I need to figure out how to add emojis or other happy or inspiring images on this blog. Most of you know I am a color girls and the lack thereof bothers me.
Anyway, here is the news. I had a CT scan Wednesday the 25th and a big blood draw the next day. I saw Dr. Lu on the 28th.1
#1. The CT scan of just my chest was good. No traces of the cancer remain!
#2. The blood work came back absolutely normal, so no concerns there.
#3. The pnuemonia is finally all gone - yay!
#4. My vitals were good and my lung sounded clear and strong.
#5. Dr. Lu said I looked good, which is always flattering for a girl to hear. (An emoji would fit so well here)
That was the good news. The not-so-good-news is this:
#1. Because of the way my cancer presented there is a high risk it will come back or spread within the first year or two after diagnosis. I have a PET scan around the 15th of September to start the process of looking for more cancer.
Mark and I do not intend to let it come back. We walk the hills around our house every day, which is quite a cardio work-out for me. We went to Barnes and Noble and got two well researched books, by cancer survivors, who describe ways to stave off the spread. We changed our diets significantly after the initial diagnosis, but we will change them a little more. And we are headed back to Yoga on Tuesday night. That's the mind and body part of self-healing.
The soul is friends.We appreciate all you've done since last September. We'd love for you to stay a part of our lives. We know part of the reason I am still here is because of you. Thank you all!
Saturday, July 29, 2017
Thursday, June 15, 2017
Graduation
As usual I am a little late blogging. Better late than never, tho, right?
On June 7th I got to ring the bell at the Cancer Center signifying that I am done with radiation! Moses has been with me from the beginning, even giving me my tattoos.
Aubrey is a lovely young lady and such a sweet soul. She was very helpful and supportive.
This is what it says by the bell:
These kind people gave me a graduation certificate and a beautiful quilt when I left after the last treatment.
What the future holds: I will have an appointment at the radiation center the middle of July to see how effective the treatment was.
The end of July I will have a CT scan with contrast of my chest to see if indeed all the cancer is gone.
Thank you so much to those of you who continue to pray for us, support us, and help us in so many ways. Our house is full of beautiful signs and sayings. We are eternally grateful.
Aubrey is a lovely young lady and such a sweet soul. She was very helpful and supportive.
This is what it says by the bell:
These kind people gave me a graduation certificate and a beautiful quilt when I left after the last treatment.
What the future holds: I will have an appointment at the radiation center the middle of July to see how effective the treatment was.
The end of July I will have a CT scan with contrast of my chest to see if indeed all the cancer is gone.
Thank you so much to those of you who continue to pray for us, support us, and help us in so many ways. Our house is full of beautiful signs and sayings. We are eternally grateful.
Thursday, April 20, 2017
The Real Radiation Machine
This is my radiation machine:
First I get into one of those lovely hospital gowns before they take me into the radiation room. There I lay on the bed, grab the handles at the top, and shimmy myself down into the impression pillow of my upper body so that everything fits. Then the techs rubber band my feet and push a little here pull a little there so that I am all lined up with the coordinates for the radiation.
When they have my body all adjusted just the way they want, the techs leave the room (and tell me to wave at them if anything feels wrong). The bed then slides up to the machine and does a little back and forth dance until it lines itself up correctly.
The arms on the machine lower themselves down and they rotate around. There is a little buzzing and beeping and the big round arm stops a little sideways of my chest and blasts in the radiation. The rotation and the radiation happens twice. Once The techs leave and the machine starts it takes about 10 minutes. I didn't feel a thing (except one of my arms went to sleep rom being above my head so long).
Modern Medicine is just amazing!
First I get into one of those lovely hospital gowns before they take me into the radiation room. There I lay on the bed, grab the handles at the top, and shimmy myself down into the impression pillow of my upper body so that everything fits. Then the techs rubber band my feet and push a little here pull a little there so that I am all lined up with the coordinates for the radiation.
When they have my body all adjusted just the way they want, the techs leave the room (and tell me to wave at them if anything feels wrong). The bed then slides up to the machine and does a little back and forth dance until it lines itself up correctly.
The arms on the machine lower themselves down and they rotate around. There is a little buzzing and beeping and the big round arm stops a little sideways of my chest and blasts in the radiation. The rotation and the radiation happens twice. Once The techs leave and the machine starts it takes about 10 minutes. I didn't feel a thing (except one of my arms went to sleep rom being above my head so long).
Modern Medicine is just amazing!
Thursday, April 13, 2017
Getting Ready for Radiation
This is the machine they used to map my esophagus on Monday. It looks an awful lot like my CT scanner, so I am not sure it is the machine that will deliver the radiation. If it is not, I will take a picture on Tuesday and add it to the blog.
This is a mold of my upper body. it will make sure I am laying in the same place just the exact same way each time. I got a third tattoo, too. They wrote all over my sides and chest with a sharpie and took pictures ... I am impressed with how precisely targetted the treatments will be.I am supposed to reach up and grab the handles so my hands don't figit. They also wrap my feet in a giant rubber band so my legs don't twitch. And then they will shoot me with radiation for about five minutes.
I start radiation the 18th with a dry run, just to make sure there are no problems. Then, beginning Wednesday the 19th I will have the treatments Monday - Friday until June 5th.
It has been fun to be back to work and I appreciate all the kindness everyone has shown me! The radiation may cause a sunburn like effect, or it may not. It might cause me to have heart burn-like symptoms since it is my esophagus we are treating, but they have medicine to alleviate that, should it happen. Since the side-effects are so minor I asked for the last appointment of they day and that will allow me to continue to work.
I am anxious and excited to see you all again! I hope you all have a lovely weekend and a Happy Easter!
Saturday, April 1, 2017
Visit with Dr. Aye, March 29
Mark and I went to Seattle to meet with my surgeon, Dr. Aye last Wednesday. It was for my 6 week check-up after he removed my left lung.
If you will notice the right lung is a little bit larger than the left and it has 3 lobes, where the left only has 2. So, I got to keep the better lung, the "right" lung.
The heart sits a little back and between the 2 lungs. and the trachea comes partway down between the lungs. As with a lot of our organs and senses, when we lose one, often other things get stronger to compensate. For example; many blind people have heightened senses of smell and/or hearing. As a result of the little bits of exercise I have been able to do since coming home from the hospital, my right lung has increased a little in size. It has started to push the trachea and the heart a little left of center! Which is a good thing - one we will hope continues.
Dr. Lu and Dr. Aye want me to do radiation and we will meet with Dr. Lawenda on Friday the 7th to figure that out. I had those 2 tiny lymph nodes in my media-stenium in October. the cleaned them out when I had the media-stenectomy and they have not come back. But just in case there are tiny "seeds" of cancer hiding in there we will do radiation as a preventative measure.
Thank you to all of you who read and send me comments about this blog. Thank you for your texts, your cards, your visits, your good thoughts... I saw a commercial after the Gonzaga game that said the hardest part of fighting any cancer is your mentality. My doctors have said the same thing. Without your constant concern and keeping connected, Mark and I aren't sure we could have come this far, certainly it would have been much, much harder without you. Thank you.
I'll let you know how the radiation goes.
If you will notice the right lung is a little bit larger than the left and it has 3 lobes, where the left only has 2. So, I got to keep the better lung, the "right" lung.
The heart sits a little back and between the 2 lungs. and the trachea comes partway down between the lungs. As with a lot of our organs and senses, when we lose one, often other things get stronger to compensate. For example; many blind people have heightened senses of smell and/or hearing. As a result of the little bits of exercise I have been able to do since coming home from the hospital, my right lung has increased a little in size. It has started to push the trachea and the heart a little left of center! Which is a good thing - one we will hope continues.
Dr. Lu and Dr. Aye want me to do radiation and we will meet with Dr. Lawenda on Friday the 7th to figure that out. I had those 2 tiny lymph nodes in my media-stenium in October. the cleaned them out when I had the media-stenectomy and they have not come back. But just in case there are tiny "seeds" of cancer hiding in there we will do radiation as a preventative measure.
Thank you to all of you who read and send me comments about this blog. Thank you for your texts, your cards, your visits, your good thoughts... I saw a commercial after the Gonzaga game that said the hardest part of fighting any cancer is your mentality. My doctors have said the same thing. Without your constant concern and keeping connected, Mark and I aren't sure we could have come this far, certainly it would have been much, much harder without you. Thank you.
I'll let you know how the radiation goes.
Monday, March 6, 2017
Filling up
One of the nice things about Swedish is they let the spouse stay in the room over night, if they want. Mark stayed with me the whole time on a roll-away bed. He helped monitor all the medicines they came in and gave me during the dark hours, he held my hand while they gave me hepperin shots in the abdomen at midnight every night, and his calm reassuring presence made everything way more bearable. I am not sure how much sleep he got and I feel bad about that, but I am sure grateful he was there!
I had the have my head elevated at 30 - 45 degrees as all times. I slept at this angle, as well as sat that way all day. Dr. Aye put up signs on my door and on my bed to make everyone aware. When some-ne asked if I wouldn't like to lie flatter and get some rest, Mark quickly stepped in the tell them the scoop.
The extra bed you see beside me in the room came every morning to take me down a few floors for x-rays. I did not know this before but, when you have something removed in your body (like half a lung) and it leaves an empty spot - a cavity, your body works to fill up that space. In cases like mine a viscous liquid, almost like a gel, forms and slowly fills the empty spot. They would x-ray every morning to check on the progress of the liquid and see how the fill was progressing.
I go see Dr. Lu on March 9th and go back to see Dr. Aye at Swedish March 29th. After that we will know definitively how things went and what what our next steps are.
We thank everyone who has come to visit and brought such good cheer! We continue to be thankful for all the food (and dessert :)), and all your prayers. Stay in touch, please. After this tough winter I hope spring will be easy and beautiful for all of you.
Monday, February 27, 2017
pneumonectomy
Hello, I am sorry it took me so long to update this blog. Here we go...
On Tuesday February 7 I had a pneumonectomy at Swedish Hospital in Seattle. Dr. Aye did the surgery, which started at 10:00 and was done at 5:00. A pneumonectomy is the removal of half the lung - in my case the entire left lung.
Often the surgeon will make a long incision that runs parallel to your spine in your back. Other times they will make a similiar incision in the front by spreading your ribs and perhaps cutting through the sternum. I was lucky; Dr. Aye approaches the lung through your side. I look like I had a shark bite on my left side but it has really healed nicely and quickly.
I spent a total of 8 days in the hospital. 3 days in ICU (plus one more about half way through). We are grateful to all the people at Swedish who took care of me, but I started whining about coming home Saturday. We had a couple of small set-backs, but I got to go to a hotel near the hospital on the 14th and come home on the 15th!
Like I said, the incisions have healed really well and after a couple of weeks the pain is really tolerable. I don't do well with narcotics; they depress me a little and give me nightmares. But, things are going so nicely that even though I could take up to 8 pills a day I am down to only 1 and a half!!
I do little breathing exercises several times a day and Mark and I walk for 10-20 minutes when we can. He had to go back to work this week so I will be inside walking on the treadmill now. Currently the walk winds me, but that won't be the case forever.
We want to thank everyone who has checked in by text, who has come to visit me, and who has brought food (what a blessing not to have to worry about what to eat everyday - and most of you are way better cooks that me!) All the support has been good and powerful medicine.
On Tuesday February 7 I had a pneumonectomy at Swedish Hospital in Seattle. Dr. Aye did the surgery, which started at 10:00 and was done at 5:00. A pneumonectomy is the removal of half the lung - in my case the entire left lung.
Often the surgeon will make a long incision that runs parallel to your spine in your back. Other times they will make a similiar incision in the front by spreading your ribs and perhaps cutting through the sternum. I was lucky; Dr. Aye approaches the lung through your side. I look like I had a shark bite on my left side but it has really healed nicely and quickly.
I spent a total of 8 days in the hospital. 3 days in ICU (plus one more about half way through). We are grateful to all the people at Swedish who took care of me, but I started whining about coming home Saturday. We had a couple of small set-backs, but I got to go to a hotel near the hospital on the 14th and come home on the 15th!
Like I said, the incisions have healed really well and after a couple of weeks the pain is really tolerable. I don't do well with narcotics; they depress me a little and give me nightmares. But, things are going so nicely that even though I could take up to 8 pills a day I am down to only 1 and a half!!
I do little breathing exercises several times a day and Mark and I walk for 10-20 minutes when we can. He had to go back to work this week so I will be inside walking on the treadmill now. Currently the walk winds me, but that won't be the case forever.
We want to thank everyone who has checked in by text, who has come to visit me, and who has brought food (what a blessing not to have to worry about what to eat everyday - and most of you are way better cooks that me!) All the support has been good and powerful medicine.
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