Well, I got the catheter put in last night. Aunt Connie, I got your e-mail about Marie's, and I'm so sorry to hear that she's having so many problems with it. Can they remove it and put a new one in? I think I would definately ask. Sounds like the place that they put it was aweful! Mine is on my left side, just under my collar bone, so that it fits into that little groove. It's pretty sore today, but I don't think it's going to be too bad. It doesn't seem to be crooked or anything, but I'll be taking the bandage off tomorrow morning and will find out for sure.
As for my cyst that we recently found out about, I'm going in on Monday to have an ultrasound and get that checked. Hopefully it's nothing, but it's definately got to be looked into.
I guess that's about it for now. I just wanted to let everyone know that the port catheter surgery went without a hitch. They wanted to just sedate me, but I refused to be awake during surgery. I was so freaked out during the biopsey on my breast that I cried the whole time. I didn't want to go through that again, so I asked them to use general anestesia, which they did. Thank goodness for caring medical staff! I don't care much for my surgeon, but his staff is fabulous! Besides, Tim was right there, and I don't think the were gong to tell me "no" in front of him. He was stressing, so he had his "angry face" on. lol!
Love, Brenda
Friday, January 12, 2007
Thursday, January 11, 2007
The news from last night.
Well, it's been a busy week. I had a dr's appt. on Monday, which was to make the appointment for Thursday to have my port catether put in. We're headed there in a little while.
On Tuesday, I had to drink barium dye (yummy.... not!) and have my PET scan. That was pretty uneventful.
Last night, the dr's office called me with the results of my CT scan, and they found a cyst on my left ovary. That scared me at first, and I'll admit that I'm still a little concerned, but the paperwork said that it is believed to be "unrelated to the known breast cancer." Plus, my friend, Tammy said that when she stopped taking birth control, she got a cyst, too, and they just put her back on BC to shrink it back down. Problem is that they're not going to put me back on BC because the hormones feed my cancer.
So, I'm supposed to be getting scheduled for an ultrasound so they can take a better look. I'll let you know more as I know more. Tim's pretty worried, though, because my tumor on my breast started out as a cyst and 6 months later, it was cancer. So, he doesn't know what to think. I try not to worry about too many things at once if I can help it, though.
I guess that's the news for now. Hope you're all doing well.
Love, ~Brenda
On Tuesday, I had to drink barium dye (yummy.... not!) and have my PET scan. That was pretty uneventful.
Last night, the dr's office called me with the results of my CT scan, and they found a cyst on my left ovary. That scared me at first, and I'll admit that I'm still a little concerned, but the paperwork said that it is believed to be "unrelated to the known breast cancer." Plus, my friend, Tammy said that when she stopped taking birth control, she got a cyst, too, and they just put her back on BC to shrink it back down. Problem is that they're not going to put me back on BC because the hormones feed my cancer.
So, I'm supposed to be getting scheduled for an ultrasound so they can take a better look. I'll let you know more as I know more. Tim's pretty worried, though, because my tumor on my breast started out as a cyst and 6 months later, it was cancer. So, he doesn't know what to think. I try not to worry about too many things at once if I can help it, though.
I guess that's the news for now. Hope you're all doing well.
Love, ~Brenda
Monday, January 08, 2007
Second 1/2 of Port Catheter story.
Well, Tim and I wasted about 3 hours of our time today that we'll never get back. I'm so angry right now! Ya know, it's not the cancer that is eating away at me. It's the medical and insurance run-around related to their "curing" the cancer. Well, by the time they get around to doing anything, this anomoly body of mine will have cured it on it's own. Then, the medical community will take too long to take blood and tissue samples from me to share the cure with the rest of the world! I swear, it's like dealing with a government agency!!!
Ok, I'm not done venting, but I'll explain: Last week, when my dr's office called me to schedule this procedure, they told me not to eat for four hours before the surgery and to bring someone with me to drive. So, I hadn't eaten anything since last night, and Tim and I got there at 10am. After sitting in the waiting room for an hour, then in the patient's room for 1/2 an hour, the dr. walks in like a whirlwind (like he always does.... he's always in a terrible hurry). He takes 10 minutes to tell me what this port catheter is, where it will be located, how it is inserted and so on (all information that I already had) and groping my chest looking for any weird lumps at the same time. Then, he sits down and asks Tim and I if we have any questions and that is when we asked why they weren't doing the procedure today. He said that he didn't want to do any surgeries without first explaining things. Well, I can respect that, but I already had this same speech (with diagrams, minus the groping) from my oncologist, so could he just do his job, please???? Apparently not. "Come back on Thursday and it'll be done then." And he signed a piece of paper, told me to get with Chris (the surgery scheduler) and left the room the same way he came in.
So.... we wait in the waiting room again (for about another hour or so) and Chris comes out and gets other people, but never me. Finally, I ask the lady if he went to lunch or something, because I was the only person left there! So, another 1/2 hour rolls by, and we finally get back to his office.... and Chris doesn't know why the dr. sent me to him. The surgery was already scheduled for Thursday, so he didn't have to do it! "OH, but wait a minute.... you do need to sign this paperwork...." turns out that I had to wait about 1 1/2 hours to sign my name ONE time to ONE piece of paperwork, which happens to be the SAME PAGE that the dr. signed right in front of me earlier! I was livid.
So, port catheter surgery on Thursday. On the flip side, however, there was a cancelation at the PET scan place, and I'm getting my scan done tomorrow morning instead of on the 17th. So, I get to drink a bunch of barium dye for breakfast. Lucky me!
Grrrr! I'm having a crappy day, and I'm so sick of this emotional roller coaster! I feel like I'm losing my mind just dealing with all of this stuff. Tim did call and file a complaint report today against the dr. and his staff. I don't know what good it'll do, and it didn't give the same feeling of release as screaming at someone would have, but we do what we can, I guess. On the good side, there's a HOPE meeting that I'm going to tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes. Maybe it'll help. I dunno.
Love, ~Brenda
P.S. A couple of more sites to check out if you feel inclined:
Ok, I'm not done venting, but I'll explain: Last week, when my dr's office called me to schedule this procedure, they told me not to eat for four hours before the surgery and to bring someone with me to drive. So, I hadn't eaten anything since last night, and Tim and I got there at 10am. After sitting in the waiting room for an hour, then in the patient's room for 1/2 an hour, the dr. walks in like a whirlwind (like he always does.... he's always in a terrible hurry). He takes 10 minutes to tell me what this port catheter is, where it will be located, how it is inserted and so on (all information that I already had) and groping my chest looking for any weird lumps at the same time. Then, he sits down and asks Tim and I if we have any questions and that is when we asked why they weren't doing the procedure today. He said that he didn't want to do any surgeries without first explaining things. Well, I can respect that, but I already had this same speech (with diagrams, minus the groping) from my oncologist, so could he just do his job, please???? Apparently not. "Come back on Thursday and it'll be done then." And he signed a piece of paper, told me to get with Chris (the surgery scheduler) and left the room the same way he came in.
So.... we wait in the waiting room again (for about another hour or so) and Chris comes out and gets other people, but never me. Finally, I ask the lady if he went to lunch or something, because I was the only person left there! So, another 1/2 hour rolls by, and we finally get back to his office.... and Chris doesn't know why the dr. sent me to him. The surgery was already scheduled for Thursday, so he didn't have to do it! "OH, but wait a minute.... you do need to sign this paperwork...." turns out that I had to wait about 1 1/2 hours to sign my name ONE time to ONE piece of paperwork, which happens to be the SAME PAGE that the dr. signed right in front of me earlier! I was livid.
So, port catheter surgery on Thursday. On the flip side, however, there was a cancelation at the PET scan place, and I'm getting my scan done tomorrow morning instead of on the 17th. So, I get to drink a bunch of barium dye for breakfast. Lucky me!
Grrrr! I'm having a crappy day, and I'm so sick of this emotional roller coaster! I feel like I'm losing my mind just dealing with all of this stuff. Tim did call and file a complaint report today against the dr. and his staff. I don't know what good it'll do, and it didn't give the same feeling of release as screaming at someone would have, but we do what we can, I guess. On the good side, there's a HOPE meeting that I'm going to tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes. Maybe it'll help. I dunno.
Love, ~Brenda
P.S. A couple of more sites to check out if you feel inclined:
- A CT (or CAT) scan: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/ct-scan/FL00065
- A PET scan: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/pet-scan/CA00052
Port Catheter insertion...
Well, today Tim is taking me back to the surgeon at Shand's Hospital to get a port catheter inserted into my chest. Here is a website to learn more, if you're interested. (Try not to look at the pictures, they were disturbing to me.)
http://www.mirs.org/rounds/ir_ports.htm
Now, they have to wait at least 7 days after this minor surgery to start chemo, but I'm scheduled for my PET scan on the 17th, so I won't be able to start until after that is finished. It's part of the several base-line scans that are to be done before they can start filling me full of draino.
For those of you that have been around me lately, I've been having some trouble dealing. I'm pushing away people who care, I'm angry, and honestly, I've been drinking quite a bit. Rather than head down the path to hell, I'm going to call my doctor on the base and see if he can get me some counseling. I have this crazy way of trying to make everyone else feel better, so I don't tell them what I'm thinking/feeling on the inside, and then it blows up like a volcano. (Besides, I'm not looking for sympathy, and who REALLY wants to know about someone else's issues?)
Anyways, things are progressing slowly. I went and got a couple of wigs from the American Cancer Society on Friday, which I'll take to have cut into a style I like and have them colored. I'm not entirely sure I'll wear them, though. They're a little creepy to me. They look cute on Carley though! lol.
I guess that's about all the news I have for now. Kids are back in school today (yay!). Ash's birthday was yesterday (15!) and we all went out to eat and she got an iPod... lucky kid! Her boyfriend took it home with him to download music on it for her, since she has no idea how to use it yet. I thought that was cute. I hope you're all doing well. Thank you for all the wonderful phone calls and e-mails that I've been getting! It's so nice to see how many people care and think about you!
Love, Brenda
http://www.mirs.org/rounds/ir_ports.htm
Now, they have to wait at least 7 days after this minor surgery to start chemo, but I'm scheduled for my PET scan on the 17th, so I won't be able to start until after that is finished. It's part of the several base-line scans that are to be done before they can start filling me full of draino.
For those of you that have been around me lately, I've been having some trouble dealing. I'm pushing away people who care, I'm angry, and honestly, I've been drinking quite a bit. Rather than head down the path to hell, I'm going to call my doctor on the base and see if he can get me some counseling. I have this crazy way of trying to make everyone else feel better, so I don't tell them what I'm thinking/feeling on the inside, and then it blows up like a volcano. (Besides, I'm not looking for sympathy, and who REALLY wants to know about someone else's issues?)
Anyways, things are progressing slowly. I went and got a couple of wigs from the American Cancer Society on Friday, which I'll take to have cut into a style I like and have them colored. I'm not entirely sure I'll wear them, though. They're a little creepy to me. They look cute on Carley though! lol.
I guess that's about all the news I have for now. Kids are back in school today (yay!). Ash's birthday was yesterday (15!) and we all went out to eat and she got an iPod... lucky kid! Her boyfriend took it home with him to download music on it for her, since she has no idea how to use it yet. I thought that was cute. I hope you're all doing well. Thank you for all the wonderful phone calls and e-mails that I've been getting! It's so nice to see how many people care and think about you!
Love, Brenda
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