Plans are made to be changed…..

May24

It’s Thursday already ;) Today I had originally been planned to have my operation, now I don’t have to worry about that for another week; that’s a good thing ;)

Tuesday I spend cleaning the parts of the house I didn’t finish on Monday, I’m sure you’re happy to be spared the details of that ;P But I will mention that my in-laws arrived on time, late Tuesday evening and we had a nice little chat before we all went to bed.

Wednesday we enjoyed the company and the planning for our upcoming trip to Yellowstone. We watched a very interesting and informative documentary about Yellowstone, so we knew what to expect. The program told of, the fickle climate of the area, especially at this time of year, so Bo had the good sense to check what the weekend had in store weather wise, according to the weather sites. Not good, not good at all and rather than sitting in a hotel room for 3 days avoiding the stormy rain, we canceled the Yellowstone trip, this time around and set about making new plans for the long weekend.

Tomorrow morning we’re off to Vancouver Island, the weather forecast up there looks really nice ;)

Training to be Mrs. Clean

May20

 Do I have to explain that one?… ;)

 We’re getting the house ready for company. There’s nothing like having overnight guests coming, that will get you to finally sort your stuff and clean the house, so they’ll have a place to sleep :)

  Luckily we had a lovely dinner with friends, this evening, to look forward to, so now we’re pleasantly full, and the girls are sleeping. we’ll join them shortly :)

 

 

I can see clearly now…. ;)

May19

 After getting all our windows cleaned and a lunch from the grill, we went out into yet another sunny day. We drove to Alki beach (Seattle) where we spend our afternoon relaxing in the sand. I’m actually starting to peel a little despite factor 50 and it’s only May :) Yeah life is good :D

Hair today gone tomorrow ;)

May18

After a great get together with my Friday club (girls having coffee/tea, bread and cake :P ) I did one of the little things I could do! One of the things I actually have control over right now. I went to the hair salon and got my hair cut short, as a preemptive, to the hair loss that’s a given, when my chemo therapy has begun. I even got a few blond stripes put in my bangs to make the whole “do” sparkle :) .

May 31st is now the set date for the chemo port surgery and the beginning of my chemo therapy. Now I just have to get an echocardiogram (EKG) of my heart, to make sure it can take the direct flow of the chemo medication, but I’m sure I’ll ace that test ;)

Weekend here I come!

(just for the Danes;)) selvtillid, charme og laekkert haar! ;)

 

Decision time!

May17

 Off we went to talk to the Oncologist a.k.a. the chemo doc. After a long talk about possibly participating in a trial for new chemo regiments, we decided to just get the traditional treatment – the possible side effects outweighed the potential  benefits.

After that we began talking about the actual planning  of my treatment and details of what would possibly happen when.

 Now Bo and I have a much better picture of what our future will look like and what we can expect. The plan is that will get the chemo port (a tube in the chest) inserted in my left side of my chest, to make all the procedures around the chemo therapy easier. It’s a kind of an easy way to hook up intravenous tubes that allows the medicine to flow directly into the heart. This is because the chemo med’s are very harsh on the veins.
 
 Hopefully I can get my operation date pushed one week so I get the port in on Thursday May 31st which is right after our trip to Yellowstone with Bo’s parents, who are arriving here on Tuesday the 22nd.  After the operation we hope I can get the chemo started right away and that will then be noted as week one of my treatment.
 
 It’s been a big relief to finally solidify the plans for my treatment, now we have to get everything else to fall into place, such as summer camps for the kids and the like :)
 
 
 

Is that burnt hair I smell?

May16

 That’s what I asked after taking half of a Hydromorphone pill yesterday.  Luckily that and a vague taste of iron, in the back of my mouth, seemed to be the only side effects of the narcotic.  So today I’ll try taking a whole pill, to see if that is the whole extend of my discomfort with this medication.

 
……….do di do do, do di do….. ;)
 

 Well, I’ve taken my second dose, a whole Hydromorphone pill, several hours ago and today I’ve had no weird smells or tastes. Woo hoo! I think I’ve found my future pain medication. :)

 
Tomorrow we’re off to speak to my Oncologist Dr. Karamlou. Hopefully we’ll find out how my treatment will unfold, so we can begin to make plans and arrangements.  It’s been very frustrating to live in this limbo of knowing but not being able to make big decisions or even small plans.

Doing a dry run.

May15

 Today I went to my dermatologist for my yearly check up. It was an appointment I had made before all this started and I figured I was on a roll:) He didn’t find anything of concern so I could leave his office with a smile on my face and go on to my Physical Therapist (PT) appointment.

 Now that we’ve enjoyed, a delicious risotto out on the deck, in the great weather, I’ve started a little experiment.   Something my breast surgeon calls a dry run. I’m trying out pain medication to see if I can tolerate it or not. Today it’s something called Hydromorphone and it’s an opioid (narcotic) like codeine, but I’m definitely hoping for a better result than what I had with codeine and vicodin.
 

Once again I’m crossing my fingers, I really need this to work.

:)

Does this CT scan make my liver look fat? ;)

May14

Today was the day for test results. My CT scan was positive as in positive GOOD ;) My gene test also came back with a good result, which has been a great load of my shoulders. Just the thought that my daughters could have a mutated gen that could cause them to get breast cancer, would just about tear me apart. but luckily I didn’t have this mutation. For me personally, it is also good news because it means the doctors stopped thinking about pre-emtively removing my ovaries – thank you very much, those are mine you know :)

We also heard back from the FNA test (forget what that acrnym mean, bear with me). The test confirmed the results from the MRI, the 3 lymph nodes were infected but only to a small degree, and it did *NOT* metastasize – so no bad news we hadn’t already had, just good news that we seem to have caught it at this stage.

All in all another fantastic day in sunny Pacific North West, its good news all around.

Mothers day

May13
 Yet another gorgeous day!
 We went to the underground tour in Seattle. That’s definitely a must see, if your in the area. Our guide was a regular stand up comedian, so even Lara and Nisa followed her with great interest.
 Afterwards we ate a late lunch at Pyramid Alehouse before we went home happy and pleasantly tired.
 
 Now I’m ready for our meeting with my breast surgeon tomorrow :)
 
 

Sun and surf.

May12

Your positive thinking helped once again! Lara felt much better today so we went off on our big mothers day weekend adventure ;)

The sky has been blue, sunny and temperature’s been in the mid seventies F/ mid twenties C.

We’ve enjoyed the company of good friends, a fun trip on the Ducks (land and water tour of Seattle) and a dinner with a wonderful view out over Lake Union, watching the sun go down. Sweet!!

I can hardly wait till tomorrow, but until then we’ll enjoy this great hotel room at Residents Inn, Lake Union. I’m sitting in bed looking out on all the lights on the lake. This is life :D

I hope you’re having as wonderful a weekend as I am!