April 11, 2004

It’s been a while since I’ve updated my journal and there are a few things I’d like to mention. First, I’m feeling pretty good. I still experience joint pain, soreness and stiffness, but I’m going to assume that will go away in time. Most folks keep telling me it’s just old age! HA! It’s worst first thing in the morning when I get out of bed. And the other times it bothers me is after sitting for a long time, such as driving the car, or sitting at work. Those first few steps are difficult. It takes a while for the joints to loosen up.

I had my blood checked two weeks after treatment and it had improved slightly from the week before. I had thought it might show a bigger improvement, but I guess without the Neulasta or Aranesp, my body was taking its own sweet time recovering. My Dr. didn’t seem too concerned and the nurse who checked the counts said it was getting better but that I should still be careful. I never did experience the fatigue everyone talks about and I was very careful to wash my hands frequently during the day to try and avoid an infection. I’m going to assume that now, one month after treatment, I should be out of the woods. I’ll get my blood checked one more time next week to be sure. My doc says he doesn’t need to see me for 6 months!!!

And speaking of my doc….he said the sweetest thing to me at my final visit. Here’s a summary of our final conversation: “So, we don’t know what we’re gonna do without you here!” I told him I’d have to go in and harass them. He said “let me say it’s been ….and this is going on into the future, it’s been a wonderful pleasure and honor to take care of you. ….you light up this office and I’m sure you light up the lives of all your friends. You’re a strong life force…and you’re the reason it’s so easy for me to get up in the morning to treat patients like you! So, I look forward to seeing you on a regular basis, unfortunately less frequently. Take care of yourself. Let us know when you’re touring overseas! Or the next White House gig, you better get me a ticket!”

Then he gave me a hug, told me to take care and to call if I had any questions. Awwww….I cried again!!!!! What a nice, caring Dr. he is!!! I was very fortunate to have him as my oncologist!

This past Thursday, I met with my new radiation oncologist, Dr. Boylan. Her office is across the parking lot from the chemo office, right next to the hospital. She spent a lot of time with me, explaining why I have to go through radiation, especially after enduring 6 months of chemo. While chemo’s job is to kill cancer cells throughout the far reaches of the body, and reduce the chances of cancer coming back, radiation’s job is to reduce the risk of recurrence of cancer in the breast. She said without radiation, there is a 30% chance it could come back. Radiation reduces that risk down to about 5-10%. So, I’ll go back next Tuesday for my markings. They put little tiny ink dots (tattoos) on my chest to mark the radiation field. They’ll use my mammograms to determine where they should radiate. One nice thing…. they won’t radiate where I had the positive lymph node. She said it was such a small metastasis, that it’s of no concern. So, she’ll just zap my chest! I'll have 33 treatments, 5 days a week for a little over 6 weeks. The timing is perfect, as I can start the Monday after my chorus competition and I’ll be finished in time for my week long motorcycle trip to Lake George in New York. That’s my treat to myself!!! A week on a motorcycle touring through the Adirondack mountains in NY - whoo hoo!

Oh, one more thing. Last weekend I flew to California for a friend’s retirement after 37 years of working for the government, and I tied in a trip to see my friend Lise’s new baby. Those of you who’ve been keeping up with my story, remember my friend Lise, who had her first baby at the age of 44. Well, all is well, and Peter is a feisty little guy! (i.e. he doesn’t like to sleep very much!) Here are some pictures of me with Peter....so, who has more hair???? :-)  And below that is a picture of Lise, Peter and me.

 I’ll write more after I get my tattoos!!!