conduction in the top part of my heart. This situation has actually scared me much more than the cancer diagnosis. Although I have had heart problems since my 40s, it was relatively stable and inactive for almost 2 decades and never affected my activities. Now I am afraid to do much of anything for fear of triggering the rapid rhythm. It has caused me to cancel two of my trips–one in May to visit cousins in Florida, and one at the end of June to see my British cousins who I haven’t seen since before the pandemic.

So, I have embarked on the most challenging journey of my life so far. I have had to take short-term disability from work for all of this, which adds to the stress. I am somewhat of a workaholic and have never been off more than 4 weeks at a time since I was 16! Even after having babies, I only took 4 weeks off. So I have decided to get back into writing, both here on my blog to document my cancer journey, and possibly a memoir about my health challenges. Even if I don’t get it published, it would be something for my children and grandchildren to have.

I would appreciate any positive energy and prayer that can be sent my way! I would also be very interested in hearing from others who have fought this fight–either cancer or cardiac. I do intend to attend some support groups, but have not done so yet as I am trying to navigate through all the medical appointments and planning. I thank you all for stopping by, and do hope to get back to writing about actual travels in the future!

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