Almost ready . . .

Monday morning is coming fast--I will be going over to Good Sam then for a "marginal revision."  In other words, Dr. Johnson will go in and get the last little bits of cancer that didn't get taken out last time.  The procedure will be a lot easier than the first time: a lot of the pre-op things done to identify my sentinel nodes, etc. won't have to be repeated.  Since some of those things involved needles and sensitive spots, I'm very pleased about that.  

Dr. J will again insert a balloon again for the radiation treatment.  I'll stay overnight, and Tuesday morning will get a scan to be sure the balloon is positioned correctly for radiation--that it's far enough away from both my skin and the chest wall.  They'll wrap me up and Carolyn Olson will give me a ride home.  

Wednesday I have the day off.  

Thursday around lunchtime I take some meds for anxiety and pain, and go to the radiation oncology area at Good Sam.  I will once again be having a sense of deja vu all over again, as this is where I was on the morning of May 1.  What they were supposed to do then--before the oncology results came back to tell us I needed more surgery--was The Swap of The Balloons.  I described it this way then:

"This is a little ookey--and the reason for the anxiety and pain meds.  Dr. Lee, my radiation oncologist, will take out the balloon Dr. Johnson put in my breast and insert another one.  The one Dr. J put in was just a placeholder; the one Dr. L will insert is designed for the radiation treatments.  It's a balloon (that will be filled with saline) and an inner tube that's like a straw with one end sealed.  The inner tube is dry and is where they insert a wire with radioactive "seeds."  Then I'll have my first radiation treatment: a machine inserts the wire with the seeds and, 20 minutes later, takes it out.  I go home. . . .Most people don't have any side effects from this type of radiation because it is so localized and the treatment time is so brief.  It is a good idea for me to make sure I get plenty of rest and good food during the treatment--but that would be a good idea for the recovery from the surgery too, so . . . "

We'll definitely do the Balloon Swap, but may hold off on the first treatment if the results aren't back from Pathology.  Either way, I return at 9 am on Friday for a treatment, and again at 3.  This is much better than the first schedule, which had me showing up at 8 am.  I get the weekend off (the 16th and 17th), and go for radiation treatments twice a day Monday through Thursday.  At the last appointment Thursday, they take the balloon out and I'm done with radiation.  

The DNA in my tumor is being analyzed as I write, and we should have the results back during my week of radiation.  The results will tell us what kind of chemo I'll be getting.  Several friends who have had chemo report that they had few if any side-effects, so I've got my fingers crossed.  Also, on the advice of my friend Miriam Hecht, I'm going to see a naturopath.  He's part of a group that works out of Providence/St. Vincent's called Integrative Medicine.  Miriam said he helped her a lot, and I'm hoping he can help me with both the cancer (and any side effects of the treatments) and some of my other conditions.  

So send good thoughts my way Monday morning, and feel free to give me a call Tuesday evening or anytime after.  

As always, I'll keep you posted.