Visit with my oncologist

I saw my oncologist today. My tumour markers are hanging out at 38 - just above normal :) None of my bloodwork was abnormal or remarkable. That's all good news!

So I talked to my oncologist about my fall and subsequent concussion and she feels that I should have a CT scan done of my head. That's scheduled for September 4. She also feels that I should be having regular mammograms again so I have one scheduled for September 5.

My oncologist did a physical exam on me today and as part of the exam, she listened to me breathe. You all know that I've been sick lately and you might know that I'm not completely better. After listening to the lower right lobe and then listened to me cough (oh yes, I'm still coughing, and I'm still coughing stuff up), she told me that I almost certainly have walking pneumonia. Apparently the difference between pneumonia and walking pneumonia is that with the latter, the person can walk around and doesn't need to be hospitalized. I guess that's the "walking" part. :)

She's put me back on azithromycin and had me get a chest xray done to confirm that I do have walking pneumonia. The area she identified as being a problem is one that I've noticed because it has been feeling funny.

I tell you, I'm pretty sick and tired of being sick and, well, tired. I would love to not be tired and to not feel like crap... and wouldn't it be awesome if I could have my summer back? At this point, I'll settle for being able to enjoy my autumn.

Pamidronate day

I got to have my Pamidronate today. Normally what happens is that I get my Pamidronate hooked up and the chemo nurses faxes the home care nurse the time that my port needs to be de-accessed. Wellll, this time, that didn't really happen. I guess the nurse didn't fax the information over until 50 minutes after the port should have been de-accessed. One of the home care nurses had left a message asking me to call her but when I tried, I got an answering machine. But it turned out that I'd called the wrong number (I thought she said "9" and she said "1"), which didn't matter because she'd stopped working by the time I'd called.

So now I have to call the home care nurses the night before I get Pamidronate along with the estimated time that the Pamidronate will be started so that I'm on their schedule and things won't be so hectic. And they want me to call as I'm leaving the hospital so that they know exactly what time they need to de-access my port. Sigh. I don't mind calling one time so that things don't get all rushed and messed up like they did today, but two times? Well, hopefully I won't have to do that forever.

I'm feeling ever so much better - I almost feel like I'm a new person and all better. This comes just in time to get knocked over by Pamidronate, of course :)

I did a little fabric shopping today and managed to get a lovely grey/black herringbone fabric that has a bit of a vertical stripe to it. I also got it on sale so I'm happy with that. This evening, for the first time in a long time, I made some earrings. It's been a while since I've actually sat down and played with my beads. I actually want to make some necklaces and bracelets, too... we'll see how that plays out.

I wish I'd woken up earlier today

I know someone who was going shopping today and I'd wanted to go with them. I wasn't sure what time they wanted to go and I ended up sleeping in until nearly 2pm. It turns out that the appointment was for 4pm and if I'd managed to get up around noon I would have been able to go :( I was just snoozing the alarm, like I do, so it wasn't like I was sleeping deeply or anything... I just wasn't up and out of bed in time. I hope that the shopping was fun anyways.

I am starting to feel just a bit better now, thank goodness. I know that part of the reason I didn't want to get up before noon was because sleep helps me get better. The antibiotics are helping as well I think.

I called the oncologist's office about my Pamidronate tomorrow and they said that I should come in anyways. I guess that since I'm not running a fever, I'm on antibiotics, and I'm not coughing all the time, they figure that I'll be ok. Also, I don't have to be in the chemo suite for that long - first for about 20 minutes to get the blood drawn and then for about 15 minutes to get the Pamidronate hooked up. I'm glad that I called; now I don't have to worry about it.

Been to the doctor

I decided that it was probably worth it to go to a walk-in medical clinic this morning. I've still got a cough, one of my ears hurts, and several of my sinuses hurt. I would have liked to see my family doctor but it's hard to get in to see him right away as he's not seeing as many patients per day as he used to. I totally understand that and support him in that because (selfishly) I'd like him to take care of himself so that he's around for a while.

Anyways, I went at the right time this morning because there were only four people ahead of me when I arrived and when I went in about 30 minutes later the waiting room was full. The doctor gave me a prescription for azithromycin; I took two tablets today and I'll take one every day for the next four days. I'm supposed to feel completely better in ten days and if I'm not feeling better by then, I should see a doctor for some follow-up.

The doctor also said that I should use my Rhinaris nasal spray to help clean out my post-nasal drip and I need to use my Symbicort at least twice a day. I've been waking myself up at night when breathing; I breathe in and then I hear an "oooooooooooo" sound from my lungs. It's creepy and weird because I can *feel* the sound as well as hear it. The doctor said that this was most likely because of my asthma and that the inhaler will help to take care of that and open up my airways.

I'm supposed to receive my Pamidronate over at the chemo suite on Tuesday and I asked the doctor whether I should try and go to that. If I wasn't going to the chemo suite I'd go ahead and go but people in the chemo suite almost certainly have compromised immune systems and I don't want to infect anyone while I'm there. The doctor told me to wait until Tuesday morning and then to call them, tell them what I'm taking and how I feel, and see what they say.

I took the two pills as soon as I got home and then fell asleep. I'm still feeling quite sleepy, which is no real surprise since my body will need all of its strength to fight this off. At least I know that I really am sick with something.

A very, very happy day

I saw my oncologist today. As we knew, my test results are very good. It turns out that there are some tiny, tiny sclerotic lesions on my left pelvic bone that showed up on the CT 6 months ago as well, but we looked at the latest CT scan and didn't see anything. So if there is anything there, it's so tiny that it's hardly worth mentioning. Also, the lesions are sclerotic, which my oncologist says means that the bone is being built up by the bisphosphonate. We agreed to not worry about the lesions we couldn't see. And of course we also know that the bone scan was clear.

I asked my oncologist about the rash I'd had but she didn't know of any weird interaction between fentanyl and Pamidronate. She was going to check with the pharmacist whether there's any known interaction there. I see my family doctor this week and I'll talk to him about it, too.

One of the things that I said to my oncologist was that I've been stable on one treatment for two years and that I figured I would have a "good run" - meaning that I expect to live for a while yet. I know that past performance doesn't predict future performance, but with only one bone affected, chances are good that I'll be around for a while. My oncologist agreed!!!!!! Whoo hoo!!!!



I know I haven't talked about this much here, but I'm still thinking of returning to work. I'm feeling so much better and so much more on the ball - I feel like I really get things again!!!! - and I'm worried that that I will get bored sewing and making jewelry all day. I can feel the itch to do more and to be working again, and when I think about it I'm excited, not scared. So I talked my oncologist about the possibility of returning to work and she fully supports the idea; she said that she has patients that work if they want to. She also said that if it turns out that it's too much for me at any time, she'd write a note saying that I couldn't work for medical reasons. This is a huuuuuge relief because it gives me an exit strategy (unlike, say, the war in Iraq).



I haven't made a final decision about returning to work, of course, and I won't do that for a couple of months or so. The idea will be staying in the back of my head, though.

To top off all of this awesome news, a pattern I bought last week arrived today! It's this one and I love it because of the square neckline and curved belt. I'm going to make a version with short sleeves and a straight skirt first and then possibly one with a fuller skirt. I can hardly wait!

Sewing fun

Ian and I put up some shelves in my sewing room today. I'm thrilled! I'm going to use them to store the stuff that is currently in mountainous piles around my machines - like patterns, stuff I'm also working on, cutting things, extra pieces, and so on. We also put a light under the shelf above my cutting area and that will make things much, much easier when I'm working there. It can be hard to see otherwise. I'm looking forward to working there now :)

Unfortunately, my serger is behaving badly these days :( There's a thin needle-thing in the throat plate that I think is out of place. The lower looper thread is somehow putting additional tension on the outside straight stitch so that it skips and sometimes breaks. Once it breaks the threads get messed up. If I go slow and be careful and watch (and listen carefully - I can hear the thread doing something strange), I can use the serger. But once this bag is done, I'm going to take the serger in for service. I've had it for three years or so and it's never been serviced so it's past time.

I had my Pamidronate today and I used the emla cream and it made a HUGE difference!!! I had no pain when they accessed my port. Yay! I messed up, though; most of the port is underneath my scar (which is huge and not healed) and it's hard to access it if I'm lying flat, which I was. The nurse and I were talking and she cleaned the area to make it sterile when I put my finger on the port to show her how she could access it if I was sitting up a bit. I wasn't supposed to touch the area because I made it unsterile. Oooops. I won't do that again.

I'm feeling ok but a bit tired and so we took it easy tonight - except to put up the shelves and to tidy up the sewing room a tiny bit.

A whole day of non-sleeping!

I did end up joining the gym. It'll be $19.95/month forever with some restrictions: I can only go on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday; and I can't do the spinning classes. I can do almost all of the other classes, though. While being restricted to three days a week seems like a big disadvantage, I figure that it will be a bit easier to keep to a set schedule if I can't just put it off until tomorrow. I'm looking forward to going and working out again.

Remember that thickening in my breast where the results came back with nothing, but recommended further tests? Well, tomorrow my surgeon is doing a core needle biopsy of the area. He knows where it is and everything and so it shouldn't be a problem with him doing it. I don't expect any problems with the test, and hopefully the results will come back ok.

I was up quite early this morning because the surgeon's office called with tomorrow's appointment at 8:30am. I managed to stay awake all day - yay! Hopefully this means that the Pamidronate won't knock me out entirely :)

Pamidronate day

I had my Pamidronate infusion today. It went ok, although the nurse couldn't find the port on the first stick so she had to poke at it twice. Ouch. They say that it's not supposed to hurt, but I don't really see how that's possible; I guess I have wussy skin that is very susceptible to pain. They did draw blood for the tumour marker test and I checked and they're doing the right one this time :) I'll call next week for the results

The nurse suggested that I get some Emla cream and put that on an hour before the bloodwork appointment. It's available over the counter and it's supposed to numb the skin enough to make the port access pain-free. I hope it works!

I'm not quite as tired this time around; I'm still tired, but I shopped for a couple of hours while receiving the infusion and I was sewing afterwards. I didn't sleep this time like I have the last two times, so maybe I won't be as knocked out as before.

Tomorrow I have an appointment to look at a gym. They're offering $20/month for forever but with limited access: I would only be able to go Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays (or some other 3 days a week schedule) and I wouldn't be able to take all classes. That might work for me as I wouldn't go to the gym more than 3 days a week; the only question is which days I would be going. Anyways, I'm going to see what the gym has to offer and what other costs they have and stuff. We'll see. I've missed going to Well-fit (the 10 pounds I've gained since I left has something to do with that) but that place is too expensive.

Reading about bellydance costumes

As you might remember, I ordered some bellydance costuming books. They came today, a whole week early! All of the books are by Dawn Devine Brown and they cover everything from the technical aspects of making a costume to the design elements that emphasize or minimize things. I'm reading them all, cover to cover. Next I just need to design my own costume. So exciting!

For all that I have no compulsion to sew, I've been sewing a lot. I'm working on this great shirtdress right now out of a tan fabric with black embroidery and black tulle accents. I'm using black for the collar and sleeve bands and black buttons and the dress is coming together quite nicely. I actually managed to get the collar on properly!!!!

The way I did the collar was first to stay-stitch the neck and the clip the neck to the stay-stitching to make it fit around the collar curves. I add drops of Fray-check to the points, but since the seamline is outside the stay-stitching, it's unlikely that the fabric will ravel through on those points.

Tomorrow I get another Pamidronate infusion; I wonder how long it will knock me out this time?

Oncology appointment today

We got to see my oncologist today. She had seen in the report from my surgeon that my dad had died and was very tender and nice, offering her condolences and stuff. I was touched by her compassion and humanity.

The funniest part of the visit was getting the results of my tumour markers. When I had my Pamidronate infusion changed for the port, the nurse I talked to said that the tumour marker blood draw (which was to be done later that week) would be included in the blood done on Pamidronate day. On that day, the nurse had no orders for the tumour markers, went back to check, and came back and said that we were doing some. So they did do a tumour marker test that day; the trouble is, it was the wrong test. I was tested for CA125 (an ovarian cancer test) instead of CA15-3 (my test). At least the CA125 came back normal, meaning I have no ovarian problems. That's good, because I have no ovaries :)

So, umm, we're going to re-do the tumour marker test this next week. I hope that we end up getting the right test done this time. :) I can call and ask for the results a week after the test; if they're ok, then the nurse will call me back with them and otherwise I'll hear from my oncologist herself.

In other news, the FISH test from the last biopsy came back negative meaning that my cancer is Her2neu negative. This is actually good news, because if the FISH test showed that I was Her2 positive then the cancer would be more aggressive.

The doctor found the thickening in the latest lumpectomy scar and said she hadn't had enough experience with that scar to know whether or not that there was a real thickening. She called my surgeon and they've decided that he's going to do a follow-up biopsy. My oncologist left a message on my answering machine saying that my surgeon's office would call and set up a different kind of biopsy - I assume that this means that I'll get a core biopsy instead of the fine needle one that he did before that gave no meaningful results.

I asked her what would happen if there was a recurrence in the breast and she said that the whole treatment would change. We could do a mastectomy - some recommend it, and some don't. I think that she also implied that I'd be off of the Femara and onto something else. Hopefully we won't have to make that kind of decision.

My oncologist is scheduling a CT scan of my entire chest, abdomen, and pelvic areas as well as a bone scan. We hope to have these done before I see my oncologist again in two months. We'll also re-do my tumour markers in a month.

Oh - one final thing..... I asked about the bruising over the catheter from the port-a-cath after curling. She said that I'm not to be doing any kind of really vigorous activity because that catheter can move. So if I want to curl in bonspiels, I need to skip (call) the games - something I've tried very hard not to do. And it means that I definitely can't paddle regularly on a dragonboat team. I think I'm ok to continue bellydancing and stuff as well as most of my other activities.

Overall it was a very productive 20 minutes. I really do like my oncologist and I'm so glad that I have her as my primary oncologist.

Pamidronate infusion

Getting the blood drawn and the Pamidronate infused was a LOT easier with the port. It was a little tender when they accessed and de-accessed the port but otherwise it didn't hurt. It's kind of cool because once it's accessed because there's a tiny needle in the port and then at right angles there's a tube about 1/8" thick. At the end of the tube is a thingy that they can use to screw in other things. They stuck a needle in the end to draw blood and give the saline and then the heparin flush.

The Pamidronate was screwed into the tube. The Pamidronate is in a balloon in a bottle and the vacuum suction draws the fluid out of the balloon. When the balloon hits the tube, the Pamidronate infusion is over. The nurse has saline and Heparin syringes with screwy-inny things that go into line; they use that to flush the Pamidronate through the port and then to prevent clotting.

The Pamidronate infusion does make me very sleepy and I'm a bit woogly today. I left my Fentanyl patch on for too long and it ran out last night so I started getting withdrawl symptoms today. Sigh. I'm also not very hungry today and I'm still tired. I hope that tomorrow is better.

Where did the snow come from?

I finished the dress in plenty of time (and I think it looks awesome, even though I know it isn't perfect) but the weather turned against us. Snow started falling around 3pm or so and by 5:30 we had almost three inches of heavy, wet snow. The roads were slick and we decided that we shouldn't risk ourselves by driving to Stratford. We will have to remember Kevin in our own ways instead as we can't make it to the funeral tomorrow.

I was looking forward to seeing the team, even though the circumstances suck, but that will have to wait. I hope to see one or more people this weekend; that Fabricland is having a 50% off sale for members. I have a membership for Mississauga and I hope that it can be transferred to Stratford.

Tomorrow I have my Pamidronate infusion and if all goes well, they'll be using my port for the first time. It's really healed well, except for one end where the stitch came up. It hasn't dissolved yet so they'll have to take it off tomorrow. It's going to be a long day, as I arrive at 12:40pm for bloodwork and then I have the infusion starting at 2:45pm. If it started earlier, I might make it to bellydance, but there's no way that I'll make it there in time. I hope the infusion goes well tomorrow.

Yesterday was also port-a-cath day

Yesterday wasn't the best day ever. Not only did my friend die, but I had to have my port-a-cath put in. If I'd had a choice, I would have postponed it for a day when I was feeling stronger.

The best part about yesterday was when I was telling the nurse about everything that was going on. She gave me a big hug and when we both had a few minutes, she came and talked to me. She'd been a palliative care nurse and so understood the emotions I was feeling. I am very grateful to her for taking the time to talk to me.

The port insertion isn't all that complicated; the two main steps are to put the catheter part into the jugular vein and to put the reservoir part into a "pocket" that they make under the skin. To do all this they give local freezing.

You may not know this, but local freezing and I do not get along. It hurts like crazy when it goes in and I usually need extra because I metabolize it strangely. So the anaesthetic portion of my adventure was pretty awful and filled with howls and screams. Some would say that I'm a big baby when it comes to local freezing pain, and those some would be right.

Things got better after that. I felt a lot of pressure and things felt weird but they got the port in without any problems. I had to spend four hours in the recovery area but that turned out ok, too. I had a big, big nap :)

I now have a gigantic bunch of padding and tape over the incisions and I'm not allowed to get that area wet, so no shower for me until at least Monday :( The area is fairly tender to the touch and is stiff when I wake up. I'm taking tylenol for the pain and stiffness; I figure there's no point taking Percocet if I don't need to. Home-care nurses are coming in on Monday and again later in the week to change the dressing and make sure things are ok.

I'm going to my bellydancing workshop, although I missed the class at noon because I slept in. My plan is to take it very easy. Tonight is the juggling festival show and I'll be going to that, too.

Tomorrow is my friend's visitation in Oshawa; the funeral is Monday starting at 11am but I can't make it to that because of the home-care nurse coming in. I hope to make it to the visitation tomorrow; Ian's offered to drive me but there are juggling people in town and it would be better if he could spend time with them.

My first Pamidronate injection

I had my first Pamidronate injection today. This isn't that much of a change in treatment; the Pamidronate replaces the clodronate that I was supposed to be taking before. The clodronate is a drug that's taken orally on an empty stomach twice a day and the Pamidronate is given by IV once a month. I wasn't able to take the clodronate properly because I wasn't always awake enough hours, so it wasn't doing me as much good as it should have. At least I'll have protection from the Pamidronate.

I re-discovered that I have terrible veins during the bloodwork and injection process today. I knew that my veins were bad, but they seemed to be worse than I remembered. During bloodwork, the nurse got a vein in my hand but it hurt - as all the veins in my hands do - so she took it out. There were no other good veins in my hand and she asked for warm blankets to be sent, which would have delayed the test results. The nurse ended up going in to the same vein.

Later on, when the nurse was setting up the line for the Pamidronate, the first injection in my forearm didn't work as she went through the vein and the saline built up beneath my skin. So she took that out and had to find another vein. It seems that I'm retaining water, which is making veins hard to find, but she finally was able to get the IV started. The IV is weird; it's a needle that's used to put a tube into the vein, and then the needle is removed. The tube remains and the Pamidronate is delivered through that tube.

When the Pamidronate was flowing well enough, the injection site started to hurt occasionally. They put a warming blanket on my arm and that helped; I guess my veins don't like the delivery system when they're cold. I also had pain when they were flushing saline through at the end - the solution and my arm were both cold and the warming blanket wasn't warm anymore.

So after all of these troubles, the nurse and I decided that it is time to put a port-a-cath in. They can draw blood and give the Pamidronate (and chemo, when it comes to that) through the port without having to worry about my veins. Inserting the port is a day procedure that takes about 1/2 a day and takes about 10 days to heal. I'll let you know when that's scheduled.

One of the side effects of the first Pamidronate injection can be flu-like symptoms. I'm definitely feeling under the weather now and I slept for a good part of the day. My arm is also quite tender. I'll be taking it easy tomorrow and maybe Friday as well.

No mets!!!!

That's right, I have no liver mets!!!! The ultrasound was completely clear and showed no inflammation, and my liver function numbers are well within normal. YAY!!!!! We're very relieved :)

My doctor thinks that my problem might be stomach-related and so is putting me back on Nexium. I'll continue to take the Zofran for nausea.

My doctor also gave us tips on how to talk to my oncologist about getting a referral to another oncologist in the same cancer centre. Ian gets to open up the discussion, which he's not at all happy about, since he doesn't like conflict. If you didn't know, I'm not comfortable with my current oncologist and I want a new one. I've heard good things about a couple of other oncologists at the cancer centre and so I'll ask for a referral to one of those doctors.

More doctor's appointments

I saw the pain and management specialist today for follow-up. She's doubling my Ritalin dose because it I'm still sleeping a lot - 11 or 12 hours a day. I think she expected more of a benefit from the radiation, but we decided that it wasn't worth changing my pain meds now since they seem to be working just fine at managing my pain. My pain is under control and doesn't reach the same peaks as it used to. I haven't been able to significantly reduce my painkiller intake, but then again, I haven't had to increase it, either. She did say that if my pain increased again that I should see her and we would try morphine or dilaudid for the pain.

I also got a prescription for the H. Pylori bacteria. It's a seven day course of Prevacid, amoxicillin, and clarithromycin called HP-Pac or Prevpac. I thought that the treatment for H. Pylori was a lot longer, but I guess they've made advances in this area, too. I hope it works :)

Getting back to normal

The "About my Breast Cancer" section over on the side is new today - I thought you all might be interested in seeing my breast cancer history, as it's a way to quickly see at a glance what I have and the treatments I've had. I actually use a similar version of what you see there as my signature on the Young Survival Coalition bulletin boards.

I watched Dying at Grace today. It's a documentary about five people who agreed to have the filmmaker film their last days at this hospital, up to and including the moment of their deaths. So it shows some people who die as they die and leading up to it, which is very hard to watch. One of the women had liver mets and had been responding to treatment at first before the cancer got her. It was very, very difficult to watch this movie, but it was well worth it. I don't mean to be morbid, but I need to have all the information possible about my cancer, death, and dying. I know it sounds strange but in a way it helps to know how things will end. I'd recommend this film. It is heart-wrenching, real, and respectful.

Even with the movie, I actually got some stuff done today :) I wasn't sure I would because my body was quite stiff. Last night I had my first of six bellydancing nights. I decided to sign up for three classes on Tuesdays starting at 5:30pm. I didn't know that the class time has been lengthened to 1h15min from 45min and so I won't get out of class until nearly 10pm on Tuesdays. The first class is core training for bellydancers, the second is a technique class, and the third is a holistic approach to learning the different rhythms. We will do some drumming, some zills, and some dancing. I'd never done drumming or zills before so it'll be a good introduction to these.

Anyways, last night was really long - it was a good thing that I worked out a couple of times while on vacation or I never would have made it through last night and then Well-fit tonight. I'm glad that I don't have to do anything physical tomorrow. :) On the bright side, I have muscles on my back that keep surprising Ian. That's not bad, is it? :)

Sale still on!

I sold some earrings - thanks! I have finally finished listing all of my stock so if you haven't checked out my store yet, now is a good time to do it :) There is a lot of variety in the earring colours and styles so there is something for everyone. For those of you that like the Waves of the ocean earrings, you might like these Green waves of grass earrings. They both have similar beads in different colours and evoke a similar impression in me.

I also have some lovely earrings using millefiori beads - these are glass beads that have flowers embedded in them. They are gorgeous when the light shines through them. I have these simple green ones, these other simple green ones, these yellow ones, these orange ones, these bigger green ones, and these aqua ones. As well, if you like interesting, fun earrings, have a look at these Flourite cube earrings. And of course I have quite a few simple glass earrings with two or three beads; these are about $10-20 each, depending on the number of beads.

Don't forget to look at my older stock as well; there are some beautiful earrings there. There are also a few necklaces that you might like. I like them, myself :) As I've said before, there is something for almost everyone in my store. Please note that all the jewelry in my store is arranged by dominant colour of the item. Now go and shop :)

The sternum pain is flaring up a bit and the skin is definitely red. There's a red rectangle in the center of my chest; it looks strange. I hope it goes away soon. I'm definitely keeping it out of sight so that the sun doesn't get at it. I'm also more tired than usual, but I'm managing to get by. I hope tomorrow is better.

A long treatment day

The ultrasound went well. The technician definitely got the tender spot, so we'll see if anything shows or whether I just have aches and pains from getting old. I'm thinking it's just aches and pains :) The results should be at the doctor's in five business days, or by Monday, July 9. I'm not worried.

It turns out that I'll only have one radiation treatment, and that was today! The pain might flare up over the weekend but should subside and get even better within 10-20 days. I can hardly wait :) Funny, the radiation technician treated me up in Thunder Bay back when I had my first cancer. This is a small, small world. They did say that I might feel tired, which I do. I hope that this goes away.

I have listed over half of my new stock. My goodness, I have a lot of it!!! Anyways, check out my store - there are lots of new and exciting pieces; I'm pretty sure there's something for everyone :) I will add the rest tomorrow. I hope you all enjoy the sale - don't forget the secret blog sale mentioned below as well!

Tomorrow is a big day

Thank you to everyone who gave me their preference for sorting the earrings. I'll be sorting them by colour. I really appreciate your input!

I was able to get all of the first pictures and about 2/3 of the black background pictures edited. I still have to edit the ruler pictures, which shouldn't take too long. I hope to get the pictures all edited after the ultrasound tomorrow and before the appointment with the radiologist. I think I'm scheduled to have my first radiation treatment at 1:15pm tomorrow so I'll be able to spend most of the afternoon tomorrow adding new jewelry to my store. I'm pretty excited about that - I have some really great pieces that I think you'll all like :)

My sale will start sometime tomorrow - I'm a part of the JET team on etsy and we're all having a sale over the weekend. I'll post in my blog when the sale begins :) I'm actually glad that I have this sale and the new pieces to focus on because that means that I'm not nervous about either the liver ultrasound or the radiation :)

Radiation starts soon

The radiation oncologist's office called and I have an appointment on Friday at 11:15am with the oncologist and the radiation technician. After that, we'll mark me up for radiation and we will start radiation that day beginning at 1:15pm. That is much faster than I thought it would be - I didn't think that I would get in so quickly. I don't know how many radiation treatments I'll have. I think it will be 5 or 10. I hope that the pain flare is over (or hasn't started) when we go to North Carolina. When a treatment works the pain usually gets much worse before getting much better.

I started taking the Ritalin today and didn't really notice any difference. I'll have to see over the next couple of days if there's any change. I really, really hope it works.

I got to spend pretty well the entire afternoon taking photographs. I have about 60-odd pieces of jewelry that I'd like to have up in my etsy store before the sale this weekend. I did all of the coloured background pics; now all I have to do is edit all of the pictures. I hope to do that tomorrow and Friday to have the stuff up by Friday. Given that there are so many pieces, I'll probably end up adding a few on Saturday.

Because there are so many pairs of earrings, I'll need to split them up somehow. Each item can only go in one section... so is it better to separate the earrings by colour or by length? What do you think?

Pain and symptom management

So I saw the Pain and Symptom Management doctors today. It was very, very informative. They did a sensitivity test on my sternum, and it turns out that it's sensitive to even the slightest touch. What has probably happened is that the soft mass that was growing as part of the tumour is pressing against some nerves. There are a bunch over the sternum there, so it wouldn't be surprising that the tumour would hit one or another of them at some point. Oxycodone doesn't do anything for nerve pain, which might be why I don't feel that it's working as well.

What they suggested for the nerve pain was A535 or something similar, lidocaine if that doesn't work, and capsaicin cream if those doesn't work. They also suggest going through with the radiation and if the pain is not controlled after that to start taking one or another medication that targets the nerve. We decided to not try this medication right off the bat because the radiation might actually take care of that pain as well as the bone pain. I have put a call into the radiation nurse; if we can do the radiation before we go to North Carolina, that would be great. We'll see. I hope to know tomorrow.

As for my tiredness, they think that ALL of my medications are contributing to my tiredness. They've prescribed a low dose of Ritalin for me that should take care of this. It is possible that once I have the radiation, I will have more energy and I'll be able to decrease the dose of the Ritalin. I'll be starting the Ritalin tomorrow. I really, really hope it works, because I'm really, really tired of being tired.

I've also been having stomach problems, off and on; I get a tummyache after eating (and especially after eating bananas). I take Nexium for that, but it hasn't been working as well as it had been before. Therefore, they want me to have the test for the bacteria H.Pylori. That's been scheduled for the end of July. If I do test positive for this bacteria, then I need a round of antibiotics. In the meantime, I'm to take Milk of Magnesia in the hopes that it will help soothe my stomach.

They checked my spine and I actually have a new sore vertebrae up between my shoulder blades. I didn't know that one was there; it's possible that there are mets there that aren't showing up. There appears to be a sore spot on my liver also; it's unlikely that I have liver mets, but I have the ultrasound on Friday just in case.

That's a pretty long day, huh? :) After that, I took a bunch of photographs of my jewelry and we watched The Card Player. This movie is directed by Dario Argento - he apparently directed such ground-breaking classics as Deep Red and Suspiria - these movies influenced most of today's horror movies. Apparently they're like very, very gory detective movies.

While we were watching the movie, the neighbour's cat came buy for a visit. He is white with grey patches, and he has yet to grow into his tail or his ears :) He and I had a bit of a cuddle, much to Ian's dismay. The cat has hung around for a while - fortunately, it didn't catch any of the chipmunks in our yard even though it went under the steps to their main lair. Whew.