You can't measure it if you can't find it!

Today was bloodwork and measurement day!


We arrived early....even earlier than some of the doctors and nurses! I went to check in at Clinic 2 but found that they were not open and I was directed to Clinic 1. There I was told that they didn't have my chart but they checked me in anyway and they would have my information for blood work "soon". So we headed downstairs to the Tim Horton's outlet....what a wonderful thing it is to have a Timmy's right there!! After a quick bite we headed back upstairs to wait for my blood work information. Once I had that in hand we headed over to the blood work clinic (all of these clinics are on the main floor at the Cancer Clinic).


Bloodwork took all of five minutes, then we were off to wait for my appointment for measurements.


While we waited we chatted with our new friend Michelle. She was diagnosed in November with Breast Cancer. She is a teacher and opted to take sick leave so as not to upset or disrupt her students. On Monday Michelle will have her last Chemo treatment, which means she gets to ring the bell. When the bell rings it is quite an emotional moment and I can't wait to ring that bell myself in late August but will be very happy to hear Michelle ring it on Monday as we'll both be in for treatment at the same time.


We didn't have long to chat with Michelle as my pager started buzzing to let me know that they were ready for me.


I got weighed as I do every time I go for a "check up" and found (which I already knew) that I've lost some weight....ah, the Chemo diet! I'm down 10 poinds!


The nurse took us to the exam room and asked all of the same questions about side effects and changes, whether I've had a fever or mouth sores and what not and I answered....no changes or side effects (other than my lack of hair), or any problems at all. My blood pressure and temperature were normal.


Then we waited again for a doctor to come and measure Ted to find out how much he and Emily have shrunk.


I have been monitoring thier size every couple of days and I knew that there were some serious differences between the last measurement and todays.


A doctor came in, I didn't catch his name but he was very nice.....he had a student with him, he was also very nice. And I then became very aware that I was the only woman in the room and the only one who would be half naked very soon! I could tell by the look on Paul's face that he wasn't overly comforatble about it either. BUT, they are doctors...this is what they do.


There was no gown to change in to....this struck us as a little weird, normally the nurse would leave one for me but today I didn't have the same nurse (Chantal) as usual.


The doctor asked me to sit on the examination table so I did, I made no effort to remove my shirt....why would I do that without being asked to?!?


He lifted my arms one at a time to feel for swollen lymph nodes in my arm pits....he didn't find any!


Then he finally asked me to remove my t-shirt, I did....but he didn't ask me to remove my bra so I sat there in my bra and tank top and he reached in and felt around. So weird! Then he asked if I thought the tumour had changed....my reply "hell yeah it has!" He chuckled and asked me to point out where it was, I did. He agreed that that's where he felt something too.


There was no measuring tape, no external measurements.....so Paul asked "aren't you going to measure it?" The Doctors response was that the "mass is too small to measure, all I can feel is a thickening"....what a "thickening" is we're still not sure but we do know that it's not the tumour and it nothing of any concern! So Ted is in there he's just realy small! And if Emily is there, she's even smaller!

If you want an idea of how big Ted was before my first treatment.....make a fist....yeah, that's how big he was! So you can just imagine how excited we were with today's news!

This week I also got 5 new tattoos! Wednesday was my "planning" appointment for Radiation. I layed on a table and was pushed through a machine with lasers pointed at me from the ceiling...then I was marked with "x's" where I was to be tattooed. I thought that there would be a tattoo gun like a normal tattoo...nope! The technician wiped the ink on the "x's" then stuck me with a needle in the 5 spots the last one of which was the most painful! Right on the sternum! OUCH!! She said "I save that one for last because it can be painful"....my response "that's good because if you'd done it first I wouldn't have let you touch me again!"

Next Steps:
June 30/10 - Another biopsy! Yeah, more poking and proding!
July 2/10 - A "Sista Mibi"....that's the test that takes 45 minutes twice with a 2 hour break in between. I lay on my stomach with the girls hanging in a hole and a camera goes around me repeatedley.
July 5/10 - Another ECG.
July6/10 - The first round of Phase 2 Chemo and my first Radiation!