May 9, 2005

Last week I got Herceptin only, and this week I will be back to getting all three chemo meds.  I think my last chemo will be June 9, but I’ll find out more this week.  When I went for my consultation with the radiation oncologist whom I want to use, she felt a soft lump in my left underarm.  So I went back to Katrina for an ultrasound.  She said it looked like a lymph node that was just doing its job, so we will just watch it to see if anything happens with it.  After surgery, this is typical.  She was surprised that Dr. Krueger was even able to feel it.  I will be getting another PET scan in the next week or two to make sure that there are no tumors that have formed elsewhere in my body.  I had a PET scan when I was first diagnosed, and it showed only the breast tumor, so I should be in good shape, especially since I have had Herceptin surging through my veins since last December.

I was about to tell you about all the fun things I did this weekend while I was off the more wicked chemo drugs, but those things don’t matter too much at this moment.  Today I found out that my high school/college boyfriend/former fiancé was killed in a motorcycle accident yesterday – the morning of Mother’s Day.  An elderly woman pulled out in front of him, hit him, and he was killed instantly (he was wearing a helmet).  I haven’t seen much of him over the last couple years, but this guy was my first steady boyfriend – I was with him about three years and was a close friend of his for a couple years before that.  I almost married him.  It was a rough day for me, and I can’t even imagine what it’s been like the past two days for his mom, his sister, his girlfriend, and for his dad.  I talked to his mom and his sister today; the funeral will be Thursday.  So I will be going to the funeral home right after chemo, at least for a little while.  I told his sister Tammy that I would visit her on Friday sometime when I will hopefully have more energy.  I can’t believe with all the crazy stuff we did when we were young that he would end up dying at the hands of an 82-year-old woman on her way to church.  Life is really bizarre sometimes.

I have been working diligently on a report request to convince my health plan to allow me to use a radiation oncologist outside of the plan.  I have been busy collecting and reading oncology journal articles that will support the reasons for my request.  I have written up a bunch of other stuff that will also go into the report.  My friend Elizabeth Merizon is taking care of making sets of color copies of the articles I have highlighted.  All of it will be put together with the formal request details, the data, selected chart notes, etc. in beautifully spiral-bound books.  I feel like I am writing a Masters thesis or something – it looks like it will be over 50 pages long, but hopefully it will do the trick.  I plan to distribute it to about a dozen people – just to make sure
I have covered all the
bases :-)

John's big project right now is the house next door (as an investment, not to live in!!).  We bought it a week ago from the estate of the woman who lived there.  It is a pretty cool house -- just needs some updating.  We will do the updates and sell it in a couple months.  It could be worse -- it could be located across town.  At least I can find John when I need him!

My sister Polly just starting working at the Bergstrom Lexus dealership as assistant to the GM.  I am thrilled for her…so much so that I “had to” do my part to support her new employer.  I traded in my gas-hog Durango for a used RX300 today.  I grew up driving Toyotas and Hondas – and I am very happy with this cute little car (and I need to thank John Hogerty for whatever help he gave me in getting hooked up with the car I wanted).  And yes, I still have the Miata – that’s for summer only.  

If they are as nice to their fellow employees at Bergstrom Lexus as they are to their customers, my sister is going to love working there!  Polly is also the sister who made identical beaded breast cancer bracelets for me and for each of my sisters.

That’s it for now.  I am way behind on wig pictures, so I will try to get those on the site soon.  Lately when I wear the black wig some people have no idea who I am!!!