My first three days of radiation have gone very well. What has really been nice is they make it pretty convenient for patients who go in everyday for treatment, by providing a blue parking space right outside the front door, and on the inside coffee and treats. You can’t beat that.

Entering the dark treatment room and seeing the radiation table and medical equipment the first day was a bit surreal, like, “I can’t believe this is really happening.” But, when I remind myself it’s a hell of a lot better then sitting here watching poison slowly drip into my body for a couple hours I snapped out of it.

I lie down still on a table with a pillow under my knees, hands held up behind my head grasping a metal bar. A green laser beam shines across my chest lining up three tiny mole like tattoo markings, to ensure the treatment is delivered to the exact same spot each visit. Once the alignment is set, the two lovely ladies that administer the treatment each day leave the room, and a cylinder shaped disc scans up from the right side of my right breast, up across my chest, (the part where I look straight into the disc’s pretty red eyes and have a one – on – one conversation about playing nice, or should I say confrontation, with a few choice words) and down the side of my left breast with a slight vibration sound.  Hopefully, killing off and sucking the life right out of any remaining microscopic cancer cells in it’s path. 10–15 minute deal done.

On the first day after treatment I had to meet with a male nurse to go over a couple things about the treatment plan, and he gave me a book, a very… very… graphic book, titled “Sexuality and Cancer – For the Woman Who Has Cancer and Her Partner.”

What? Maybe I just don’t smile enough.

Thanks, for stopping by today and have a great weekend.

***I got some reading to do***

Yes, folks my score18, put me right on the line of low / intermediate risk (the gray area they say again) of recurrence placing me at a 12% chance of recurrence over a 10 year period. I don’t see that as a gray area at all. If I were to have chemo the recurrence would be 8% over a 10 year period. Not significant enough for me to even consider letting the infusion of that poison loose to wreak havoc. To me that’s just plain crazy. The chances of me having a heart attack or stroke over a 10 year period are a hell of a lot higher then that. I’m at higher risk every time I sit in the passenger seat of my husband’s car. No thank you sir not today!

Not to down play the Oncotype Test. I’m very grateful it’s out there and available today bringing a peace of mind to breast cancer patients. Researches scientific knowledge can only improve in years to come with the discovery one day of that one –– cure all magic pill for ALL CANCER PATIENTS.

So six weeks of daily radiation + five years of Arimidex hormone therapy (pill) is my final treatment plan. I’ll start radiation August 6 Monday – Friday @ 11:30am.

Thank you to all who have called, emailed, sent greeting cards, with your thoughts and prayers. They are all very much appreciated and I won’t let you down.

Much Love - Have a great weekend!

***Betty’s doing the Mojito***

We met with Oncologist Dr.GW today. She said the 1 abnormal lymph node that was removed is still a
gray area when it comes to a final treatment plan. She suggested the Oncotype DX test. This test will
provide us a quantitative assessment of critical information of the likelihood of recurrence, increasing
our confidence in decision making to assure a proper treatment plan. They will perform 21 different lab
test on the samples taken during the lumpectomy surgery.

The results come back in the form of a recurrence score. A number between 0 and 100 correlates
to a specific likelihood of breast cancer recurrence within 10 years of the initial diagnosis. If the score
comes back low, treatment will be 6 weeks of radiation followed by hormone therapy. If the score comes
back high, then the suggested treatment plan is 4 infusions of chemo – 6 weeks of radiation followed
by hormone therapy.

I’m playing the pass line in this crappy game….

COME ON BOY’S ROLL A 7/11!!!

This morning at 8:00am as I sat having my morning coffee the phone rang and I noticed Dr. ED on the caller ID. Why is he calling me I have an appointment with him at 10:00?

My heart pounding out of my chest, while thinking this had better be good as I flipped the phone open.

“Good Morning Betty this is Dr.ED. I know you’ll be here at the office in a couple of hours to remove the drain, but I don’t want to keep you waiting on your results, I wanted to call you with good news for a change. All 7 lymph nodes that were removed came back negative.”
Oh, how I do love this man!

What a relief it was too hear those words it sends chill down my spine, and I can only thank God for such a blessing, and continue too pray that the treatment will end as well.

After the office visit, my wonderful…wonderful husband the real love of my life, and I headed out to the beach too celebrate life and enjoy this gorgeous day. We stopped off at our favorite seafood restaurant, where we sat out on the deck over looking the bay, and relished a lunch of lobster & steamers; my favorite.

Life is good!

Round 2 of surgery went well. They removed 7 lymph nodes and sent them off to the pathologist
for testing. Should have the results back in a few days.

This surgery was a little more painful then the first, which I pretty much suspected. I came home with a soft plastic drainage bulb with a plug opening at the end of the tubing connected to the incision area collecting fluid to reduce the swelling and prevent infection. It looks like a little hand grenade secured with a safety pin attached to that godawful jobst bra. (yeah, they gave me another one to burn)

So for the next 5 days it’s me, and the little hand grenade, until it’s removed. I’m beginning to wonder why I just didn’t have them chop the whole damn thing off.

Only kidding, I just had to vent a bit. I’m just feeling a little frustrated right now.
There has to be a better way to start spending my weekends.