Happy Canada Day!

June 30, 2010 - Ultra Sound Guided Biopsy day!

I worked until noon then rushed off to St. Joes hospital Radiology department for my "date" with Martha at 1:00pm. It took her a second but she remembered me. The wig threw her off at first.

Once again, Martha was fantastic. It is so much better when the people who are working on you are friendly and comforting.

They took three more cores from Ted....making him that much smaller!! Haha! Take that Ted!

After my appointment I went home for a quick nap before heading to the lake when Paul was done work.

We spent Canada Day hanging out with old friends....it was a great day and we were very happy to reconnect! We had to be up early the next day to head back to London for more appointments so I was in bed early.

Friday July 2, my first appointment was at 9:00 am...which meant we had to be up and gone from the lake no later than 7:30 am. We were in the Jeep and leaving by 7:10!

The first appointment was a test they call a "Sista Mibi"...I think that's just a short form for a much longer name. It's the second one I've had. Basically they inject me with a solution that highlights the tumour, I lay face down on a cushion and the girls go in a hole, a camera goes around me and takes several pictures for about 45 minutes. I have to be very very still the entire time. That's only half the test....2 hours later I returned to do it all again!

During the 2 hours between part 1 and 2 of the "Sista Mibi" we ran over to the Cancer clinic for blood work and measurements. Again, my blook was perfect! Luckily we had the good Nurse Practitioner again. We told her how weird and ackward our last appointment was with the resident and a student and how he really didn't do much. She agreed that it was weird and she dismissed his notes all together. She tried to take some measurements but found that the tumours had "expoloded" and she couldn't get an accurate measurement. That's a good thing! It means that the treatment is working. So the cancer cells are no longer a united front and the drugs are winning the war! Yay!!

We had a few questions for the Nurse Practitioner:

1. The vein they use to inject the drugs has become hard and sore...She said that they probably won't use that vein anymore as it is now "tired". Going forward, after treatments I'm to put heat on the vein they use, for the first day, then cold on it for the next few days. This will help to stop the problem.
2. It seems to me that my hair is starting to grow back....will the next drug make it fall out again or will it continue to grow? It may fall out again.....shoot!! Good thing for Raquel and her wigs!
3. How will I handle the next phase of treatment? Most people who are getting weekly treatments (as I will) have been handling it very very well with the only side affect being tiredness. There is no nausea with phase 2! Yahoooo!!!! I can handle tired!

We returned to the lake very happy and very tired! We were expecting friends to arrive a couple of hours after our return so it was straight to the hammock for a nap for me! As it turns out the hammock is not the best place for a nap on a long weekend when all the weekenders are arriving and throwing dust in the air as they drive by our lot. I'll have to remember that for the next long weekend.

Saturday we spent some time on the beach with our friends....me in the shade and covered in sunblock of course. I love the beach so I very much enjoyed it!

Sunday (today) arrived took quickly as usual and before we knew it we were heading home.

Tomorrow I start phase 2! Paul still thinks I'm weird for being excited about treatments...I can see his point. Who in their right mind would be excited about being stuck with several needles and have potent drugs pushed through their veins?!? I do! I do! I've always been a little left of center.

Tuesday July 6 is my first Radiation appointment. I'm also looking forward to this. Partly because it will help to push Ted out the door and partly because I've never seen how they do it so I'm very curious. What I'm not looking forward to is what it will do to my skin. I've been told that I will have a "sun burn-like" reaction, but I've seen other women with skin that looks charred! Hopefully they will give me some helpful hints about how to help the "charring" to keep it to a minimum.

Okay....so it's now 8:00 pm, my eyes are very tired and I need sleep before my big day tomorrow. However, I also have to take 2 steriod pills before bed so I don't anticipate getting much sleep at all! Thankfully I have many books to get me through the night. I'll take a long nap after treatment. No one said I had to be alert for it!