Just another adventure…
I have the MRI of my liver scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.
I have also learned that I don’t need a port to start chemo. They can use an IV. Chemo starts Monday, November 3.
I am looking into cooling caps to help me keep my hair. I am also looking into nutrition and foods that are naturally supposed to help fight breast cancer. I’m reading your messages and feeling thankful for strong support systems, for a job I love, and for my husband who is going through this alongside me.
The Radiologist must not work on Fridays or had yesterday off. When I got my PET scan on Thursday morning, I vaguely remember someone saying to me that if I didn’t get those results on Thursday, it would probably be on Monday (and I got those results right away). We are now waiting until Monday to get my liver MRI scheduled because someone needs to tell the schedulers what type of contrast or dye is needed. And trust me, we aren’t waiting around. Jeff called the Radiology Scheduling Team probably 10 times yesterday and I called 3 times in order to get this moving along. When I called, I was told that “we have to follow the process”.
I need the MRI so I can find out if I need the biopsy so I can find out if this cancer has spread to my liver. (Also, ew, the word “liver” is so gross.)
And no matter what, I need to get a port put in place in order to start chemo treatment. But for some reason, the schedulers decided to put my first chemo treatment on the calendar for 11/3 without rescheduling the port placement, which is currently scheduled for 11/11 along with the liver (ew!) biopsy I may or may not need.
And so as of now, things are scheduled out of order for reasons we don’t know anything about, and we probably won’t know anything for a few more days… which is SO STRESSFUL and why I’m up so fricking early thinking about this and typing this all out on a Saturday morning!!!
Yesterday morning on my way to work, I was listening to KEXP on the radio as always. The DJ, John Richards, read a letter from a listener named Carly. It sounded like she was getting an MRI for a brain cancer scan the other day and wrote in to KEXP which was read on the air, and listeners had sent her messages of support in response. Carly responded to give an update and say thank you, and included in that, John read something along these lines:
Feeling part of a community of caring, kind, and loving people is a huge help in our ability to face hardships. It’s like having a bulletproof vest for our soul.
Thank you for your messages of love, support, and strength so we can face this head on. I am frustrated that I have to wait to get answers but also recognizing that I can use this time to gear up and work on that bulletproof vest for my soul.
On Monday, October 6, when I woke up that morning, I felt a lump. It was a weird and unusual lump in my left breast. I had Jeff feel it and he agreed that it was weird. I only felt it because of how I was laying. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have known. I immediately called my doctor network, Kaiser, who got me in for a phone appointment that same day. The next day, I went in for a mammogram and an ultrasound. I could see the results and I know what “spiculated” meant from being at appointments with my dad. Cysts do not grow like that. Tumors do. It was no surprise to me that they wanted me to get a biopsy two days later. It was a surprise that they saw something in my lymph nodes under my armpit on the same side. And when the results of the biopsy came back, it was confirmed that I have breast cancer. Happy 50th birthday to me!
Fast forward to today.
I had a PET CT scan, genetic blood work, flu & COVID shots, and met with the surgeon, the oncologist, and radiologist (3 separate appointments) at Kaiser. They confirmed it spread to my lymph nodes under my armpit on my left side. They preliminarily staged it at 2B. Invasive ductal carcinoma. HER2 positive, double hormone negative.
Then the PET scan results came in, and that showed a hot spot in my liver that is “concerning”. If the cancer spread to my liver, it is stage 4 and not curable. I am getting an urgent MRI done on my liver (yet to be scheduled, they were gone for the day).
IF IT IS GOOD NEWS and they can tell it hasn’t spread to my liver from the upcoming MRI, then I move forward with getting a chest port for chemo infusions and start the 18 week course of chemo (6 times every 3 weeks).
IF IT IS BAD NEWS on the MRI, I have to get a liver biopsy where I go under in surgery, and that is scheduled for 11/11 along with getting a chest port put in. And then soon after, I start the 18 weeks of chemo. But if it is in my liver, it’s likely in my blood also. That is really bad. But one day at a time.
For either path – Towards the end of chemo, I meet with the surgeon again and either get a lumpectomy or a mastectomy or a double mastectomy. What I do depends on the results from the liver MRI / liver biopsy and genetic testing. But the surgeon was confident she could remove the cancer from the breast and take care of the lymph node area. Lumpectomy is 1-2 weeks of recovery and a mastectomy is 6-8 weeks. There is no advantage to one over the other unless my genetics or the biopsy say otherwise.
Then at the end of all this, like in 7-8 months from now, there is radiation and infusion therapy. Radiation is 5 weeks, every day. I think I also get HER2 therapy of some sort at this point, but this is where they lost me.
For now, let’s just hope it is not in my liver. One day at a time.
We decided a blog post is probably the easiest way to keep everyone updated on this journey. This way, I can post, or Jeff can post, or someone else can post for us. You can subscribe to the blog. We will share directions on how to do that at some point. We will also link to the blog on Facebook and on Instagram stories because most, but not all, of our peeps are on one of those. And it is so retro! I used to blog like 20 years ago, and I loved doing it. I love a good throwback.
Rosie's Cancer Journey 