Walking Upright Again
For the last couple of days I have been nauseated and, yes, praying to a porcelain god or two. This chemo is not for wimps. I haven't been able to eat much. Yesterday I went to the UNM Cancer Center for a second opinion by Dr. Melanie Royce, a well-known oncologist and clinician. As some of you know, I went to hear her speak at a Comadre A Comadre meeting a few weeks ago and I bird-dogged her with questions. I had already had this second opinion appointment arranged, yet I wanted some answers then, not 2 days after chemo. She was so gracious that evening and actually pulled me aside after the meeting to address some of my concerns.. On my visit yesterday, she recognized me from our earlier meeting. Then she observed that I was in bad shape and gave me this really big, expensive pill call Em-end (emesis-end) and made me lie down in one of their rooms for a half an hour! You know those exam rooms are hard to come by, but there I was, waiting for the pill to take effect. She said she couldn't do the consult unless I was coherent. So we had the consult, and she gave me some great ideas. She thinks the tumors in the two breasts may have had two different origins, and she wants them all tested for the ER, PR, and Her-2. She expects that the results will be different for different tumors, and they can treat them differently and get optimum results.
I also asked her about my prognosis, based on all the documentation I brought to her. She couldn't give me one and said it would only be a guess at this point. Here's the zinger: After my surgery (when they biopsy the tumors they remove), if everything looks like we think it looks now (Stage II, T2, N1), my prognosis will be good. If it's spread farther (Stage IIIA or IIIB), then the prognosis will be much, much worse (her words).
She also did the most interesting boob massage (paying attention now?) and all she did was unhook my bra. No gown, no formal office procedures. It was like getting felt up in high school. Alas, she was looking for lumps. She is a delicate Asian woman, and she exclaims in a high, girlish voice: "Oh, you have lumpy breasts!"
Or, as Shania would say, "I feel like a woman."
5 comments:
Sorry I posted my comment on the previous post .... but thanks again for keeping us up to date - we're all praying for you!
Love the picture!
Your site is wonderful for us who sit in worry about your condition. Thank you for keeping us posted. The pictures are very good. So are you going to make the best of the hair loss by trying all kinds of differnt wigs and hair styles? Or are you more of a hat girl? If it would be ok, we should have every one send you a differnt wig to try on. What is your hat size?
To answer Dianne's question, the pathology report showed they only tested one tumor, and it was ER positive, PR positive, and Her-2 negative. Dr. Royce wants to check all the tumors to see if they're the same.
for Jim, the only hats I plan on wearing are sombreros. They are one size fits all...
sounds like we need to go to rockaway at a strategic time of your choice.
s
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