More good news - and a little hilarity too!

First of all I got good news from DocO today. My MRI on my leg came back all clear, and I do not need to have another for 6 months, which I think is the 2nd Friday in June. I don't even remember the date, so that is a good thing. Usually those dates are forever imprinted on my brain, so I must not be too worried and am enjoying the hiatus!
As I mentioned on Tuesday, I have lung scans in 60 days. If they are clear, then I will go back on a 90 day cycle. One sad thing - I learned from DocO that my chemo doc, Gina D'Amato just annouced that she is leaving Emory so I will be seeing the new Sarcoma specialist they are hiring. I don't have a name or know anything about the new doc. If the new one has not started by Feb, DocO said I could come back to him and he could order my CT's, which is what I prefer, as long as I am clean. I may have the next set there, and if I get moved to the 90 days cycle move back to DocO for the CT's.
Actually, I should be too embarressed to walk in DocO's building ever again. When preping for my MRI today, they had me put on some green scrubs with a tie around the waist. Since I was just laying down I did not tie the tightly. After the MRI, I walked back into the small waiting area where patients who have already been marked for scans and have changed sit to wait to be called in for their scans. They allowed Bob to be in there while waiting for me and there were two other male patients in there as well. I sat down by Bob to go through my messy purse to find the locker key where I'd put my own clothing. After getting the key I took about 3 steps away from Bob in the center of the room, and my overly sized scrub pants dropped to my ankles. There I was in the waiting area with my top and panties on, and pants at my feet. It was like a cartoon or bad sitcom. It was definitely an "I Love Lucy" moment. I grabbed my pants and quickly pulled them up looking around the room to see who was watching. The other two men had their eyes fixed on whatever they were readying (at that second anyway) and Bob was just in shock. We both just busted out laughing and had tears streaming down our faces. I got to the dressing room as quickly as I could to change cracking up the whole way. One nurse stopped me to see if I was ok - guess she though I was crying. I was still giggling by the time I got back to Bob, and had cleared that room and he was in there alone. I was a riot, and I still can't stop laughing about it. All I could think of was that DocO better give me a good report, because I was in too silly of a mood, to acccept any bad news! I am a bit afraid it will be on U Tube tonight from one of those other patients cell phones!
Bob leaves for England Sunday and I will join him on the 21st. We hope you have a wonder holiday. We will be back before the new year and check in with you then! Many thanks for watching out for me and following the blog! It is so great to be able to report good news - I don't care who sees me in my underwear!
Geri

Good scans!

It seemed to take all day but the results were worth waiting for! Nothing new in my lungs, and it appears other spots I have (a couple on my liver and fibroid tumor on my uterous) have not changed and have been there a long time. We got there at 9:45 for scans and they were an hour late. I did not get in to see the doctor until 130 but had an 1130 appointment. I think they were working me in in both cases as my original appmt was in the afternoon and they changed to "morning". Dr. D'Amato is very thorough and shows the patient a lot of detail. Unlike other docs I have had, she is not trying to rush you in and out, which is probably why she runs late. That is fine with me. I will wait all day for good news. The problem is that I always think it is bad news and she is doing more research to give me a plan. Now that I have had my second set of scans with her, hopefully I will just remember that the time is not an indicator. The patient room we have been in the last two visits has a mirror that is positioned perfectly to see her desk in the outer office from one of the chairs in the patient room. This time Bob was in the "right" chair, so he could see her looking at the computer reviewing scans, biting her sandwich between screens. Of course I thought if I had good news she would be leaping into the room and not sitting there calmly so I read alot into nothing! One day I will learn!
For some reason, I am not nearly as worried about my leg, and I probably should be since it has been 6 months since its been looked at. But we will have news of that on Friday, after my MRI and visit with DocO. So look for a blog update Friday night.
I must have been feeling somewhat confident today because I scheduled a 3pm work appmt today in Macon, thinking I would be out of the hospital by 1:30. I was an hour late, stayed there till 5pm and drove on to Vidalia where I am until Thursday. Typically I am too scared to schedule anything after a scan because I am afraid it will be bad news, and I won't feel like going. But it is not a problem today!
We've spent the last two weekends in Birmingham for family event, and especially visiting my new nephew Grayson. At just over a week old, he was turning himself over already. I am sure he will be doing crunches and yelling "Roll Tide" by January!
Bob leaves Sunday for England, and I will follow him there on the 21st. We both have a lot to do before we go, and I am really hoping when we get there we really can relax and let go of everything else. Last trip there this summer we knew we were coming back to my lung surgery, so it was more stressful, and I was really distracted. Not so this trip!
Thanks for looking in on me. I will blog again on Friday night after my MRI. I have scheduled afternoon work appointments for me so I am feeling postive!

New baby!

Quick update! I have a new nephew thanks to Michelle and Michael! Born 3 weeks early tonight - Grayson Thomas Rosemore 7lbs 14 oz. Mom and baby doing great. We get to meet him later this week when we go to Birmingham for Thanksgiving. Grayson was born on his sister Erin's 19th birthday today! Aunthood is a wonderful thing!

All is well

I just wanted to check in to tell you things continue to go well. I have not started getting anxious about my Dec 8 and 11 scans yet. I think keeping busy really helps. I feel pretty good. I actually put on a regular bra for a few hours twice this week. You may remember that both my lung surgery incision are right long the line where my bra hits. Since I had both lungs cut on, I have the scars to match on both sides. It was not too terribly uncomfortable wearing a real bra (underwire and all) although I am not up for 12 hours of it yet as the area is still tender. On my right side the surgery was two years abo - almost to the date- and it still can be uncomfortable too but I am making progress.
We had an incredible weekend driving topless (don't get too excited - just top down on the convertible) in our glorious Atlanta weather. We are busy trying to get things done before Thanksgiving vacation since Bob leaves for England just a couple of weeks later. He still busy renovating our bath and poweder room, and it is a very time for me at work trying to wrap up things before year end. Before my last trip to England, I had just learned I was going to have lung surgery again, so that overshadowed our vacation a bit. Hopefully, we won't have that news this time around.
If you have been reading this blog since the beginning, you may remember me mentioning Carol Lynn, another Sarcoma patient I met during chemo. She started chemo just after me and the nurses suggested I talk with her and give her some ideas of what to expect. We became friendly and stay in touch, and have even ridden to the Sarcoma support group together. Carol Lynn had another Sarcoma spot in her leg and had to have it removed recently. I just learned tonight she has an infection and will have to have several weeks of IV anti-biotics and a wound vac to keep her incision tight and heal from the inside out. I went through all this same stuff you probably remember - 4 weeks of IV's four times a day and about 3 months of that crazy wound vac. It is a long process and seems like it goes on forever. Please say a prayer for her! She has a great positive attitude and sense of humor and that will serve her well through all this. Mainly it is an inconvenience - for the patient and the caregivers - husbands in both our cases. I remember during that time I became so dependent on Bob. He was keeping me "plugged in" and managing my IV's and wound vac. Just getting up to go to the bathroom was an ordeal because I had to unplug the wound vac and IV and roll the IV cart with me. The IV flushes so much fluid through you that you are always havnig to go to the bathroom. Af ter it was over and I went out of town on my first business trip I cried till I got past the airport - about 40 miles. I was so dependent upon him that I was really scared to be alone. And this was the same woman who was single and lived by herself till she was 44 years old! Carol Lynn's husband seems like a great guy and was always by her side whenever I would see her at chemo (just like Bob) so she is as lucky as I am. It is just going to be a long 6 weeks for her.

And while we are giving out prayers, my friend Karen is having surgery on her heart valve on Tuesday. Karen was part of my "Department of Transportation' that transported me home from chemo. Please put Karen on your list too. There was hardly a week that went by during 2007 when I did not get something from Karen - a card, baked goods, email and like you, she still is out there checking the blog regularly.

We are off to be with family for Thanksgiving in Birmingham and Uncle Charles and Aunt Jan's and will stay with Michael and Michelle. Although it will be a couple of weeks early, I am really hoping their baby boy will arrive that weekend! I keep kidding them that a real Rosemore would not miss both the Alabama-Auburn game and the SEC championship with Bama playing, so I am betting he will arrive soon.

We have an awful lot to be thankful for this year, so once again, Thanksgiving will be important to us. We hope you have a great holiday and will get back with you after scan on Dec 8 (chest, pelvic and abdomin) and Mri on leg Dec 11.

Doing well, enjoying life

I have not updated in a while, and as usual, that is good news. I am feeling pretty good and working on getting my stamina back. But mainly, I am just working and watching a little tennis and football. Until this week, we have had wet weather and I have used that as an excuse to not go for a walk. No excuses now because it is just beautiful here, and I really need to get my energy level up so I can get back on the tennis court.

My chest CT date changed to Dec 8, and I have my leg MRI on Dec 11. I am really busy at work so hopefully I will not have time to worry about the scans for a while! Bob leaves for England on Dec 13, and I will leave to meet him there for Christmas Dec 21. My new nephew should arrive a couple of weeks before I leave, and I cannot wait to meet him!

Bob is in the process of remodeling our guest bathroom. It is going to be very pretty, and I am very excited. You cannot imagine how much a mess one small room can make. He's promised to have it finished by Thanksgiving, and he is making good progress. In the meantime, there seems to be a fine layer dust in every room in the house, and we have tools, fixtures, and "things" all over the house and that just drives me crazy! I am really ready for this project to be done!

I am still going to my Sarcoma support group each month and enjoying that very much. Until today, I was also on this Sarcoma "list serve" thing from ACOR (American Cancer thing). Mainly information about Sarcoma is funnelled through there and others with Sarcoma email back and forth. Everyone is very helpful, and you can learn about clinical trials, new technology, communicate with people who have your same illness or are sarcoma caregivers, and know what your are going through. There were a few people I emailed "off line" for a while, where our emails were just sent to each other and not to the whole group. Unfortunately, many of these folks are very, very sick. It is always great to read when someone had good scans and is having a good day. There are a lot more emails about really bad days or from caregivers telling us their loved one is in hopsice or has passed away. There are many sad stories, and the ones about children with Sarcoma are especially heartbreaking. Today, I realized this was hurting me too much, and I am not helping anyone at all. It is very painful and scary reading about the state the patients are in. I do my best to send them all my best wishes and prayers and be supportive, but, I need to leave the group for a while. It is so depressing and frightening. I "signed off" the list tonight so I will no longer see the emails each day. I feel guilty for leaving, but it is something I have to do right now for me. I am sure at some point I will sign back on, but I am just not able to do it right now.

Otherwise, life is good, and we are enjoying every minute. I am so lucky to be feeling good and am able to work and spend time with family and friends. Nothing makes me happier!

Breathing deeper and easier

Finally, today I feel much better. I can breath deeper without it hurting and say more than two sentences with having to stop and rest and catch my breath. I really took it easy this weekend only leaving home to run a couple of errands on Saturday. I thought I would feel great as soon as they drained the litre of fluid off my lung Wednesday, but it really took me a few days to bounce back. I think I am there now!

I have not heard anything about lab work on the fluid they drained. If I do not hear anything by Wednesday, I will call. Unless there is something unusual there, I do not see the doctor again until my next scans Dec 1. I do have several more days of antibiotics to take in case there is an infection.

Whew! So now Bob and I are just getting on life. I am hoping to try to hit some tennis balls soon and hope to play on my team this spring. One day at a time!

Procedure OK

I thought I had blogged last night, but either I forgot to save it or the anti-anxiety medicine made me a little loopier than I thought. The procedure went fine and really did not hurt. They deadened the area and with a needle and tube drained out over a liter of fluid which was close to 2 lbs. I actually lost 3 lbs yesterday, most of it lung fluid I have been carrying around for a while. I think my back and chest do feel better, but and I am tired and my breathlessness seems worse. I could breath a little deeper without pain before, and if I hiccup or belch it hurts. We believe the procedure just probably irrated everything. If I still have problems tomorrow I will give the doc a call. At this point, I am just thrilled there were no tumors to be seen. I will have scans in the same areas on Dec 1, and MRI on my leg Dec 11.

Yesterday the whole process seemed to take forever. They took an xray about 20 minutes after they drained my lung. Then I had to wait 2 hours so they could xray again. I assume they were waiting to see if the lung filled back up again. Both xrays looked identical so that was good news, and they let me go home. We were there from 845 till about 230 and were there even longer the day before. But it is over now, and I hope this will help me heal faster!

Hopefully, we will head over to England for Christmas my scans, with Bob probably going a week or so earlier. Michael and Michelle are having a baby boy no later than Dec 10, and I am not going to miss that. I don't get the chance to be an aunt again every day! I will fly over a few days before Christmas.

I will check in with you in a few days and let you know how this lung thing is doing. I am ready for it to be over so I can start playing tennis before it gets too cold!

Good news with a little hiccup

Scans today free of tumors in my chest, abdomin and pelvic are so thta is great news. I do have a lot of fluid in my left lung. It is probably a post surgery infection. I was running fever at night after surgery but this fluid did not show up in xrays when I saw Dr. Miller earlier in the month. I will have a simple procedure in the morning to drain the fluid off. They will not even need to put me to sleep, but they did give me a little anti anxiety medicine to take the edge off. Something about someone putting a needle and chest tube in your lung to drain fluid cause my heart to flutter a little. Sister Cindy has had this done to her before and she and Michael assure me it is not a big deal. The doctor promises I will feel a 1000 times better after. I have been very tired and not comfortable, but I thought was just normal post surgical pain to be expected. I think that is a problem with many of us. We are used to dealing with some amount of discomfort and it is hard to tell when it is something else Now that this has been discovered I am sure they will check me to make sure I am all taken care off. They have given me an antibiotic to take for 2 weeks - Cipro. I think that is what they give for Anthrax too so if we have a problem with that I am covered. They will send the fluid to the lab to make sure they have the right antibiotic to treat me, and to check for cancerous cells. However, no tumors so I am pretty certain it will be an infection.
I had a few spot on my liver but at least one of them I have had for years and it has not changed. This is the first time in a long time they have scanned me with contrast, so they are probably seeing things that have always been there. Both Cindy and Michael have these spots so I think it is just a genetic thing.
I really feel good about all this and am not worried. In fact, I am elated there is no sign of additional tumors, so please don't let this worry you either. I will blog tomorrow after it is over and I am not too loopy.
I had myself scheduled out the rest of the week for a business trip. In fact, I was to leave just after my doctor's appmt and head to Milledgeville for the night and then to the Vidalia area until Friday. I tried to get them to at least schedule the procedure for Thursday, so I could go to Milledgeville today and come back tomorrow but they would not do it. Funny, I feel a lot worse now that I know something is wrong, so I guess I am glad I did not go! I am sure it will be a more fun and productive trip when I get this fluid out of my lung.
All in all, pretty good news with a very minor setback. I should be fine and feeling good on Thursday!

A good week

I just wanted to let you know I made it though my first week back at work okay. I had a few long days, but managed to hold up pretty well and am very glad to be back. I did have a pretty lazy weekend and got a good bit of rest, so I should be ready to go Monday morning. I am trying to not overdue it, which I have a bad habit of doing. I won't travel out of town overnight until next week, so I mainly will have local or day trips which is not too bad. Fortuantely, my car seats are pretty comfortable so driving is usually not too much of a problem for me.

I have scans next Tuesday, Sept 29. They will do a CT on my chest, abdomin and pelvic areas, with contrast, so I have to drink something next Monday night and again on Tuesday morning before the scan. I don't recall doing that before. Also, the CT's I have had in the last couple of years they just looked at my chest, and not pelvic and abdomin. I am not sure what that is all about, but am assuming they just want to be thorough, and I am all for that! I will get a preliminary report from Dr. D'Amato shortly after the scans Tuesday afternoon, and a more in depth report a few days later from radiology. If all is well, I think we will start looking at airline schedules to make plans to go to England for Christmas. I will have two more scans (MRI on leg Dec 11 and CT's again in late November) before our trip, but we really cannot wait till after those to get plane tickets.
Keep your fingers crossed for a good report next week!

A tribute to a wonderful friend

A million years ago when I was in college, I did a summer internship in the US Senate for Jim Allen of Alabama and befriended a woman, Jackie, whose was sort of my supervisor then. When I got out of college, and the Senator had an openning on his staff, Jackie told them I was the only one she wanted to work for her and she got me back to Washington for a real job (if there is such a thing on Capitol Hill). When Senator Allen died in office, and we both had to look for jobs, Jackie worked much harder helping me find a new position, than she did securing one for herself. Jackie had children my age and was more like a mother to me. In fact, she and her husband Mack, always referred to me as their "step daughter", and I really was their 5th child.

I probably have not seen Jackie in 25 years, but we've stayed in touch all this time. Jackie was one of the first people I contacted, when I found out I had sarcoma in 2006. She provided me the same loving support as she had years earlier. Less than a year ago, she told me her constant backache was lung cancer. We had lots of conversations about chemo, radiation, losing hair (although I don't think she ever did) and the hard task of letting someone else take care of you. No one was more independent, more "take charge" than Jackie, so this whole cancer thing was going to be a major change for her. She seemed to be handling things okay, happy with the life she'd led, no regrets, and willing to let her children and friends help her. When we talked several weeks ago, her voice did not seem as strong. When I found out about my reoccurance in June, I did not call and tell her, because I knew she would worry more about me than herself. That is just the kind of person she is.

Today, I learned from her daughters, that Jackie's illness has gotten much worse all of the sudden, and the doctors are stopping all treatment exept pain and anxiety medicine. Hospice has been called in, signaling that these are her last days. I always had "plans" to visit Jackie this summer, but somehow I never got around to it. Then I got scheduled for surgery and decided to put my visit off a few months. Much too late, I am afraid. I learned so much from Jackie - about life, friendship, loyalty, and work ethic, just to name a few. I was feeling pretty crappy today that I never took the time to time to go and visit her. Then I realized that was making this "all about me" and not about her. Jackie has had life a wonderfully full life and is surrounded by family and friends who love, adore, and respect her. When I called today, she had had 18 visitors. And although she was not conscious enough to acknowledge them, at some level she knew they were there for her. I sent her an email tonight, and her daughter Donna is reading it to her now. Even before that, I know she knew how much I loved her and how important she is to me. While I can't be there in person for her now, she is always in my heart.

Ready to go!

I had a chest xray and saw Dr. Miller yesterday. He said everything looked good. There was a lot of scar tissue but he said that was to be expected. Otherwise I am healing nicely, and he said I could go back to work Monday. I asked him about restrictions and tried to get him to agree to no cooking, cleaning or heavy lifting (physical or mental) but he did not go for that all. I can do anything I want to do -including playing tennis. Now I just have to get my energy back. I have not been walking as much as I should, and I am paying for it now. I went to the bank and grocery store today and was exhausted when I came home. I would have thought all the tennis and football I have been watching would have rubbed off but it looks like I am going to have to quit being a coach potato. Before I started playing tennis, I used to say the most exercise I got was jumping to conclusions. I have to get on a different track now so I can last through a long day without taking a nap. Too bad we don't get nap time anymore like in nursery school! I am so mentally ready to go back to work, that I am sure the physical part will kick in too - but maybe a tad more slowly. So we are off for a walk after dinner.

Dr. Miller wants to see me for scans in 3 months. I told him Dr. D'Amato was scanning me every 60 days so hopefully he will just review her scans. I am to call him after she scans me so he can review them. That is the great thing about all my doctors being part of the Emory system. All my visits, xrays, CT, MRI's are all on line and anybody within Emory can access them at anytime. I never have to get reports from one place to another and it saves alot of time. When I have my CT scans for Dr. D'Amato on Sept 29 at the hospital, I will be able to go straight to her office for a preliminary report. She will be able to look at it them immediately and give me some idea of what she sees. Then she will get an official report from the radiologist a day or so later. I have never had the doctor call back to tell me radiology saw anything different, so I assume their initial assessment is generally pretty good.

Someone asked me if I was concerned about having all these scans and what they can do to you -- like cause cancer. Well, duh! I know that is an issue, but I really need to be having these frequently so they can stay on top of anything that grows. When Dr. Oskouei saw the spot on my lungs June 12, I think that was almost a blessing. That was my 2 year mark, and had I been clean, I think they would have moved my scans to every 6 months instead of every three. While I was happy to not have to go to the doc as much. it did worry me that something would pop up and have 6 whole months to grow before we would catch it. I know that is a backwards way to look at it, but there is a great deal of relief knowing I will be reviewed every 60 days. Hopefully, I can't have too much growth before someone catches it!

The US Open (tennis) is over Sunday, so Monday is the perfect day to go back to work! I am so ready! We have changed seasons since I last worked, so I guess I need to check into a work fall wardrobe. I am not sure what fits anymore. My weight has fluctuated so much in the last 2 years, I think I have clothes in multiple sizes for different season. I am not sure what size went with what season, so I may have to do some shopping this weekend. I did not realize till today, I am walking around with a white purse, and it is after Labor Day! My mother would be horrified!

I will post again soon, but certainly after Sept 29 when I have my chest, abdomin and pelvic CT. That generally just CT my lungs but they want a more thorough look this time, which is fine. I would go for a full body scan every afternoon if that is what they want!

Many thanks to all of your for your prayers, good wishes, cards, emails, etc. and for hanging in there once again for me. Hopefully, we will never have to do this again, but I know having you all there cheering me on will help me get through anything!
Love,
Geri

Ready to start moving

In the last week I have really been able to get my pain under control. In fact, I am not taking any more pain medication than I was before surgery. I had been taking some very light non-narcotic pain medicine since my leg/lung surgery in 2007. It is almost nominal, but just enough to keep me pretty comfortable most of the time. Now I just have to work on stamina. I am going to try to go for walks every day, so if you are in the area drop by for a little stroll. I will be back at work in two weeks and want to be able to easily last the day. In fact, a couple days after I get back, we are having meetings for all our agents, and I am doing part of the presentation (at my request). I need to get my breathing up to par, so they are not having to bring in oxygen to get me through the presentation. Just kidding really. Steps and hills make me a little breathless, so I have to work on that. And of course, I need all that to work if I want to get back on a tennis court soon!

I am getting out a little bit most days. I have gone to lunch and dinner a good bit with friends and work related friends. I actually cooked dinner this week, and my old boss who lives in California was in town and came over. That was a bit of an undertaking but fun. I would do one process, and rest for 20 minutes, and start another - but it got done. I am way past that now, and Bob is pretty much officially off meal duty. I still can't drive, so if he wants to eat he still has to get me to the store unless we have other volunteers - which often we do.

I am starting to do some online training this week, so when I do go back to work I will be up to speed and be able to hit the ground running. I think I may have to go to HGTV Anonymous meetings since I am totally addicted to that. Now that the U.S. Open (tennis) started today, I will be able to wean myself away from HGTV some. And now there is football starting! I am pretty distraught that I will not be able to go to the Bama vs VA Tech game here at the dome on Saturday and will have to watch it from my own 50 yard line seat in our den. Oh well! At least that is closer to the fridge and bathroom!

It is fun to feel almost normal again! I still have a good excuse when chores pop up that I don't want to do since I can't life or bend certain ways, and get tired easily. But I can always "try" the things I do want to be doing! And I can nap whenever I want! One habit that is going to be hard to break - I have been staying up till 1:30am watching TV and sleeping until 9:55am or just a few minutes before any conference call I might have. My real work schedule will not accomodate those hours so I am going to have to make some adjustments pretty soon. I feel like a kid who has been off for the summer, and now has to get back in to school bedtime hours! But I cannot wait to get back to work, and hopefully back to tennis in a couple of months.

I still have not received a list of donars from the Southeastern Sarcoma Foundation Sarcoma Walk yet. So please know, whoever you are, I really am so appreciative for your contribution. I just cannot identify you just yet.

I have an xray on my lungs and visit with Dr. Miller next week on Sept 9. I am counting on those going well and being released back to work Sept 14. Then Sept 29, I have chest, abdominal, and pelvic CT with Dr. D'Amato. She will be doing these every 60 days. Bob and I are starting to think about our trip to England for Christmas, but really cannot make any plans until we see some of these results. She will be doing tests again late Nov and DocO will be doing an MRI on my leg mid December, so scheduling is getting a little tricky. Also, very exciting news - I have a nephew going to be born in early December (Michael and Michelle), and we want to work our trip in after his arrival and Bris probably around Dec 18. It is great to have alot of things to look forward too and not scheduling chemo at this point - or maybe ever!

Please say a prayer for my friend Marion who is starting chemo this Thursday for breast cancer, and also for Janie who is having a lumpectomy on Friday for the same. You are the group who pulled me through all my issues, and I am happy to share your prayers and good wishs with Marion and Janie for the same good results.

I will get back with you after my visit with Dr. Miller next week or possibly in between if I have something to report that is not too boring! Thanks for hanging in there with me!

Making Progress

I am not sure if "Time heals all wounds" (this quickly anyway) or since my head is happier (no chemo)that has helped too. I have felt significantly better the last two days. I am only taking light pain meds during the day (and I was taking these prior to surgery for pain from prior surgeries) and the heavier one at night to make sure I am comfortable and get a good night's sleep. I was up and out a good bit today too! Bob and I went out for breakfast, did a little shopping and then went out for lunch before coming home. It was really a nice day, and we don't do this very often. Usually on a weekend, we are both off doing our own thing most of the day -playing tennis, running errands, meeting friends for lunch or coffee. It was so great to be out together and not someplace where they are trying to stick a needle in me!

We've been looking for materiels - tile, countertops etc, to remodel our guest bath. We'd put the remodeling on hold waiting to see if I needed chemo, knowing we could not have the bathroom torn up if we were going to have all sorts of "visiting nurses". But now we can proceed with plans, so we are excited about that.

My Sarcoma support group met last night. I did not go as I am not quite ready to sit up that long. My friend Karen went and told me they talked about the Sarcoma Walk. They announced at the meeting the Geri Tape "supporters" by far contributed the most to the foundation. I don't know who all contributed, but I know it was more people than just those who were able to attend the walk. Many thanks to all of you. I assure you, it is for a cause that will surely make a difference not just to my life but many others too! We are so appreciative!

Now for a little nap before dinner.....

Making progress!

Woo Hoo - No chemo!

I got my "pie in the sky" wish. No chemo! We met with Dr. D'Amato, and her plan is to watch me very closely, with CT scans every two months for the next 6 months. Then we will move to every three months. I will continue to have MRI's on my leg every 6 months. If the cancer starts to behave agressively, then we will treat it aggressively with some sort of systemic method which could be chemo or something else. Since my tumor was "high grade", I thought that meant is was aggressive. I understand now that it would be aggressive if I was getting a lot of tumors (aka spots) in a short period of time. So, if one or two pop up in my lungs a year from now, they would probably just go in and remove them like they just did. If within the next year, I have several tumors, then we might have to look at chemo or something else. There could be new treatment just around the corner, so being here at Emory is a big advantage for me. As you can imagine, I am thrilled, relieved, and ready to get on with things! I have next scans Sept 29.

I am still pretty uncomfortable, but I feel the weight of the world has been lifted off my shoulders for a while. I was just not mentally or physically prepared to start chemo in a few weeks. Of course I am not sure you every really ready for chemo.

I am supposed to be off work for 6 weeks, but am hoping if I can get comfortable in the next two weeks, I can go back, or at least work from home. We have a lot of exciting things going on at work ( hard to imagine that insurance could be exciting), and I miss being a part of it.

All your good wishes and prayers worked once again for me, and I am so grateful! I am going to sleep good tonight!

My fault not Bob's

I am so sorry it has been a few days since we've blogged or even read personal email. I told Bob I would take over blogging a few days ago, but to be honest, I just have not felt that up to it. Since I got my staples out Thursday, each day does get better. The incision still really hurts, and I have to wind myself up like a pretzel (and take pain meds) to find a comfortable postion to sit or lay. When I am just an hour or two into the 4 hour pain med cycle, the discomfort does ease off a good bit. When I can find the right spot, I feel pretty good. I did not remember lung surgery being so miserable last time. My sisters say I say that about everything, even thinking chemo was not that bad, which is what I have said in the past. It is all coming back to me now! I get excited about going to sleep because I know tomorrow is going to be better than today.

I have had a couple of outings. I got my nails done (have my priorities straight) yesterday and today Syd and I went to Publix for about 20 minutes today. I am bored out of my mind, but I don't feel like doing much. Fortunately, there is a lot of tennis on (tournaments leading to the US Open) and of course HGTV!

Tuesday, I see chemo oncologist, Dr. D'Amato. I don't know that it is certain I will have chemo, and while I am going to be very upset if I do, I will be shocked if I don't. My "pie in the sky" prayer is that they will decide to wait and scan me in 3 months to see if there are any changes first. I am not sure how I came up with that as a treatment option, but I like it. I assume I will have some choice in the matter, and I don't want to do anything stupid. By the same token, if there is a 70% chance of recurrence with chemo and 73% without, I am going to have to do some thinking. If chemo can prevent another lung surgery then there are points in its favor. But if you recall, I had my last chemo mid Sept 2007 and my lung spot popped up around March 2009 -so a year and a half. Is that a long time in "chemo land"? Seems pretty short to me. And there is controversey about the effects (or lack there of) chemo has on types of Sarcoma. Luckily, Dr. D'Amato is well known and an expert in her field. Her patients love her. While I have met her at different Sarcoma events, I have never "worked" with her. I know we are lucky to have her in Atlanta heading Sarcoma research for Emory, so I feel I am in good hands. When she spoke to my sarcoma support group several months ago, they were doing all sorts of reseach for clinical trials for sarcoma patients who have had a recurrence. Maybe there will be something new for me--not as tough as my last chemo.

Taking a shower has been heavenly! Michelle had gotten me all waterproofed while she was here and Dr. Bob took over after that. It worked well, but after a while I get a little sensitive to tape (you'd think with my last name I should not have that problem!) so taking it off and on each day was a bit of a pain. Now I can shower as long as I can stand up - or till the hot water runs out. So Dr. Bob is back in business, and I just hate that he is stuck with all sorts of tasks. We got him a GPS system so he could get to Publix, the cleaners and my nail salon. He has had to be chief cook and bottle washer once again. We constantly have friends bringing over dinner so he has not had to cook much, but he does just about every thing else. We are so fortunate that he can work when he wants to and has not taken on any projects for the next few weeks until we can figure out what is next for me. We went looking for bandaging the other day, and he pulled out 3 huge boxes of medical supplies I had packed away after my 2007 adventure. Just looking at all that stuff reminded me of the medical degree he practically had to get to take care of me back then. I just wonder what people who don't have a Dr. Bob do? I am so lucky.

A bit of a commercial for Emory Midtown (aka Crawford Long) - the nursing staff was just incredible. In recent years, I have heard all sorts of nightmares about how understaffed hospitals are, and nurses are overloaded and may not can get back to the patients as quickly as we would like. The 2nd floor nurses station (heart and lung surgery patients I think) were just amazing. They did everything they could to keep me comfortable. My night nurse, Sonja, was with me on time with pain meds as soon as I was allowed to get them again. I particularly remember her, Debbie, Barbara, and D'Metrie, take extra special care to make sure I was as comfortable as possible- especially three days into my stay when they took the epidural out and the great affects of it started wearing off. They all told me that a thorochotamy was the 2nd worse surgery (I think from a comfort standpoint) to go though. Wonder what #1 is? I try to remind myself, I've made it through 2 of them (and one I did not need) so how can a little chemo get me down? I hope I remember this on Tuesday!

Thank heavens I also had Cindy overnight at the hospital for several nights, then Syd. Both have bad backs, and I am sure their hospital stays made them worse. I owe them both massages, and much more! We had a lot of different funny things happen, and of course, for sisters nothing is off limits, and we can find humor in most everything. While I had the epidural in, laughing was easy, but when it came out. I really had to fight to keep from cracking up because laughing hurt so badly. Cindy discovered I sort of "mumble hum" talking in my sleep. I kept her up all hours of the night, and Syd confimed it as well. I only did it a couple of nights after I got home, so I am guessing it was the affects of some of the drugs I was on. I would have conversations with inflection but not words. Cindy said it was like humming a sentence. She would get so tickled telling me about it, and I am sure the way she told it was funnier than it actually was. She probably does not want me to tell about her knocking over the unrine collection tray in the bathroom in the middle of the night, and she was sort of stuck there in her socks until I could get maintenance in to clean the floor up so she could get out. It was hilarious and worth getting out of bed to see.

Since I have been home this week I have learned that two people I am close to, one from work, and another good friend of mine's Mom have breast cancer. My heart and prayers go out to them daily. I hope they are as lucky as I am to have the incredible support system I have. You all have been so wonderful with your love, prayers and support. That is truly the great part of being sick -finding out all the friends, family, co-workers and even people I've never met - out there cheering me own each day. I am not sure how I got this lucky, but you all pulled me through this mess two years ago. I know we can get through it again if there is more to follow.

I probably won't blog again until after my doctor's visit Tuesday afternoon. Keep your fingers crossed there is another option besides chemo. I am sorry I worried some of you by not blogging. I really am doing better, it is just going to take a little more time before I feel really good.

Tuesday Evening

Sorry blog-watchers, we are tardy with the updates. This is mainly because there is little to report. Every day gets a little bit better and the discomfort less, although getting up and down stairs and in and out of chairs is still a bit painful. Michelle was here Saturday and Sunday and took excellent care of us changing dressings, cooking supper and providing movies to watch. Thank you, Michelle. Geri is catching up on TV watching and has just finished watching a 6 part (6-hour) thriller that Susan lent us. I think she still has 19 recorded episodes of "The View" to watch.

Maybe tomorrow Geri will feel able to blog herself. Watch this space!

Saturday Night

Geri came home from the hospital this afternoon. Syd has gone home, thank you Syd, and Michelle has taken over for a couple of days. Michelle changed the dressings and made them waterproof so Geri could take a real shower. She is still in some pain when she moves or breaths deeply so coming up stairs is an effort, as is getting into, or out of, a chair or bed. Hopefully this will get better with time. Geri will get the clips out of the incision sometime next week and this should help ease the pain. More tomorrow.

Friday 7:30pm

Tonight Dr Miller told us my Pathology report showed exact same cell type as last time. The tumor board met today and Dr. O is supposed to get with Dr. D'Amato to discuss what is next for me, so no decisions yet. They will do scans again in three months. I guess I will hear from Dr. O next week to see if chemo is necessary. I dont know any more than this so all I can do is wait and see. No surprises really. - Geri

The pain level is better than it was last night and Geri has been walking the corridors four times today. Dr. says she can go home tomorrow if she feels up to it. Syd is here and doing the night shift. Will update tomorrow.

Thursday Evening

There is no progress without pain. Geri had the chest tube removed today and with it the epidural that was blocking the pain. Now she can feel the pain from the incision/lung site. They have given her IV Dilaudid and Percocet but at the moment she is not feeling too comfortable. If they can get the pain under control without the IV (i.e. just oral pain killers) she just may be allowed to go home tomorrow, otherwise it will be Saturday. Path report should be back tomorrow.

We really appreciate Cindy being here this week and thank her for her help and support. She is swapping duty with Syd tomorrow. Goodnight Folks.

Wednesday Evening

Everything is progressing well but Geri has a problem getting comfortable. This afternoon she went for a short hike along the corridor and back, which left her a little short of breath sothey put her back on oxygen temporarily. The surgeon said this morning's chest X-ray looked good and they may take the chest tube and the epidural out tomorrow and, if all goes well, Geri may be allowed to go home Saturday.

Tuesday pm

Geri moved from ICU to a regular room after lunch today (lunch for her was beef broth, apple juice and jello). Generally she is feeling OK with some sholder pain and feeling a little jittery from the epidural. She stood up briefly earlier today and the nurse is going to have her walk down the corridor shortly. She had physical therapy this morning and doing breathing exercises whenever the adverts come on the telly (i.e., about every ten to fifteen minutes).

Cindy is on her way here to cover the night shift. This morning Dr. Miller said everything looked fine but Geri would probably be here until Sunday.

Last Sunday Geri went to Publix to get a $500 gift card for our various care givers to use to buy food, drugs, etc over the next few weeks. She also bought a bottle of barbeque sauce. At the checkout the woman behind her, only seeing the bottle of sauce, heard the cashier say that will be $502.25 and ,in amazement ,said to Geri "did you know he said five hundred and two dollars?" Geri say "Yes, but this is really good barbeque sauce".

More tomorrow.

Monday Afternoon

Geri spent a couple of hours in the recovery area and is now in the ICU. She will be there tonight and move to a room tomorrow. Generally she is feeling fine but tired and she has some pain in her sholder which could be from the chest tube or from the way the way they pull your arm up during surgery, or both. The family members have left now (Gladys, Rhoda, Nan and Cindy) and I am waiting for the nextICU visiting slot, 4:30 - 6:30pm. Cindy will be back tomorrow and we will tag-team during the day. I will update the blog tomorrow.

Post-Op

Dr Miller has just reported that everything went well during the surgery. The tumour was about 1.5 cm, not significantly larger than the CT scan indicated about 1 month ago. It was related to the sarcoma and we will know more after the lab work is completed. Geri will move into post-op care shortly and we can see her in about an hour. I'll update the blog later.

First up!

Today was my pre-admissions stuff. I tried to talk Bob out of going with me today and last Monday too since I was just having tests, and he would be sitting around for 4 hours. but he insisted on coming. What a good guy! I was surprised that even though I had a chest CT scan on Monday and a heart echo test, they still made me have a lung xray and ekg today. I learned that you do look at some different things in each.
After all the tests and a quick lunch, we went to Dr. Miller's office. We met with his Physician's Assistant Jim, who we knew from the last surgery. Jim took my chest tubes out last time after they'd removed the epidural. Everyone who had ever had a chest tube before told me getting them out, although quick, was really painful. I told Jim today I never wanted anyone but him taking out my chest tubes. It was quick and easy, so that is one thing I am no longer fearful of.
Jim was basically just reviewing the procedure and checking me out a bit. I was disappointed that he had not looked at my CT scan because I wanted to know if it had changed -either grown or gotten smaller (fat chance). Jim agreed this would be an easier surgery than before, and was certain I would come through it just fine. He said I would "not like them for a few weeks", so I am pretty sure that means, I am going to be pretty uncomfortable for a while. I am not reluctant to take pain medication, so I know we can keep it under control. He thought if I healed normally, I may be able to play tennis in 6 weeks or so; back to work in 3 to 4.
Everything today was pretty much as expected. I have a couple of work things I want to wrap up that should not take more than an hour or two, and a couple of errands to run, and I am ready to go. I am the first patient on Monday. We have to be there at 5:30 a.m. and surgery will not start till around 7:30. I am glad to be first, but I hate that my great cheering squad has to get up so early. The brochure said you should only have a couple of family members in the waiting aream but I think I am up to about 6 right now - Bob, sister Cindy, Aunt Rhoda, Cousins Gladys and Nan, and friend Mitzi. Last time the group screamed in the waiting area when they found out the spots were benign, and security came up to check things out. I hope they hear good news and want to scream, but hopefully we can make it through this whole thing without anyone getting kicked out of the hospital.
We have dinner plans with family and friends all weekend. I have my Sat morning tennis match, getting my hair taken care of, and trying to cook a couple of more things to freeze. So it is a pretty normal weekend, and we are off bright and early Monday morning. I am having problems with my Blackberry and am having it replaced. That means my cell phone will be out of order for a couple of days Monday and Tuesday, so if you are emailing me or trying to call, you may not be able to get me unless you call the hospital. That is probably a good thing, so it means I really will rest. Bob will blog sometime after I am out of surgery and wake up, so you should have an update after lunch. Keep those prayers and good wishes coming. I am counting on them and you to get me through!
Love,
Geri

Getting Ready

I had my pre-op tests on Monday to see if my heart and lungs were strong enough to handle the surgery on Monday, Aug 3. I guess I passed since the doctors bookkeeper called to see how I was going to handle the surgeons fees not covered by medical insurance. If they want my money, it must be okay to cut on me. Flex spending accounts are great. All I had to do was give her that debit card number, and no many has to change hands - so to speak.

I had a little scare in the pre-op drug induced echo gram. The technician was uncertain about a"spot" she saw on my heart. There was a 15 minute scare, and after consulting a resident and a surgeon, they all agreed they were seeing a shawdow. The Lung tech said he could see no reason to postpone surgery. The only thing I don't know about is the CT scan. I am sure Dr. Miller will review before he sees me for my pre-op appmt with him on Friday. Of course, in my crazy head, I have him looking at the films and the spots have disappeared altogether. He is not even considering that as an option, and has taken the scan to see if there are any changes - maybe even any more to come out. He thinks my last spots in Nov 2007 that were non cancerous were a fluke and that is never going to happen again. But a girl can dream! I picture him pulling up those films in front of me on Friday and is suprised to learn the nodules have vanished. Maybe he is looking at the wrong films. He brings in his assistant and yells at her for giving him the wrong films, but she assures him they are correct, and once again I am the miracle girl No surgery. We live happliy every after. The End!

But realistically, I know that would be truly one huge miracle. My best hope is that is a low grade tumor and no chemo is needed. Dr. Miller plucks out the spot. I am in the hospital 5 days, off work three weeks, and back on the tennis courts by Labor Day. This dream could really happen and is a bit more realistic.

We had fun at the Sarcoma Walk, I had lots of family, friends and even business associates who are also friends there too. Many of us went to a restautant after and I had Bob and Tom (husband of friend and Sarcoma survivor Karen)'s birthday cake. We are so appreciative to all of you who came out and other of you who could not make it but did make donations,

I am spending Wed and Thurs getting some work things done, with pre-admissions stuff on Friday. Unless there is anything earth shattering we learn Friday (like no surgery, more extensive surgery) we will probably not post on the blog till after surgery on Monday. Last time I was the 4th case of the day. After arriving at 6am I did not get back to the OR till about 1:30 ao it could be a long day and no posting till that evening. But my news was so good I was well enough to send some messages myself from the post op room. No telling what I said, all tanked uo with meds. So I will give a disclaimer now!

I am about to fall asleep writing this so I better sign off. Thank you for all your good wishes and prayers. They keep me going. I will be alright!
Love,
Geri

Update from England

My surgery is scheduled for Monday August 3. I go in July 27 for some tests on my heart, lungs and another CT scan to make sure everything is in working order and can handle the surgery. On July 31, I go to the hospital for some more pre-op stuff and see Dr. Miller, probably to go over what to expect during and after surgery. I am pretty sure I know the routine, so I am hoping for no surprises. I can't decide whether to go back and review my old blogs from the last lung surgery time period as a refresher course. There are just some things I don't think I want to be reminded of so I think I will wait until we at least come home from vacation in England.

We are still here and having a lovely time. It is great getting away from the Atlanta heat. Our weather has pretty much been in the mid 60's but we have not had very much sun. Luckily our best sunny day so far was the day of Bob's Mom's 90th birthday party. We had over 100 people for an open house type party in her garden on Sunday afternoon, and it all came off without a hitch. We've stayed busy with family and friends, and it has been a great distraction for me. Every now and then when it gets a little quiet, I can't help but drift back to what's ahead. We are enjoying our visit, but it is passing much to quickly. We will head back to London on Monday, July 20, and back to Atlanta on the 21st. It is good I will have 6 full working days before surgery, and a couple of weekends at home to take care of some things.

I should be in the hospital about 4 days, and hopefully off work only 3 weeks. Hopefully all will go well, and we can stick to this schedule.

A few of you have asked me about the Sarcoma Walk or how you can make donations to the SE Sarcoma Foundation. The foundation is in the process of making their 501.3.c (?) filing to gain tax deductible status. They can send a letter acknowledging any donations indicating the pending status.
If you are interested in attending the Sarcoma Walk, Friday July 24 at 7pm at Piedmont Park, email Ned Crystal at ned.crystal@gmail.com. or mail donations to:
Southeastern Sarcoma Foundation
c/o Ned Crystal
693 Longshadow Trail
Smyrna, GA 30082

If you come to the Walk, please plan on joining us after at Willys Mexicana Grill on 10th Street and Piedmont. Hope to see you there!

Sarcoma Walk

I don't really like to do advertising but this is a unique opportunity!

Bob and I are going to attend the Sarcoma Walk at Piedmont Park Baseball Fields, at 7pm Friday July 24 (his birthday- but he will kill me for annoucing that ). It is a short walk with no registation fee. The will sell tee shirts for $15 that all go to the SE Sarcoma Foundation. This is part of Emory and the doctor that heads the research is Gina D'Amota. When I think of all the big cancer foundations that get well deserved research money, it is amazing to think that a lot of the research that may well save my life is being done right here in Atlanta- and by the woman and her team that would be my chemo doc, heaven forbid I have to go that route again. She is bright, funny and commited to her work. Since there are only 9000 patients in the US that get Sarcoma each year, we do not get a lot of research money like some of the more "popular" cancers.

If by chance you are interested in joing us you can contact Ned Crystal, a volunteer and fellow Sarcoma patient who put the whole foundation together. He is truly amazing and really doing something to save his own life. Ned can be reached at 678-779-8572 or at ned.crystal@gmail.com. You can also pre-order "Walk for Awareness" t-shirts. Afterwards some folks are going to hang out at a local resturant at 12th Street and Peidmont. I know Friday nights are tough, but it is a great cause-one I take pretty personally as you can imagine.

A bit of an update -I have all my pre- surgery tests July 27. They will call me probably tomorrow for a surgery date.

We still have no sign of Robin, our bat friend. We keep all the bedroom doors shut most of the time but we do forget. I make Bob do a "bat check" each night just to make sure he is not sleeping with us and will not appear when all the lights go out. At some point we are going to have to give him up for dead. I cannot image what he is eating or drinking. If he is finding bugs in this house and leaving, I just soon ignore him But there is the part about him maybe having rabies that scares me a bit. We just don't know what to do about it!

Cindy is all set to be my surgery partner once again. She is great in the hospital. She will have the night shift for the first couple of nights till I am not chained to IV's, leg things, cathetres (sp) and Bob takes over during the day. We have a routine down about washing my hair - or my non hair head as the case was last time. There are so many things Bob is great at doing- but I am pretty sure blowdrying my hair is not going to be one of them. And I have to have my hair (or head) washed everyday, no matter what else is going on in my life! I did tell Cindy tonight that she had to change the tone on her cell phone during my hospital stay. While I am a huge Alabama Football Fan, I cannot tolerate the fight song as the cell phone ring, especially when it goes off every 5 minutes. At our family reunion on the 4th of July, we are going to pre-screen the phone rings and select a hospital appropriate tone- vibrate I think. I guess the funny thing about this is that most of you know I cannot go 5 minutes without my Blackberry. So only other peoples' phones drive me crazy.

I have had some painful memories in the last couple of days about my last thorochotamy, so I have been trying to remember the "good times" there! It is easy because there are so few! Emory Crawford Long (or Emory Mid-Town as it is called now) has a great fruit plate on the menu for patients. The staff figured out that was about all I would eat so I got one every meal. I got great care from the staff and doctors - even the chemo staff came to check on me.That may be it for the good times! But I know I am not there for a picnic, and I am sure I could not be in better hands than Dr. Miller. And if you ever need to get a chest tube taken out, his PA Jim is the one for the job. Everyone told me how painful that would be. They remove the epidural first so you do feel the pain of the tubes. Jim had me sort of in a fetal position and it was over before I knew it. That as been my biggest fear of the surgery, so I guess now knowing that will not hurt does help. One last good memory -well I heard about it anyway. While I was in surgery, most of my siblings-Cindy, Syd and Michael, Bob, brother in law Jim, Aunt Rhoda, Uncle Marvin, Cousin Cladys, and heaven knows who else were all in the waiting room. Doc O (who is the leg surgeon, not the lung surgeon) got so excited when he found out I did not have Sarcoma in my lungs he went running out in the waiting room to steal Dr. Miller's thunder and tell everyone it was not cancer. Being the over dramatic family that we are, everyone let out a big scream. The security guards came running up the stairs to the screams, and that just about all got kicked out the hospital. The story later told was hilarious. I think Doc O got hugs and cheers from all sorts of members from my crazy family and lots of other folks in the waiting room were coming over to hear the good news. Doc O made me promise to let him know the date as he wants to be there. Here's hoping he can be the hero and deliver the same good news again!

I

As expected

I felt pretty good when I left Dr. Miller's office today, but now I have had a little too much time to think, and I have scared myself a bit. Let me explain. Dr. Miller said the nodule had to come out, as expected. He said it is more defined than the ones I had before, which makes it really look like sarcoma. However, he did say that last time - but was even more emphatic this time. I think he did not want me to have any false expectations that this could just be an infection again. I asked him if there were just some people prone to having spots on their lungs in general (not sarcoma) or anyone who had spots on more than one occasion that were not sarcoma. He reminded me there is only one other sarcoma patient he has had in the last 20 years where the spot on the lung was not sarcoma, so there were not repeat customers like that. Maybe I can set a new trend? He really gave me no hope for that. I won't let that stop me from trying.

For the good news - it is small and slow growing. He encouraged me to go ahead and go to England and plan on surgery the first week in August. They will call me Monday to schedule.
He will do another CT scan before then to see what it looks like then and if there are any more. I am hoping it will have gotten smaller like last timem bit highly unlikely! I hate to be negative, but I really don't want to set myself up for dissapointment. I also have to have another drug induced stress test for my heart and lung capacity test before the surgery. It will be a thorchotomy again; no scope. When I told him that Doc O indicated he may be able to scope he looked at me like I was crazy. He said it was way to low in the lung for that, and he would show it to me to prove it if I wanted him to. I told him that I trusted him and that perhaps Doc O better stick to legs. As long as everything remains the same and no other nodules, the incision should be smaller than last time since, he does not have to go to two parts of my lung. Recovery about 3 weeks. Pretty much everything the same as before except I am healthier going in (no recent chemo, radiation, etc) and a smaller cut, only one chest tube. They will give me an epidural that will stay in for a few days. That keeps me from feeling the chest tube which I understand can be pretty miserable. Last time I mainly hurt from being propped up on my left shoulder during surgery. It was really miserable, because they could not give me other pain medicine. You get the epidural for the chest tube pain, but it is so localized it did not reach up and extend to the shoulder pain. And, you can't get pain meds on top of the epidural. While I am grateful for the epidural, I just remembered how jittery it made me. My hands were shaking so badly, I could not hold a glass without using both hands. Also I could not walk without a walker. But soon after they took it out, that all went away.

One thing that is almost funny now but it petrified me then - they gave me some Benedryl on top of sleeping pills to help me sleep. I had a main line into my neck where there was an IV and that is how I got meds. They gave me the Benedryl this way, and it took affect within 90 seconds or so. I was so shocked at how drowsey I felt so quickly, I thought I was having a stroke. My mouth got so dry, and I could not get words out. Cindy was there with me, and after we realized what was going on, we did laugh about my reaction. I slept really well, but I will never do that again. From that point on, all my Benedryl was oral!

I asked about after treatment and this is the most bothersome part. If the tumor is high grade, then I may have to have more chemo. We won't know that until surgery and they do the biopsy. But as my friend Karen says. "Don"t bleed till you get shot!" Also I keep telling myself that "chemo is my friend". And what a bitch she is! My leg tumor was more that 99% dead when they took it out. No one knows whether it was chemo or radiation that killed it, but something did. There are others where that treatment had no effect, so I should be glad to know my cancer can be killed off. Yet the idea of chemo again, does terrify me. But I am going to try not to bleed just yet.

In the meantime, I am going to enjoy my family reunion in Birminghams, mytrip to England, try to wrap up some big exciting things I have going on at work, play some tennis, and get some things done around the house. Poor Bob, and the rest of my family. They will be back to waiting on me hand and foot, and worrying about me all the time. I wish there was something I could do about that. I have not even made up for all everyone had to do for me the last time, and here I go again being all needy. That is really the worst part of it all. It is harder on everyone else than it is on me. So I am back to depending on all of you for support and prayers again. It worked last time!

I will keep you posted as soon as I have dates. I hope to see or talk to many of you before then. Thanks so much for keeping up with me, and keeping me in your thoughts.
Love,
Geri

Still waiting to hear

I am doing just fine and waiting for my appmt on Tuesday afternoon at 3:15pm with Dr. Miller to find out how he is going to get rid of this spot on my lung. My new motto is "Hope for the scope!", but I am not real optomistic that I will avoid a throchotomy.
I went to the Sacoma support group on Wednesday. It was great to see the folks I have been building a relationship with for about a year now. Most have been through much worse than I and they are truly an inspiration. In fact, before the meeting I contacted two members you have seen me write about before, Karen and Virginia. Karen has had 3 lung surgerys and 4 surgeries on her leg over the past 5 1/2 years. She is about my age, works from home and is a lot of fun. She is so positive and does a lot of research about our diease. She does not have the same cell type of Sarcoma as I do, so her treatment is a little different. She did have radiation but no chemo. She continues to have spots on her lungs, and when they get to be about 1 cm (as mine is now)Dr. Miller takes them out. She has accepted that every year or two she will need to have lung surgery and adjusts her schedule to fit. All of her spots have been sarcoma. I am still hoping this one is not, but the fact that it grew over the last 3 months is worrisome. However, I look at Karen, who is handling this all so well, and know that I can too. She has been very open about talking with me about all of this, and it is so nice to have someone who has been there before and knows what you are experiencing and help you anticipate what to expect next. For example, before my thorochotomy last time, I had to have a drug-induced stress test and a lung capacity test. I did not know if that was something that had to be done before every lung surgery or a one time thing. Karen never had the stress test (because she never had chemo, we guess) but did have the lung test -- but only before the first surgery. I was wondering about this because if Dr. Miller does let me go to England before surgery, I was not sure if I would need to have these test again before surgery and may need to build in some time for that. Of course, no two cases are exactly alike, but I am guessing there are some similar things.
I am still concerned about taking two weeks vacation, and then coming back and being off 4 to 6 weeks for surgery. It just does not seem right. My boss Kendra tells me not to worry about it, but I do. So if he allows me to go on to England and postpone surgery, I am going to have think about whether I should try to come back a few days ahead of Bob and get some work done first. I know I am the only one putting this pressure on me --but I cannot help it! I have a lot of work things we are doing that I am really excited about, and I do not want to miss any of it! But nor do I want to miss our time with family in England. A delimna for sure.
Virginia had sarcoma behind her knee 20+ year ago. It reoccured in 2007. The sarcoma was wrapped around so many vessels etc and the best option for her was to amputate her leg at the knee. Without doing that it would be a useless limb so now she can have a prothesis that helps her. At one point, I just thought that would be the worse thing in the world. It isn't. She is the most darling fun, positive woman who has a full life She drives a regular car with her left leg. She has an outside sales job like me and continues to thrive and be an inspiration for us all. She is always reaching out to new members and making every one feel at home, welcome, and comfortable talking about difficult subjects, as you might imagine. She is having to get a new joint, or something like that for her leg. Evidently your skin changes and from time to time you have to have an adjustment. Just as she was about the get this all done, and her prosthesis Dr was no longer on her insurance, so now she is having to change. She is on crutches now because they cannot reattach to the new joint right away. and I think the insurance company has to get the doctor thing straightened out. Her life continues on like normal and this is just a small challenge to her. She also has sarcoma in her lungs that they cannot remove. Fortunately, it is not growing and she is doing great. My little spot seems as insignificant as a broken finger nail (ok - those of you who really know me know that can be a little traumatic!). One other thing, the type leg she wanted costs $16,000 and is not covered by her insurance. She was going to get it anyway, hard as that would be. The company she works for had a big golf tournament, and unbeknowst to her raised the money to buy the leg. Another prosthesis company ask her to model a new great "foot" they had created and gave her a $5000 foot for free. These things are not cheap and most likely the ones that look the best may not always be covered by insurance. It is hard enough being sick -- and so many people have to deal with the financial end of it too. I am so lucky!

In the meantime, I am playing tennis, working and keeping busy till I get surgery schedule. I have a sinking spell every now and then but for the most part, I am doing pretty well.

One minor problem - we just got our house painted. We had to have the doors and windows open for a while, and on Thursday night (after we'd closed them all and gone to bed) we heard a noise in our room. Bob thought it was a bird. Being the chicken that I am (and very scared of birds), I ducked under the covers. Bob said it was a bat! It flew around and then, we think, it went into one of our guest bedrooms. We could not find it. Finally we shut the doors to all rooms and went to sleep. I was scared to leave our bedroom Friday morning, so Bob "manned up" and went on a bat hunt. He could not find it, but there is no way it has gotten out of the house. We called Animal Control looking for Batman to come and get this darn thing. They actually sent Batwoman instead. She was a little young thing, shorter than I am. All she had was a cage and a towel. She could not find it either. So "Robin" our code name for the bat is still here - somewhere. We mainly keep the doors shut. We had to open them when the carpet cleaner came today, and we did not tell him to be on the lookout for Robin either. I am not sure what our next move is. Batwoman told us to listen for Robin at night, and when we figure out what room he is in, to call animal control and they will come and get him. I thought we could leer him out with food. I think they are vegetarians and eat bugs too. So I am picking up some tofu at Publix. Just kidding I am kind of making light of this but frankly I am pretty scared! I am guessing Robin will either fly around at night and be heard banging against the windows trying to get out or will starve and die. It is really gross to think about. But it is another distraction none the less!
I will update on Tuesday!

Hanging In there

I am doing ok and keeping busy. Last night Rita and I went to the gym and got on the treadmill. I even baked a cake and got up early this morning to play tennis with my regular Saturday group- Susan, Paula and Loree, Going for a facial this afternoon, so life seems pretty normal.
I heard late yesterday that my appointment with Dr. Miller won't be until Tues, June 23. DocO is trying to get it moved up but I know Dr. Miller stays packed. Hopefully if it is the scope thing, maybe he can do it quickly and we can go to England as scheduled. Or, maybe he will even think it is ok to wait until we come back as planned on July 21. I keep hoping that, same as last time, it will just be an inflamation. I am not sure I am that lucky. And this time the spot got bigger- not smaller as it did before. Of course I did not even know the spot existed before. It is the uncertainty that gets you. In the meantime, we are getting the carpets cleaned, house painted, cooking stuff to freeze and trying to get some work projects taken care of so we can be better prepared. I am lucky that when I have surgery this time, it will not be after having months of chemo, radiation, the wound vac, and every other obstacle I had before. I am going to do every thing I can to go into surgery as healthy as possible so maybe recovery is not so hard.
More to come!

Not what I hoped for but I got the tee shirt

All this time, I thought you got the 2 year tee shirt from DocO if you were clean after two years. Seems you just get it for just surviving two years. So I did get that and am thrilled to have made that. But the news was not so good. I have a spot on my left long (different side from last time). Evidently it was there 3 months ago but now it is bigger - from 5mm to now 1cm. And it has to come out. Last time I was very lucky that is was not cancer. Most every spot like this on lungs of sarcoma patients is cancer. But I was the exception before and maybe I can be again.

So now I am waiting to hear from my lung surgeon, Dr. Miller to see what happens next and when. This morning is when I had the CT on my chest and MRI on my lung and when DocO discovered the spot. I knew when Andre', the P.A. came in first and told me he had not looked at the scans that something was wrong. Ususally he or a resident come in before DocO and give me a thumbs up so I am not too anxious waiting to hear from Doc O. He started by saying "Your leg looks fine but......". And so it goes. He did say the spot was very close to my treachea (sp) and maybe Dr. Miller could pull it out by going in with a bronchoscope (sp) instead of a full blown thorochotomy. That would be great. The throrchotomy is not a fun surgery. DocO has a call into Dr. Miller about getting me in to see him. The great thing about being a patient with all Docs in the Emory system is that they can all see my scans and reports on the Emory network-so no waiting for files to be sent. I am guess Dr. Miller will just look at my scans on line and decide from there how he is going to proceed. I am hoping once he reviews he will just call me and tell me what is next. If it is a bronchoscope and the recovery is easier - then I hope we get moving on it right away. If I have to do the full throchotemy then I just don't know.

We are supposed to be going to England July 5 for two weeks for Bob's mothers 90th birthday. If it is safe to put off the procedure till after, I 'd like to do that, even if we have to cut the trip short. I have tons of things going on at work-- all good stuff that I am really excited about and I hate to miss any of that too. S0 waiting till after vacation would give me a chance to get some things wrapped up. But of course we will not do that if it puts me in more danger.

So my head is spinning right now and not knowing what is next is driving me crazy. I am not thinking about what this means long term -- and like before my gut tells me it is nothing again. But regardless, the journey is not fun for anyone. It is not nearly as hard on me as it is Bob, our family and friends, and I worry about all that. But all I can do is wait!

In the meantime, I am going to try to get some things done while I am able. Stupid stuff like getting the carpets cleaned, getting the house painted and getting work in good shape and caught up. But first, I am having a massage this afternoon and playing tennis in the morning!

Life goes on. I know you all have me in your prayers, and I am so grateful for the wonderful support you have all given me. I promise to blog when I know what is next. I know I will be okay- just may have some tough days coming. But we have been here before and were just fine. And I got the tee shirt!

Just living a normal life!

I just wanted to let you know I am doing well and things are going great. Scans again June 13 on both my lungs and leg, but it is still far away so I am not feeling anxious yet.

I finally played an Alta League tennis match for the first time in 2 1/2 years. I had not wanted to be in the line up because I was not very secure about my game. I did not want to mess our team up in case we had a shot at going to the playoffs. Unfortunately, we were not in the running so I did play a couple of weeks ago. With my great game partner, Jennifer, we won our match 7-6; 6-0. The first set was long, and we came from behind 4-1 to win in a 11-9 tie breaker. The first set went on for days so it seemed, but I was able to hold up and was still feeling pretty energized (probably euphoric) even when it was over.

Bob had a great time with his family in England for a couple of weeks in March. We are both going back in July after my family reunion on the 4th and will be there for a couple of weeks. We will be celebrating his Mom's 90th birthday. She is an amazing woman and can run circles around all of us. She is the best Scrabble player ever. I have a hard time keeping up with her, except when we settle down for our 5pm glass of sherry and midnight sip of Bailey's Irish Creme. Maybe those things are the secret to a long, healthy life!

I am going to Callaway Gardens with tennis pals Lori, Paula and Susan next weekend- they were also part of my Department of Transportation that got me home from chemo. We are going to play tennis for 3 days and enjoy the spa there and the gardens. Just to make sure I can hang in, I did schedule a massage/reflexology in their spa. Should be fun weekend.

Work is still very hectic, but I have some really good things going there that I am excited about. So life is good! Stay tuned, and I will be back with you after the June 13 scans. Keep your fingers crossed!

Nothing but good news!

I am on a roll. First of all, my CT scan on my lungs today was all clear. What a relief! This is the first time in a long time, I have gone to the test confident results would be good. But you know me, I was scared that attitude would jinx me, but it did not. My visit with Doc O was, as he commented, very "social". We talked about his child, vacations, etc. It was great to have very little medical to talk about. The next visit I have with him will be a big one, on June 12 I think. I will have an MRI on my leg and another CT on my lungs. Even though my real surgery anniversary is July 16, some how we got off schedule. I am seeing him every 3 months, but I am going in June vs my July anniversary. He says he is pretty strict about the 2 year mark, but if I am clean in June, he will go ahead and give me my "2 year" tee shirt. After 2 years I think my scans become every 6 months instead of every 3. It is a milestone I can't wait to reach.

On other fronts, when I went to my GYN a month or so ago, he wanted me to of course have a mammogram and a pelvic intrasound, looking at the fibriod tumor on my uterous and a small cyst on my right ovary. I was a little worried but got good results on both. Fibroid was still there but had not grown and cyst was gone. The thing that really scared me was that he also insisted I have a BRACA (sp) test. This test checks you to see if you have the gene for breast and ovarian cancer. My mother died of breast cancer, and my sister, Lisa also has ovarian cancer (albeit a very slow growing kind that has been removed and is still gone). The other thing working against me is that Jewish woman of eastern Euporean origin, like me, have a very high incidence of breast and ovarian cancer. It is or was at one time and expensive test and usually insurance companies do have to approve the exam. I got even more scared when I was approved to take it, because that evidently validated the concern, in my opinion. I had known about the test, but I also knew that if you test positive, you need to be prepared to do something about it -- meaning having a hysterectomy and a double mascetomy. It would be very hard to know you are predisposed to having those cancers and take the chance by not having the surgery. My doctor really pushed me to have the test. I had decided if it were positive, I would have the hysterectomy but was not sure about the other. Too much surgery too soon. And I was hoping doctors would be satisfied with frequent MRIs or mammograms or something. Fortunately this afternoon, I got the news my tests were negative, meaning I did not have the gene, which is great news. The weight of all these tests has been pretty heavy the last few weeks, and I was more worried about BRACA than any of them. We are going to celebrate this weekend by doing taxes! But I am so happy even that sounds good to me!
Bob leaves for a 2 week trip to England to visit his family. It is an "off season" trip for him since we usually go together in the summer and Christmas. We both thought it would good for him to go visit since he did not get to stay as long at Christmas. I am going to take a long weekend while he is gone to go to Miami and visit my friend Angela and cousin Sunny and her family. I will hate to miss the UK trip be we will go back in July for Bob's Mom's 90th birthday and again at Christmas. And since I am a working girl, I only have just so much vacation. Bob has an easier boss - me. But he has a list of chores a mile long that have to be completed before he goes -fat chance.
Life is good. I know it is a very tough time for a lot of peopl and a very scary time for everyone. I am feeling very fortunate and very grateful- especially today!

Ooops- late

I am so sorry that it has been so long since I blogged. I hope you all know by know that is usually good news! Things are busy as ever. After our great trip to England for Christmas, we've hardly stopped long enough to catch our breath. We both have been busy at work and just normal stuff! What a great feeling!
The other day I actually had to look at the calendar to see when my next scans are. Ususally that day is just carved in my brain, so I must be getting over the anxiety. I heard it would get better, but I was showing no signs of that till now. Check on me again March 12, before scans on March 13, and I may be feeling a bit differently.
We went to a sarcoma fundraiser for Emory at Pizza Fortunato in Smyrna last week. All the proceeds did actually go directly to Dr. Gina D"Amato's research group. She is the chemo oncogist now at Emory totally dedicated to Sarcoma, and she is doing all sorts of testing to find better ways to treat us and help save the lives of sarcoma patients. She is really well known in her field, and we are really lucky to have her here in GA. In fact, Emory is about to get some sort of certification that designates them as one of the top cancer centers in the country. Hopefully new treatments will be less severe and more effective. So if you are ever looking for new places to make donations, this is the spot. It all goes directly to research. When I get the address, I will post it. Most of the people there were from my support group, our doctors nurses, and friends and family of other sarcoma patients. It was fun to be with all these folks in a more casual environment. They had a silent auction that raised a good bit of money, and all the food and drink proceeds that night were contributed. Really great pizza too if you are ever in that area. Our friend Mitzi went with us and she won her bid on a UGA Mathew Stafford and Noshan Marino autographed football. I won mine on a massage (of course) generously donated by Maria, my massage therapist.
I had seen Dr. D'Amato at a meeting before but never met her since she came to Emory after my chemo treatments were over. Ironically, I discovered she is good friends with Roxie, one of my workmates who surprisingly was also at the event, and she introduced us.
Dr. D'Ammato and both agree we hope we never see each other again, unless it is at a party. I now only see my surgeon, Dr. Oskouei (who was there too) and he orders all my scans and I never see the oncologist, as long as my scans are clear. I think others who had surgery at places other than Emory, are managed by Dr. D'Amato, and she orders their scans.
We are going to visit our friends Debbie and Joe in Sarasota for a long weekend on Thursday. Also, Bob is going back to England a week or so after my scans. He was not able to go for very long at Christmas since I had scans in mid December. So I bribed him to get a list of things I want done around the house with a trip home for a couple of weeks if he finishes his "honey do" list. So far, nothing has been checked off the list yet. But somehow he always manages to complete before the deadline, but I do keep adding to the list!
I promise to blog again after the March 13th scans. Thank heavens, life is uneventful right now and that is just fine with me! Happy Valentines Day!