May 17 - 21 2009

Sunday, May 17, 2009 7:30 AM, EDT

Holy Hotflashes and Hives friends and neighbors - round 8 seems to want to go out with a bang. My head and chest look like I got peppered with tiny red paintballs and itches like hell. I guess no good poison wants to leave my life unnoticed. And of course, this is another anomoly, doesn't "normally" happen and nothing is working ot stop it. Fabulous. Now I'm an itchy bitch. Guess I shouldn't cuss on Sunday morning. Last round...no more chemo...last round...

Another ironic twist to this weekend that I thought you all would appreciate - my dog has a tumor. [He's fine, a fatty tumor or possibly a whopping hernia that he will have surgery for Thursday.] So I'm brushing Tikaani [our Black husky] out on Saturday morning, and I get to his belly and there is this bigger than a grapefruit sized mass near his dingaling. So off to the vet we go, and after groping poor Tikaani's groin for a bit, the vet looks at me in my baldness and pink ribbon ballcap and says "This is most likely a tumor". I laughed out loud and had to say "I'm sorry, but the tumor thing is getting really old in my house!" Good news is, the vet was totally not alarmed at the fatty-whatever-it-is, happens in middle aged big dogs, and he is scheduled for surgery this week. He also didn't charge me for Saturday's visit - I think the tumor comment may have tripped him up a bit! Have a good week, cross your fingers that the mystery hives go away as quickly as they came...

Tuesday, May 19, 2009 3:31 PM, EDT

Hi All - a busy MD appt today, it feels like things are kicking into high gear again, just like at the beginning of this mess. Strange. Well, the rash/hives/plague thing I have going on remains a bit of a mystery, and they put me back on steroids yesterday to see of that would tame it - no miraculous recovery yet. Whatever. The oncologist remains very positive about my response to chemo, and very assured that "breast conserving" [i.e. not lopping the girls off] surgery is the way to go given my tumor type, tumor response, genetic results etc. So next week I have pre-surgery lab work, the final consult with the surgeon, another CT scan...then surgery on the 2nd, pathology results on the 8th, meeting with radiology to set up my radiation schedule [roughly 5 days per week for 6 weeks - in and out appts once they are set] around the 15th. Oh, and I start tamoxifen [the estrogen blocker] tomorrow - side effects can range from not much to full out menopause symptoms. Good times. The good news in all the madness is the language around me is very much about cure, not survival rates; and by mid-June I will be allowed to do normal things like swim and drink a margarita and get a pedicure [go ahead and laugh, little things mean alot!] and God forbid not have to schedule my life around side effects and poison. Just need to get through the madness of the next few weeks. Come on Dori - keep on swimming, keep on swimming....

Have a good week, next update will probably be about the dog!



Thursday, May 21, 2009 12:09 PM, EDT

Tikaani update - my spoiled rotten oversized husky is doing fine, they got rid of the fatty tumor and another icky random cyst thing that was getting infected b/c of the fatty tumor [sorry, TMI] and he is hanging out at the vet's office for the day being loved on by the vet techs...he gets a special bed, not a cage b/c he has established himself as one who will not be confined on trips past to the MD. He'll be getting his drains and stiches out just before I get mine in - love the timing here?! The vet bill is suspiciously small for a surgery and staying all day - I'll take the pink ribbon pity discount if that's what it is!

The rash/hives/plague is slowly fading, so now it is time to try to avoid the cooties one last time, get some work done, and figure out how to keep Tikaani from pulling his drains out for a week. I guess someone thought I could use the practice before dealing with my own! Yikes. Enjoy the holiday weekend!