Today I Got Cancer

Sorry for the lateness of this post.  We took the kids to Red Robin ( our favorite!) to celebrate summer.

At 2:45 we met with Dr. Buntinas.  I was looking forward to and dreading this appointment at the same time. We went over pathology first.  The tumor was exactly 2 cm, which puts it right between stage one and stage two for size.  It was high grade, meaning aggressive.  It had micrometastisized to one of the two sentinel nodes.  Because of the metastasis, it became a stage 1B or stage 2B cancer.  The B indicates lymph node involvement.

I would have had to have a short round of chemo even if it weren't in the lymph nodes due to its aggressive nature.  However, because it is in the nodes, I will have to do twenty (yes, you read that right!) weeks of chemo, followed by a short break and then 6 weeks of radiation.  I should be finished with those treatments right at the end of the calendar year.

Here's what will happen:
Sometime in the next two weeks, I'll have a minor outpatient surgery to insert a port.  This port will be under the skin, and will enable the chemo treatments to be administered much more easily and less painfully.  On Tuesday the 10th, I'll see my surgeon, Dr. Kerri Nowell, for a postop visit.  Then, right after that, I'll see her husband, Dr. Andrew Nowell, who will evaluate and set up a time to do the surgery to place the port.

We want that all to happen before June 19th.  On the 17th, I will meet with the chemo educator who will teach us all about chemo and side effects.  On the 19th, I will have my first chemo treatment.  On the 20th, I will go in for a shot to boost my white blood counts so they can do a treatment every two weeks instead of every three.  I am going to be in a clinical study to evaluate bone pain from those shots.  I don't think I'll get any benefit, but if it helps them figure out how to make them less painful in the future, that's great.

The first round of chemo will be the nasty one.  I will have a combo of two drugs once every two weeks for a total of 4 treatments and 4 shots (8 weeks).  Then I will have a single drug once a week for 12 weeks. Each treatment takes between 3-4 hours.

So- today I got cancer.  Now it's real.  I was expecting chemo, but I was not expecting 20 weeks of it.  We will have to deal with this during the school year, which will not be much fun.  BUT- we have already worked the treatment schedule around so that I can go on both little trips we had planned for the summer.  This is really great news.

Tonight's email is simply information.  I have lots of thoughts rolling about in my brain that I'd like to share later.  Thanks for your prayers and support!  Don't forget to pray for Darrin, too.  GO TEAM ROBIN!