Ok, let's see... time to fill you in on the weekend and the beginning of this week. I guess I'll start with Saturday, since my last post was on Friday. Tim had 5 of his friends show up this weekend to help with the house. They tore down "The Wall" that many of you were familiar with. It was Tim's idea to create a more formal living room, which in essence, shrunk our living room down to the size of a walnut. I hated the wall and would have gladly hugged each of those guys for coming over and removing it! So, my living room is a nice, big room again.. YAY! Also, they put up some drywall upstairs, and built the base for the upstairs air conditioner to sit on. Hopefully, they'll be back out this weekend to help some more.
Then, on Sunday, Kevin and Tammy decided to go on a bike ride, since it was so nice out. We were invited, but were working on the house so we didn't go. Well, on their way home, this jerk slammed on his brakes in front of them, and they ended up dumping the bike. Tammy got thrown into oncoming traffic... fortunately, the oncoming driver had fast reactions and stopped before she hit her! But, she's all scraped up and had hit her head on the pavement pretty hard. Kevin has a bruised chest, and his left shin and right thigh have large, swollen bruises from going down with the bike. Of course, he was more worried about Tammy than anything, so I think he hurt himself worse trying to get untangled to get to her. The bike itself isn't too bad. It still runs, and is scraped up along the left side. The front fender has a scratch, the foot lever for shifting, the clutch plate cover, and the rear light are all banged up. The good news is that they only have a $250 deductible on their insurance, so it won't be too bad to get it fixed. Tim dropped it off at the dealership for them yesterday. So, Kevin and Tammy were pretty shaken up, covered in road rash, but otherwise fine. Thank goodness! Tim and I took the trailer out there to them and picked them up and the bike after it happened.
Then, on Monday, I had some dr. appointments. I had to get my usual blood draw at my oncologists office. My white blood counts were the lowest they've ever been, so I only got herceptin yesterday, instead of my full dose, which is what I was due for. I have to go back on Friday for another blood test to see if I'm getting any better. If not, she wants to put me on a shot every day next week. We shall see. She also mentioned that if she has to, she'll get me a blood transfusion. Fortunately, Tim has already offered to be my donor so I don't get something from some stranger. Transfusions scare the hell out of me!
Also on Monday, I had to go to the base to get some blood work done... routine stuff for a 30+ check up. I guess they were supposed to do it last year, but got "sidetracked" by the cysts that they found in my breasts this time last year. Anyways the blood tests were for the normal stuff... thyroid, diabetes, and so on. I haven't heard anything back yet, so I'm assuming "No news is good news" with the base. They don't usually call unless there's a problem.
After that, I had my 6-month follow up mammogram. Of course, nobody mentioned that I had to pick up my October films from my surgeon at Shand's. So, I called them on Tuesday, and come to find out, the films were sent back to Baptist (I thought I was done dealing with Baptist!). So, I'm picking those up today and dropping them at the base to compare to my new mammograms that I got on Monday. Surprisingly, the mammos on Monday weren't that painful, (I think the technician was being extra careful, bless her heart!). But, I was very, very anxious and almost passed out! The last mammo that I had done was in October, when they did my Core Biopsy at Baptist Medical Center, and then they decided to do another mammo AFTER the biopsy! I was already freaked out and upset and scared, and then they wanted to squish my breast in a vice??? I came really, really close to passing out that day. They had to let me sit for about a 1/2 an hour and buy me an orange juice just get me through it! Fortunately, Tammy was with me, so she drove me home. Otherwise, I don't know if I would have made it.
So, anyways, back to this week... On Tuesday, I was supposed to get my big chemo dose, but as I mentioned before, I only got Herceptin this week, because of my low white blood cell count. I had a check up with my dr. and everything seemed otherwise ok, except that I have developed some weird nerve-like twitch in my thumb. Now, any of you that know me, know that I have unusual twitches sometimes anyways. I can't always get my shoulder comfortable, and when I feel nervous, I wiggle my fingers. This twitch is different... it's completely out of my control. I had noticed it about a week or so ago, and didn't think much of it. We all get those weird eye twitches and so on. That's what it's like, but in my left thumb. I wouldn't have even thought to mention it, except that it did it during my appointment and happened to point it out. Apparently, my dr. thinks it could be something, so she wants to keep an eye on it. If it doesn't stop, she wants to send me to a neurologist. I don't think it's anything major, though.
Anyways, so today, I have a 10:00 appointment with my radiologist at Shand's. She is supposed to be getting me situated with my radiation schedule. I'm not sure I'll actually get the schedule today, but we'll see. I do know that radiation generally lasts 6-7 weeks, 5 days a week. So far, that's all the info I have.
Ok, I guess that's the news for now. I would like to briefly point out one more thing... On my post from Friday, I mentioned that people are sending Tim nasty grams for my not writing on here... but where's my incentive? I get no responses... I get no e-mails... I get nothing in return. I have absolutely no proof whatsoever that anyone is even reading this, other than the fact that they mention it to Tim when I don't write! As far as I can tell, this is more of a diary than an online, public blog! Just an observation.
Oh, and one last thing... have you all helped donate to Aimee's 3-day walk? I haven't mentioned it in a while, but she's doing it in my name to raise money for breast cancer research! I happen to think it's a worthy cause! If you haven't given anything, please consider doing so!!! Thank you!
