Date For Surgery
I’ll be having the mastectomy on September 28th – the earliest I could get since she’s booked next week and is on vacation the following week. All will work out, we just have to trust in the timing and continue to pray.
Dr. Hong’s plan is to start chemo 3-4 weeks after the surgery every two weeks for 4 months. The first two months will be a combination of two drugs, and the remaining drug the last two months. The three drugs are Doxorubicin, Taxol and Cytoxan and I’m not sure which were the two I’ll be getting first. I have good veins in my right arm but, thanks to Kris, I asked for a port and Dr. Hong agreed it was a good idea. That’s a catheter connected to a disk surgically implanted in the chest and is used for chemo and for drawing blood. He said they were all surprised the tumor was much larger than imaging showed but his plan is for a cure!
Friday I have a pre-op physical and a Muga scan to make sure my heart is strong enough for the chemo. No date for the port, but that should be a simple procedure and I’ll have time to get that done. Have a prescription for two anti-nausea drugs – Compazine and Zofran which I’ll take before every treatment.
Following the chemo treatments will be weeks of radiation, just not sure how many weeks at this point. I’m ready for anything they throw at me.
Funny story. When I was getting my bone scan, the young male technician asked about my medications since that page was blank on the form I filled out. I told him I’m not on any medication and never took any except for a few years for osteoporosis. He looked again and said ‘gee, you’re 70 and not on any medication – not even for high blood pressure?’ I said ‘nope’ and he said ‘congratulations, that’s remarkable! You must have led a very calm life.’
The glue that holds me together and keeps me calm is the love, support and prayers that I’ve received from my wonderful family and friends over the many years of taking care of those I love.
Thank you to everyone for the outpouring of love I feel so deeply. Keep praying and we’ll get through this together.
Love to all.
