Drop those drawers!

Well, the plan- for the time being, is in place and will be executed at 4:00pm, Thursday, November 1.  And yes, it involves needles and yet again, my butt.  And this time around, we are ADDING not taking away He even laughed when I said—let me guess a shot in my butt.  I swear that man thrives on needles. 

And this is how my week started… Monday, with Mae Ling riding shotgun, I met with Dr K and his arsenal of plans.  We (as I really had a choice) are going with the shots and pill plan.  I will continue to get my Lupron shot and Faslodex will be added at the same time. With a straight face, I was assured Faslodex does not have side effects.  His face may have been straight but the look in his eyes as he tried to avoid me said… you are my special one and something will pop up.  I ignored him as we got to the pill thing.  His reasoning at this point- you have been through chemo, so this will be easy. This time he was smiling.  The pill in question is Ibrance which has me entering hormonal therapy from what I gather.  I looked it up and the front page says welcome to your new normal.  Seriously???!!  I had harsh words for the person who came up with that gem. As for the side effects… kinda like a low dose chemo yet it is not a chemo pill.  Do not ask me.  I give on this crap.  Anywho…example would be hair thinning and not hair loss.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that Scarlett and Lizzie stay in their places, but that I will be able to give up shaving.  Aside from the whole saving my life thing… there has to be a benefit in there somewhere.  Back to the side effects.  The most serious one is the lowering of the white blood cells and with my record, this bothers me a bit.  I have stocked up on thermometers, so I am ready.  I am not sure how long I will be on this, but the pills are 21 days on and 7 days off. And I am not allowed grapefruit or grapefruit juice or St Johns Wort.  I told him that would be a major sacrifice on my part.  He agreed.  At this point I did ask about sugar and he said go for it.  Smart man.

At this point, we also discussed a clinical trial which is radiation to the offending node.  He feels I am a good candidate—young and in good health.  I looked at him and said aside from the whole Stage 4 thing—right. He smiled and said right.  I asked about surgery to remove the node and he said it was a possibility and he was going to call Dr Lynn and a Radiation Oncologist to discuss.  I told him I was seeing Dr Lynn in the morning and he said he would call.   That was that and off we went. 

Then came the next morning.  I left (by myself, Mae Ling was relieved of her duties for the day) rather early, yet I still encountered the traffic mess at Topsail High School.  Amazing how stupid people are.  Let’s block the green light people so traffic is backed up for miles. At this point I realized I need to call and luckily was only 10 minutes late—I did not need that grief from her.   I get called in – skipped the scales and the BP and I sat waiting.  The good Dr comes in, says you know this is a social call and I am like um, no, you and Dr K were supposed to talk. She gives me this look—and I just know.  At this point she calls him.  I have to admit it was rather entertaining from where I was sitting.  I could hear his calm voice, but I could see her rolling eyes, yet I knew both were on top of their games, listening to each other but also voicing their thoughts and opinions.  They hang up and she explains her issue with the surgery—she could do it, but she does not want to.  Because the node is on the left side and the size of it, she feels lymphedema is a given and she does not want me to have that pain.  So, we agreed she would see if it shrinks and if it gets to the point she can remove it with a good possibility of no lymphedema, she would.  I think she may have rolled her eyes.

So, that is how I will end up on November 1 with 3 shots in my butt and a pill I need to take with food the same time every day for 21 days.  There will be a blood draw and a onetime booster shot on November 15 and we will repeat the blood draw and 3 shots on December 5.  I will also have an MRI on November 15 to make sure the left breast is free of anything which would give me the go ahead for the radiation trial.  And, from what I was told by Dr K’s nurse today, I am being presented to the breast cancer tumor group.  I have been discussed by this group a few times and I should get an award or something.  Then again, living could be considered the award.  I need to ponder this.

On another note—the cruise Billy and I were going on- I was the one to pull the plug.  We were to dock in Florida the morning of November 1 and while there were a few flights (2) that might have gotten me back in time, I decided the stress of trying to get there would kill me, so it has been postponed.  

As always, I am humbled by everyone and every gesture.  A special shout out to the childhood friend who sent a ton of donuts this week.  I cried,and I will say, they were much better than those pies that were made for Joey. 

I am blessed!