My first of many DUMC appointments

So from start to finish today I was at Duke for six very long hours.  The first 2 and a 1/2 were boring, we were just sitting there waiting.  Mental note to self, I need to start packing my Kindle, no matter how big or small my purse is.  And also a phone charger, sorry for all of the non returned texts....

So the long of the short of today....(I am tired and my humor is thin at the moment.)

I met with my Medical Oncologist today, Dr Kimmick.  She will be handling my Chemo part of this hellish ride I am on.  She seems very nice and she has twins as well, whats not to love?

She ordered a slew of testing for me today.

And between the hours of 4pm and 5pm.  Bart and I ran a 5k trying to get from clinics 1A to 2J (ekg) to 1E (Chest xray)  back to 3W (Lab work), and then had to run our butts over to the main hospital for the MRI that was thrown into the mix today and was scheduled for 5.  (I would like my 5k sticker for my car, because he and I did some major hustling)

I had to leave the lab before they got a chance to draw blood, so I could make my MRI appointment.  But no worries people, I got poked today for an IV and also suffered thru the most uncomfortable Breast MRI (google a picture of that position)....Disclaimer: these are not the true clinic number's for you Duker's, I just can't remember, and I refuse to go to my handy notebook and actually look up the real clinic numbers.  I think you get the pic...

So the highlights from today.....She is ready to start Chemo with me anytime, she is going to wait until I have my consult with Surgery tomorrow and decide if they want to do the Chemo first or wait until after surgery.

I need two different surgeries (Inferior Margin and the Axilliary node dissection)  at this point according to her, but I will know for sure what my surgeon thinks tomorrow morning. 

Also of note, she is going to do genetics testing on me to make sure I don't have markers for any other kind of cancer.  If this is the case, this brings up the point of doing a mastectomy.  Genetic testing takes 10 to 14 days to find out the results.  So surgery is definitely put off for a few weeks, if not longer.

I found out the name of one of my Chemo drugs, it is called Adriamycin...or in the cancer world it is also known as the Red Devil....sounds fantastic. 

I will be getting a 'power port" put in next week, so they will be able to get access without sticking me a million times. She also is going to put me on a 4 month chemo plan vs the typical 6 month plan.  She plans on increasing the dose of chemo, she said it would make me sicker, but this way I would be done with it quicker.  I will be having Chemo every other week.  And she asked alot about our support system, how the kids are, Bart's work schedule, etc.  She says this kind of regimen will put me out for 3 to 4 days after I get "poisoned".

I will give you a few of the side effects, (I had to stop reading them).  Nausea and vomiting, fatigue, mouth sores, (gross me out), and hair loss.  I read the hair loss can happen within 2 weeks of my first treatment.  This makes me sad in so many ways, but I have to keep LOOKING at the BIGGER picture. 

So upcoming tomorrow is

Surgery consult, radiation consult, lab work.  I have also been in contact with Genetics that will hopefully be tomorrow as well.

Next week, it looks like I have the power port to look forward to, and after that is in the Chemo will begin I assume, as long as my surgeon Dr Hwang gives the go ahead.

Much love,
M

Also a big thank you today to Tui, Denys and Steve.  All 3 of them had to step in and take care of the boys for us while we were gone.  Big thank you to Donna for taking my kids to school in the morning....