Medical Update

Happy 2009 to you all!

I decided to give a full medical update so that you all are up to date, I will do a "story" one later.

When I came out of theatre after the first op, I had this contraption, which I pressed everytime I had pain and it then sent Pethidine into my drip, it was absolutely great, because I did not have to wait for the nurse to bring me anything. It administed 1ml every 7 minutes, so there was no way that I could overdose myself. I sufferred terribly from back ache more than anything else and was just pressing away, which could also have been why I was so tired on the first day. This was removed the next day to make it easier to bath, but I still had part of the drip in so that they could easily give me any futher medication, I think they called it a "u" section of something like that. But however the drain was still in so bathing or showering was still a mission. I started walking around by the Monday, which was a relief. On the Sunday I had a machine strapped to my legs which inflated the every now and then to ensure that there was no clotting in my legs. On Monday I was given these stockings to wear so that could come off. I was moved to my own room on the Tuesday and the drain was removed the Wednesday morning.
The results came back for the genetic test and that was all negative, now there was absolutely NO reason for this to be happening to me.

I went home on Thursday and the Doctor phoned me on Friday afternoon to say that the results were back and that the cancer which they found is a very positive type of cancer and that the HER2 (which is a very aggressive type of cancer) status was negative and that the Hormone Receptors were very positive which was very good. At that point I had no idea why this was a good thing. However, they found a very small spot of cancer in my sentinal lymph node which they sent to the lab, 3mm in fact and that they would need to remove all the lymph nodes the following Tuesday.

On Tuesday I went back to the hospital, had to be there at 12 and they were operating at 4. I was last on the list and the first procedure took longer than was planned so I only went in at 6, very emotional by that time. This time Ed was allowed into the theatre with me and sat with me until they sent him out. This time I do remember them injecting me but do not remember falling asleep. When I came out I was in tremendous pain, the nurses gave me something in my drip, but that did not help at all. Around 10 them came back and gave me morphine, but I was in tears by this time already. The rest of my stay was not too painful, in fact never had morphine again, but was very uncomfortable. I left there on Christmas day. The next day when I woke up, I felt drops of blood on my tummy and saw that my pj's were covered in blood, so back to the hospital to be "milked". There was a clot in the drain, so the blood was pushing out of the top at the wound. The doctor was in theatre and the only nurse who knew how to do the "milking" had left for the day, so we had to wait. Eventually the one nurse called the one who knew and she did it, there was too much blood coming out so she could not leave it. There was a huge clot stuck in the top. We were there about 1 1/2 hours.
The Saturday drain, which is a consertina like plastic round "bowl" where the fluid collects and the drain must be pressed flat for it to work. Well, Saturday it started blowing up and everytime I pressed it down it blew up again. I eventually called to Doctor at about 9:30 pm and he was in theatre and he told me to come back the next morning. He checked it and I think that the nurse had put too many plasters on, it was too tight. It behaved itself until New Years day, when I woke up with more blood on my pj's and back we went. Let me add that we had an appointment the previous day and all seemed fine. The poor doc, this was his first day off and he saw me immediately and said it is time to remove the drain. At the appointment on the 31 the doctor told me that they had removed 19 additional nodes and that they were all clear.

On Monday 5 Jan we went to see the Oncologist, she was very positive and gave us all the information we needed. The type of cancer which I had is Mucinous Carcinoma (also known as Colloid Carcinoma), which is a very rare type of cancer, only about 3%of all breast cancer cases. It is a type of an invasive ductal carcinoma, which is in the ducts. She personally has only ever treated 5 (i think she said) in her 20 years. It is also the most favourable type to have, under normal circumstances this would only be treated by removal of the cancer and no further treatment, however if it is found in the lymph then they would offer Chemo. On the other had the 3mm which they found in my lymph, as she has said does not really fall into the catergory of cancer in the lymph as it is so small. She has said that she would rather do the chemo to be on the safe side, as the cancer which they found in the lymph was actually not linked to the one found in the breast, it was a tumour developing on it's own. So I am having 4 sessions of pretty harsh Chemo, Taxotere (I am sure that this is the one she mentioned, I thought she had written it on the docs she gave me, but it was nto there), then the Hormone therapy. The HT will only be discusssed after the chemo, so not sure what I will be on or anything, just know it will probably be for 5 years. She also said that because the 19 additional nodes that they removed were all clear, they do not need to do radiation, praise God!!
I asked the oncologist what causes this cancer, and she said although they are not 100% sure they know that this type feed on estrogen. She then asked about my periods (sorry for the guys who are reading but this is important), I told her that I normally have it for 10 - 14 days, she said that this is a very likely reason for me to have got this then, because during your periods your body produces estrogen and mine was producing for too long every month. Right in the very begginning I said to Ed that I think that this is the reason as most cancers are hormone dependant I did not know that this one was mostly estrogen dependant.

Treatment is due to begin 29 Jan, I am going on Monday to get a quote for my wig and on Wed back to the plastic surgeon.

I must be honest I am pretty scared of the chemo, but will take it one step at a time.

So you see God does answer prayers, although there seems like so much bad, there is still so much good, it could all have been much worse, so carry on praying not only for us but for yourselves as well.