A week ago today I came home from the hospital. It seemed to take FOREVER for the surgery to finally get here, but the time after the surgery seems to be flying by.
I've been doing a little walking. Walking is great. It's great to get outside. It's great to be off the couch. I can walk a little faster than 3 mph, which is pretty slow, but I'm happy with that right now.
I still can't drive. I can't lift anything that's over 5 pounds. Reaching up is nearly impossible right now. Brushing my hair and putting it up in a ponytail is a real accomplishment! Pushing or pulling anything is a little painful too.
Today Dane drove me to school so that I could say goodbye to my 6th graders. It was wonderful! It was so fun to see everyone!! We walked all around the campus to see as many people as we could. It truly made me very happy. Once we were on our way home, I realized how exhausted I was... As soon as we got home, I made my little "nest" on the couch and took a good 1 1/2 hour nap!
I have loved the "meal train" that was set up--not only have we had some excellent meals, it's been so nice visiting with everyone who has come over!
My next doctor's appointment is not until June 9th, with our oncologist. That's when we'll talk more about chemotherapy. I really don't want to have to do chemo again, but if I do, I have a super fun pink wig that came in the mail the other day!! I found it online at http://www.thepinkwig.com/. You should check it out--I love the gal's story who started the organization.
So, all in all, things are good. I'm feeling good, and I'm healing a little more each day. Not too shabby.
Friday, May 29, 2015
Saturday, May 23, 2015
It's The Little Things...
I've been home for a little more than 24 hours, and it has been great. First, we were treated to a wonderful spaghetti and meatball dinner! Delicious! My dad brought a huge bucket of freshly picked strawberries which were amazing! Finally, I was able to sleep on the couch much more comfortably than I thought I would...of course I'm pretty sure the hydrocodone helped out with that!
This morning, Dane made some breakfast, and then we went for a short walk around the block. It felt really nice to get outside. The weather was beautiful. I was able to do 2 laps, each lap being about 1/3 of a mile. I was a little sore and felt a little nauseated when we were done, so I took a little nap (which makes everything better!)
Dane had to leave around 3:00 to pick up his team and head out to Union Academy. My mom and mother-in-law came over to help out. Emma and Dee created some foot scrub when my mom and I took another walk. When we came home, Emma was ready to play "spa". She gave my mom and mother-in-law a very nice foot massage with a salt & peppermint/strawberry scrub. Fancy, eh? I don't know that I'll let her touch my feet. I'm liable to kick her right in the face, and I don't think that will go over very well...
I have so much more to write, but I'm two minutes away from my pain meds, and I'm definitely feeling it... I will pick back up later.
Love you guys!
Jen
This morning, Dane made some breakfast, and then we went for a short walk around the block. It felt really nice to get outside. The weather was beautiful. I was able to do 2 laps, each lap being about 1/3 of a mile. I was a little sore and felt a little nauseated when we were done, so I took a little nap (which makes everything better!)
Dane had to leave around 3:00 to pick up his team and head out to Union Academy. My mom and mother-in-law came over to help out. Emma and Dee created some foot scrub when my mom and I took another walk. When we came home, Emma was ready to play "spa". She gave my mom and mother-in-law a very nice foot massage with a salt & peppermint/strawberry scrub. Fancy, eh? I don't know that I'll let her touch my feet. I'm liable to kick her right in the face, and I don't think that will go over very well...
I have so much more to write, but I'm two minutes away from my pain meds, and I'm definitely feeling it... I will pick back up later.
Love you guys!
Jen
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Yeah Jen! She is looking great and we are in room 766 at downtown Presby. Had a long wait in recovery, but mainly just waiting two hours for an open room. She is in great spirits and the kids are on their way to check out mom. I will give the more detailed story of the day (pictures included) later in the night once we get all settled.
Just spoke with Dr. Capezzi. Everything went well from a reconstruction stand point. She is in recovery right now. Hopefully we will be able to get her in a room and see her no later than 5:00. We will give a bigger post later this evening with an update of the whole days events and how we are all doing.
Just spoke with Dr. Turk and everything went well during the first (mastectomy) of the surgery. Everything looked as expected and the port was put in for chemo. Dr. Capezzi is in now working on the new set. I told him to take his time and make them look pretty. He said about 1 1/2 hours so I am hoping to have some sort of update for everyone around 3:00.
A dose of breast cancer humor:
A dose of breast cancer humor:
Sunday, May 17, 2015
Ups & Downs, and All-Arounds...
This was one busy, roller coaster of a weekend... This is likely to be a long post...sorry about that.
Friday evening, Dane came home after picking up Emma from gymnastics. They took longer to get home than I expected, so I figured he grabbed something to eat with her afterwards... When they came home, they had a surprise for me... They registered the entire family for a 5K the next morning. Now...it's important to me that you all understand that I can easily walk/jog a 5K (and more). For reasons not easily understood, the very thought of doing a 5K in front of people watching and cheering makes me absolutely anxious and panicky... I did not want to do this. The 5K was to support "Shirley's Angels" (for more info, http://www.shirleysangels.org/), which helps support breast cancer survivors. It's definitely a cause I'm interested in supporting, but I still Do. Not. Want. To. Do. This.
On Saturday morning, I prayed that the alarm would not go off and we would miss the race. No luck. I dragged my feet as long as I could and then I finally got myself dressed and ready. Once we found a parking spot, we started walking towards the starting area. Emma and I were walking together, and Jake and Dane were walking together. I started feeling extremely panicky and felt like I was hyperventilating... tears were streaming down. I could not handle this. I had to stop. Emma ran up to tell Dane that I was crying. I don't know how long it took, but I was able to calm myself down a little and we started walking toward the starting area again.
Once we got to all the tents, I had to go find a spot to sit. Emma and Jake came up to me to give me some pink beads and a "Survivor" sash. Ugh. Bring on the tears...again. Dane came to sit with me. He felt horrible. He had no idea. He truly thought that this would be a fun morning. I felt like a complete basket-case, and I hate that Dane's plan turned out so crummy.
The race began, and we all started walking. We sent Jake and Emma on--told them that they should actually race--and they did. Dane and I walked together. By the end of mile 1, we were chatting again. I was feeling better. By the end of mile 2, I put that stupid sash on. By the end of the race, I was feeling much better.
Friday evening, Dane came home after picking up Emma from gymnastics. They took longer to get home than I expected, so I figured he grabbed something to eat with her afterwards... When they came home, they had a surprise for me... They registered the entire family for a 5K the next morning. Now...it's important to me that you all understand that I can easily walk/jog a 5K (and more). For reasons not easily understood, the very thought of doing a 5K in front of people watching and cheering makes me absolutely anxious and panicky... I did not want to do this. The 5K was to support "Shirley's Angels" (for more info, http://www.shirleysangels.org/), which helps support breast cancer survivors. It's definitely a cause I'm interested in supporting, but I still Do. Not. Want. To. Do. This.
On Saturday morning, I prayed that the alarm would not go off and we would miss the race. No luck. I dragged my feet as long as I could and then I finally got myself dressed and ready. Once we found a parking spot, we started walking towards the starting area. Emma and I were walking together, and Jake and Dane were walking together. I started feeling extremely panicky and felt like I was hyperventilating... tears were streaming down. I could not handle this. I had to stop. Emma ran up to tell Dane that I was crying. I don't know how long it took, but I was able to calm myself down a little and we started walking toward the starting area again.
Once we got to all the tents, I had to go find a spot to sit. Emma and Jake came up to me to give me some pink beads and a "Survivor" sash. Ugh. Bring on the tears...again. Dane came to sit with me. He felt horrible. He had no idea. He truly thought that this would be a fun morning. I felt like a complete basket-case, and I hate that Dane's plan turned out so crummy.
The race began, and we all started walking. We sent Jake and Emma on--told them that they should actually race--and they did. Dane and I walked together. By the end of mile 1, we were chatting again. I was feeling better. By the end of mile 2, I put that stupid sash on. By the end of the race, I was feeling much better.
Shortly afterwards, we ate breakfast and then went home, Dane headed to Highlands for a playoff soccer game (which they won!) and I took a 2 hour nap. I
Took Jake to his baseball game, and then afterwards, we headed to the pool, where we met up with Emma's friend and her mom. The kids swam for a couple of hours and then Emma went to her friend's house for a sleepover (so they could plan their talent show dance...). Jake and I headed out for some ice cream and then went home.
This morning, we all met up with Emma and her friends for breakfast. I got to hear all about their dance and how it all came together. Sounded like they all had a blast--although they all had that exhausted look in their eyes!
We headed out to Jake's tennis match (which took forever) and then came home. We were home just enough time to pack our swim bag and get ready to go to the pool. About 5 minutes before we left, a friend called and said that they had had a barbecue and had a lot of stuff left. She wanted to know if we wanted to come over to pick up some leftovers to take to the pool with us. Sounded pretty good to me (they make some pretty amazing BBQ!).
When we pull up to their driveway, I notice a huge sign in the yard... I stop the van, read the sign, and look at Dane. "Did you know about this??" He says yes... He says keep driving. When I pull all the way up, there are a ton of people in the backyard. All my friends. Amazing. Wonderful. Overwhelming. I almost cried.
After eating and visiting with everyone, Dane starts with a speech thanking everyone for all of their heart-felt support. He explains that we are going to take all of the bras that people have brought and burn them in the bonfire! The first ones to go were me, Jake, and Emma. It was crazy. Then, one by one, volunteers came up to the clothesline, grabbed a bra and said such nice things about me. This is when I lost it. It was tough! Dane even got teary-eyed.
It was such an amazing surprise. I feel so honored. I feel so lucky to have such wonderful friends in my life.
Dane, you are my hero. I love you more than I can explain.
Friday, May 15, 2015
She knows me well.....
I have to say that my wife knows me very well. I have always had a great deal of anxiety and anyone who has ever sat at a desk with me knows that I cannot sit still and will pick up and handle everything you own. In fact, my parents make me sit in the middle of the couch at their house so I don't pick things off the end tables and break them. In an effort to keep me relaxed during surgery and the days that follow my wife was kind enough to order me a special set of stress relief "balls" that I can keep with me.
The are quite fun and life-like although a little smaller than I am used to. We are both slightly ashamed of ourselves as our son Jake is fascinated by them and throws them around the house all day. It is a strange world when you sit back and realize you are playing toss in the living room with your eight year old son using a rubber boobie.
In all seriousness though, this is my first post to the blog. I just want to say how amazed I am by the power, grace and strength displayed by my wife during this entire process. Her humor compassion and concern for how it is affecting others is amazing. I am quite sure she is going to come through this with flying colors and my biggest problem will be getting her to rest and follow doctors orders as she will most definitely try to get moving sooner rather than later after surgery.
In closing I want to focus on you guys, the followers of this blog. I am overwhlemed, blessed and proud of the response from our community, our school, our former schools, our families and friends. The meal train from LCS, the house keeping from Mallard Creek, the inundation of gift cards from athletes, students, parents, etc has been unexpected and truly amazing. We wish that we could thank each of you personally and let you know how much your assistance means to use, but it is hard to keep up and many of you have given anonymously from the kindness of your heart.
Dane
“Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...It's about learning to dance in the rain.
Thursday, May 7, 2015
A New Week...A New Doctor...
We met with Dr. Kuo today (pronounced like status quo). I liked him quite a bit. Apparently he is friends with my first oncologist, Dr. Chai, which made me feel even better. He talked with us for about 35 minutes about our options for treatment after surgery. He told us that he wanted to look at two general "tests" for risk recurrence.
The first was the "adjuvent online" which takes basic parameters and determines the statistical probability of recurrence. This test said that with just a mastectomy, my chances for recurrence are 20%. With an additional "estrogen blocking" therapy it reduces my recurrence risk to 12%. Finally, if I add chemo to the other two therapies, the chances of recurrence are reduced to 6%.
The second one is the Oncotype DX test. The Oncotype test can't be done until the tumor is out and sent to a pathologist.
So, we decided to have my surgeon put in the port during the surgery. We will send out the tumor to do the Oncotype test. If the results of that test come back with a super low number (meaning low chance of recurrence), then it may mean another discussion is necessary...
If I do chemo, it will be 4 rounds of Cytoxan and Adrimyacin, occurring every 14 days, immediately followed by 4 rounds of Taxol, occurring every 14 days. It will suck, but it will truly only be 4 months. I would likely start by the beginning of July, and it would be over by the end of October...
One issue with Adrimyacin though...it can cause some damage to your heart. Dr. Kuo said that there is a clinical trial that is available at Huntersville Presby (Novant, or whatever it's called now) that is looking to see if a particular drug can help protect the heart when a patient is having to take Adrimyacin. If I decide to do it, I would have an oncology cardiologist who would be closely monitoring my heart through all of it.
I think that it's all starting to affect Dane. The initial shock and getting our plan laid out is over, and now I think that the stress is setting in. Personally, I think that cancer, in general, is harder on the caregivers.
So...it's a lot to take in.
The first was the "adjuvent online" which takes basic parameters and determines the statistical probability of recurrence. This test said that with just a mastectomy, my chances for recurrence are 20%. With an additional "estrogen blocking" therapy it reduces my recurrence risk to 12%. Finally, if I add chemo to the other two therapies, the chances of recurrence are reduced to 6%.
The second one is the Oncotype DX test. The Oncotype test can't be done until the tumor is out and sent to a pathologist.
So, we decided to have my surgeon put in the port during the surgery. We will send out the tumor to do the Oncotype test. If the results of that test come back with a super low number (meaning low chance of recurrence), then it may mean another discussion is necessary...
If I do chemo, it will be 4 rounds of Cytoxan and Adrimyacin, occurring every 14 days, immediately followed by 4 rounds of Taxol, occurring every 14 days. It will suck, but it will truly only be 4 months. I would likely start by the beginning of July, and it would be over by the end of October...
One issue with Adrimyacin though...it can cause some damage to your heart. Dr. Kuo said that there is a clinical trial that is available at Huntersville Presby (Novant, or whatever it's called now) that is looking to see if a particular drug can help protect the heart when a patient is having to take Adrimyacin. If I decide to do it, I would have an oncology cardiologist who would be closely monitoring my heart through all of it.
I think that it's all starting to affect Dane. The initial shock and getting our plan laid out is over, and now I think that the stress is setting in. Personally, I think that cancer, in general, is harder on the caregivers.
So...it's a lot to take in.
Monday, May 4, 2015
Who's Knocking on My Door at 8:00 am on Sunday??
On Saturday, Dane told me that he set up an early Mother's Day breakfast for our family, my mom, and Dane's mom. When he told me that I had to be ready at 8:00, I was truly stunned... I didn't even know that there WAS an 8:00 am on Sunday... Anyway, I grumbled all morning as I got ready. Truly in disbelief that HE would plan something SO EARLY in the morning!
When the doorbell rang, I was confused... neither of our parents ring the doorbell--they just walk on in. I pulled back the curtain and there was a huge bouquet of flowers and 5 amazing women (and I think a couple of iPhones taking pictures of my confused face!). I look at Dane. I look back out the window. Dane is smiling, and I now realize that I have been set up!
Stephanie, Leigh, Kara, Lisa, and my mom were all there to take me out for a surprise! I was just supposed to grab my purse and get in the car!
About 40 minutes later, we arrived at the "Spa at Ballantyne Resort." I was just so surprised and overwhelmed by it all!
I had an amazing massage. It was soooooo relaxing. When we were all done, we sat in the sauna for a few minutes and then lounged in our robes drinking cucumber water, snacking on granola bars, and chatting about all sorts of unimportant fun things!
After we all got dressed, we headed up to the restaurant for brunch. Brunch was delicious--I got the chicken and waffles--odd, but delicious!
It was such a thoughtful, wonderful, fun day! I don't even know where to begin to thank them all. I feel very lucky to have such awesome women in my life!
Friday, May 1, 2015
Was this the longest week ever??
I'm not sure why this week felt so long... By Tuesday, I swear it felt like it should have been Friday! Maybe it was so long because it was the first week in awhile in which I was at work every day!! Between Spring Break, the 6th grade Camp Weaver trip, and then all those *unexpected* doctor appointments, there have been a lot of broken-up weeks! Maybe it's also felt so long because now that the surgery date is set, I just have to wait for it to get here...
Tonight was the Huntersville/Cornelius Relay for Life event. The Survivors & Caretakers Lap was scheduled to begin at 7:15. Dane had a game today at 5:00, so I wasn't sure if we would make it on time, which bummed me out a little. What happened, though, was pretty amazing... Our Lady Eagles beat Highland Tech 9-0, and so the game ended early!! We got there with 5 minutes to spare! We met up with Meredith and her family, we did our lap, and then started checking out the freebies!
Out of the blue, Jake starts yelling, "Mom! Mom!! The soccer girls are here!" And sure enough, coming down the stairs towards the track was the soccer team. Absolutely blew me away. Made me feel so special!
...Emma was pretty ticked off that she didn't make the picture... She was somewhere getting her face painted!
While I was there, I saw an old friend from my days at Lake Norman Charter. Valena volunteered and tutored kids there in the early days of the school. She came in my classroom one or two days a week and helped work with small groups. She is also a survivor, and we walked several laps comparing stories and catching up. It was really great to see her again, and talk about all of our experiences.
Thank you all for your positive thoughts and prayers!
Tonight was the Huntersville/Cornelius Relay for Life event. The Survivors & Caretakers Lap was scheduled to begin at 7:15. Dane had a game today at 5:00, so I wasn't sure if we would make it on time, which bummed me out a little. What happened, though, was pretty amazing... Our Lady Eagles beat Highland Tech 9-0, and so the game ended early!! We got there with 5 minutes to spare! We met up with Meredith and her family, we did our lap, and then started checking out the freebies!
Out of the blue, Jake starts yelling, "Mom! Mom!! The soccer girls are here!" And sure enough, coming down the stairs towards the track was the soccer team. Absolutely blew me away. Made me feel so special!
...Emma was pretty ticked off that she didn't make the picture... She was somewhere getting her face painted!
While I was there, I saw an old friend from my days at Lake Norman Charter. Valena volunteered and tutored kids there in the early days of the school. She came in my classroom one or two days a week and helped work with small groups. She is also a survivor, and we walked several laps comparing stories and catching up. It was really great to see her again, and talk about all of our experiences.
Thank you all for your positive thoughts and prayers!
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