While I have not talked to a doctor yet, I got a copy of the PET Scan report. There does not appear to be any cancer spread any where else in my body. The lesions in my lung have gotten SMALLER since the CT scan Oct 17. I am not sure what this means, but I know it is good news rather than bad. It was my leg surgeon who ordered and got the PET scan. My lung surgeon probably has not seen the report yet. I called his office late this afternoon to make sure he looked at the report in the Emory system and give me an interpretation. Obviously, this raises a lot of questions, but we are feeling a lot more positive about things than before. Again, thank you all so much for your prayers and good wishes. Things seem to be looking up!
I am out working and really enjoying myself. By the end of the day, I am pretty beat, but I still feel good. I still have Nurse Kathy here every Mon-Wed-Fri, but she thinks her visits could be ending soon as the wound is getting better every second. Soon I will just need to put some ointment and a bandaid on it, and I can be a lot more mobile.
I will keep you posted on things as I learn more!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Monday, October 29, 2007
Today's test are over
Today I had a lung function test and an echo stress test on my heart. These are both pre-screening tests for surgery, I guess. The lung test was a little weird. I sat in this enclosed booth type thing and either blew into or panted or sucked this hose thing. The tech would shout instructions to me. At one point I had to do the same thing all over again with my hands on my cheeks. She told me from this test they determine if I need any kind of treatment before surgery -- like antibiotics, an inhaler, or whatever. The other was a chemically induced echo stress test. So instead of making me run on a treadmill and looking at my heart they give you an IV drug that makes your heart race, and they look at that compared to the baseline (done before the drug). The was a doctor there -- a resident I think -- an he said he saw no blockages and my heart looked fine. Some other doc will review it again, but I am not expecting any surprises there thank goodness.
I still have no news on the PET scan. I did call the surgeon's office (lung) since they had not called me about a surgery date. The secretary told me she thought it was the 15th (Thurs) but they had not set it up yet. I assume that means they had not scheduled with the OR, anesthesia, etc. I am somewhat disappointed with that date since that is exactly one week before Thanksgiving. If I am in the hospital for 5 days, I would be getting out the day we were going to leave for Destin - Tuesday most likely. I don't think we will feel like going anywhere! Of course being a Brit, Thanksgiving is not a big holiday for Bob anyway. While I really wanted to have this a little earlier, it does give me more time to get healthier and get some things done. Maybe my leg wound -- which looks better every day -- will be healed by then too. And we will have a restfull Thanksgiving weekend to get better and may be able to get some work done the following week after the holiday. Not what I had planned, but things just change all the time. Heaven knows I am trying to learn to adapt and be more flexible.
I still have no news on the PET scan. I did call the surgeon's office (lung) since they had not called me about a surgery date. The secretary told me she thought it was the 15th (Thurs) but they had not set it up yet. I assume that means they had not scheduled with the OR, anesthesia, etc. I am somewhat disappointed with that date since that is exactly one week before Thanksgiving. If I am in the hospital for 5 days, I would be getting out the day we were going to leave for Destin - Tuesday most likely. I don't think we will feel like going anywhere! Of course being a Brit, Thanksgiving is not a big holiday for Bob anyway. While I really wanted to have this a little earlier, it does give me more time to get healthier and get some things done. Maybe my leg wound -- which looks better every day -- will be healed by then too. And we will have a restfull Thanksgiving weekend to get better and may be able to get some work done the following week after the holiday. Not what I had planned, but things just change all the time. Heaven knows I am trying to learn to adapt and be more flexible.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Feeling good
First of all, many thanks to all of you who have been sending me emails (via the blog or otherwise), cards, phone calls etc. I am so lucky to have all of you supporting me with love prayers and good wishes. I am truly overwhelmed by how incredible you all are.
I just wanted to let you know, in spite of it all, I feel pretty good. I walked 1.5 miles this afternoon, which is about twice what I have even attempted before today. I really had no trouble. Of course I rested for about 20 minutes afterward, but went on to do a little shopping not long after. Bob and I went to a movie (Michael Clayton -- it was good -- how could it not be with George Clooney) Sat night, after sitting for about 3 hours to watch my team in a play-off tennis match. It was the first movie we've gone to in 2007.
No news on Friday's PET scan. Monday morning I have 2 pre-surgery screening tests on heart and lungs. Hopefully, I will get a surgery date tomorrow. Till then we will just keep on with work, doctor appmts, social activities etc. As always, we will keep you posted!
I just wanted to let you know, in spite of it all, I feel pretty good. I walked 1.5 miles this afternoon, which is about twice what I have even attempted before today. I really had no trouble. Of course I rested for about 20 minutes afterward, but went on to do a little shopping not long after. Bob and I went to a movie (Michael Clayton -- it was good -- how could it not be with George Clooney) Sat night, after sitting for about 3 hours to watch my team in a play-off tennis match. It was the first movie we've gone to in 2007.
No news on Friday's PET scan. Monday morning I have 2 pre-surgery screening tests on heart and lungs. Hopefully, I will get a surgery date tomorrow. Till then we will just keep on with work, doctor appmts, social activities etc. As always, we will keep you posted!
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Not what I wanted to hear
Well it is not pneumonia. When I asked the doctor, (now know as Doc M) "Is there any chance this is something other than cancer?" he told me there is about a 5% chance it is something else. Since the %'s don't seem to go my way, I did not even ask what the "something else" would be.
With my history, it is likely sarcoma that has moved from my leg to my lung. That is where sarcoma goes. In fact, he said if it is sarcoma, I could have this surgery 4 or 5 times in my life time as the tumors seem to pop up every now and then and you go in and take them out. More about the surgery later. However, there is a possibility that it is a primary new lung cancer. About 8% of women in my age group, who have never smoked, still get lung cancer. It is even possible that one leision is lung cancer and the other sarcoma. If either is lung cancer, they will remove lymph nodes to see if it spread. They do not do that with sarcoma, as it does not spread to the lymph system. We will know during surgery what kind of cancer it is as they will do a frozen section then and there.
Before surgery I have to have two tests --one on my heart and the other on my lung capacity. I guess they are a type of screening test prior to surgery --probably next Monday. Of course I am having the PET scan on Thursday. Doc M is booked for the next 3 weeks so I will not be able to have surgery before then unless somebody cancels. The surgery is a little different than I expected. They will cut(I thought is might be done laproscopically -have no idea how to spell that) me open about where my bra is on the side and about 5 inches or so. I will be in the hospital about 5 days. He said recovery is 3 to 4 weeks. Later I stopped him in the hall to get more info on recovery. I described my job, and he said I would feel like working 3 or 4 hours per day, from my house, even the day I got home. He discussed no heavy lifting etc., and driving, probably after a couple of weeks,(I assume depends on how much pain medicine I am own). I asked him could I go to either Birmingham or Destin for Thanksgiving, and he said "sure". I am guessing the surgery would be a week or two before then. He said I possibly could even go to England at Christmas--if I felt like it. I will be plenty sore from them spreading my ribs apart. His perspective of travel and healing time was based on surgery alone-not any after treatment. The chemo Doctor (Dr. Saba) will decide what happens next and when. For sure, if it is a new cancer and in the lymph system, there will be more chemo. If they are both sarcoma, they could just watch it and do CT scans every 3 months (which they will do for sure) and do chemo or not. I will see Dr. Saba on Nov 5 for an appmt we had set up previously anyway. I thought my cell type, pleomorphic, was the most aggressive type of sarcoma, and I was glad to hear from Doc M that it is moderate. Now what that means for treatment of this cancer, I do not know. Everything is really up in the air.
Knowing that is it is not pneumonia does go ahead and resolve some issues. I won't stay awake nights with false hope any more. I know it is cancer; I just don't know what kind. Of course now I am worried about the PET scan and fear that every area of my body will light up indicating cancer. At least from that we will know what all we are dealing with and how to tackle it.
There are a couple of good things about surgery being 3 weeks away. I can get my leg closer to being healed by then. It gives me 3 weeks to take care of some things around the house and work that I really want to handle. And likely it will give me some almost "normal" days before I start healing from something else. The bad thing is that I have to wait that much longer before I know when I am dealing with, AND I have to buy candy and open the door on Halloween! I am not a Halloween fan. I was never good at coming up with ideas for Halloween costumes. I don't like costume parties either. I really thought I would be having surgery then and miss the whole thing!
How am I handling this? Some minutes are really bad, and others I just try to perservere and figure out what to do next. Bob is very calm, logical and just takes things as they come. That keeps me a little more calm too. I don't know that he is really that way inside, but that is what I see and it has always been this way. In the meantime, I am going to just keep doing what I do -- work, hangout with Bob and friends and go on with my life. I will do my best to take things as they come and not play the "what if" game. It is hard but it is all I can do.
In the meantime, my tennis team won their division and playoffs start Saturday. I will be down at our courts to cheer them on. I am on the road working tomorrow and will be out alot next week, locally. I have not scheduled appointments for then as I won't know till Thursday when my heart and lung tests will be. I will be able to work on that Friday.
So it looks like the blog goes on. I will be okay but it looks like my road to recovery is a little longer than I expected. I feel like I am running a race, and they keep moving the finish line. At least I am still in the race!
With my history, it is likely sarcoma that has moved from my leg to my lung. That is where sarcoma goes. In fact, he said if it is sarcoma, I could have this surgery 4 or 5 times in my life time as the tumors seem to pop up every now and then and you go in and take them out. More about the surgery later. However, there is a possibility that it is a primary new lung cancer. About 8% of women in my age group, who have never smoked, still get lung cancer. It is even possible that one leision is lung cancer and the other sarcoma. If either is lung cancer, they will remove lymph nodes to see if it spread. They do not do that with sarcoma, as it does not spread to the lymph system. We will know during surgery what kind of cancer it is as they will do a frozen section then and there.
Before surgery I have to have two tests --one on my heart and the other on my lung capacity. I guess they are a type of screening test prior to surgery --probably next Monday. Of course I am having the PET scan on Thursday. Doc M is booked for the next 3 weeks so I will not be able to have surgery before then unless somebody cancels. The surgery is a little different than I expected. They will cut(I thought is might be done laproscopically -have no idea how to spell that) me open about where my bra is on the side and about 5 inches or so. I will be in the hospital about 5 days. He said recovery is 3 to 4 weeks. Later I stopped him in the hall to get more info on recovery. I described my job, and he said I would feel like working 3 or 4 hours per day, from my house, even the day I got home. He discussed no heavy lifting etc., and driving, probably after a couple of weeks,(I assume depends on how much pain medicine I am own). I asked him could I go to either Birmingham or Destin for Thanksgiving, and he said "sure". I am guessing the surgery would be a week or two before then. He said I possibly could even go to England at Christmas--if I felt like it. I will be plenty sore from them spreading my ribs apart. His perspective of travel and healing time was based on surgery alone-not any after treatment. The chemo Doctor (Dr. Saba) will decide what happens next and when. For sure, if it is a new cancer and in the lymph system, there will be more chemo. If they are both sarcoma, they could just watch it and do CT scans every 3 months (which they will do for sure) and do chemo or not. I will see Dr. Saba on Nov 5 for an appmt we had set up previously anyway. I thought my cell type, pleomorphic, was the most aggressive type of sarcoma, and I was glad to hear from Doc M that it is moderate. Now what that means for treatment of this cancer, I do not know. Everything is really up in the air.
Knowing that is it is not pneumonia does go ahead and resolve some issues. I won't stay awake nights with false hope any more. I know it is cancer; I just don't know what kind. Of course now I am worried about the PET scan and fear that every area of my body will light up indicating cancer. At least from that we will know what all we are dealing with and how to tackle it.
There are a couple of good things about surgery being 3 weeks away. I can get my leg closer to being healed by then. It gives me 3 weeks to take care of some things around the house and work that I really want to handle. And likely it will give me some almost "normal" days before I start healing from something else. The bad thing is that I have to wait that much longer before I know when I am dealing with, AND I have to buy candy and open the door on Halloween! I am not a Halloween fan. I was never good at coming up with ideas for Halloween costumes. I don't like costume parties either. I really thought I would be having surgery then and miss the whole thing!
How am I handling this? Some minutes are really bad, and others I just try to perservere and figure out what to do next. Bob is very calm, logical and just takes things as they come. That keeps me a little more calm too. I don't know that he is really that way inside, but that is what I see and it has always been this way. In the meantime, I am going to just keep doing what I do -- work, hangout with Bob and friends and go on with my life. I will do my best to take things as they come and not play the "what if" game. It is hard but it is all I can do.
In the meantime, my tennis team won their division and playoffs start Saturday. I will be down at our courts to cheer them on. I am on the road working tomorrow and will be out alot next week, locally. I have not scheduled appointments for then as I won't know till Thursday when my heart and lung tests will be. I will be able to work on that Friday.
So it looks like the blog goes on. I will be okay but it looks like my road to recovery is a little longer than I expected. I feel like I am running a race, and they keep moving the finish line. At least I am still in the race!
Monday, October 22, 2007
Back to work - sort of
I got to go and and see some real live insurance agents (which is what I do every day when life is normal) today. I realize this may not be the most exciting thing to some of you, but I assure you it was to me! While I only had 2 appointments, I drove probably 100 miles round trip and it was a full day. I even got my car serviced after work and then picked up take-out Italian food for dinner. When I got home, Bob was defrosting our extra freezer located in the garage. Thank goodness for him. I think if it were up to me I would have just bought a new freezer to keep from having to do that. I keep telling him we need new ovens because there is something wrong with the self cleaning part. Seems to me it would be easier to buy a new one than clean the old one! I think Bob will probably just fix it and then I have no excuse.
I got a little work done tonight -- just some follow up to my meetings today. It is after 9:30pm and I have not stopped all day. Needless to say, I am beat. I do have an appmt Thurs at 12:45 to get the PET scan which is good. Tomorrow at 2pm we meet with the surgeon to find out what is next. Wednesday I am back at work to see a couple of agents, and we will see what Friday brings. I hope a biopsy so we can get moving on this!
Oh- Nurse Kathy came today. She said it was possible my wound would close up by the end of next week. Then all I have to do is put some kind of cream and a bandage on it -- nothing on the inside of it-- no drainage-- and I may be able to do it myself. That would be great so Bob does not have to be around every time I take a shower. As it is now, if I shower, he has to change the dressing. It has to be changed for drainage at least once a day anyway, but we have to time it for when he is around--or like last week, if I go somewhere overnight for work he has to go too. It was easy to convince him to go to with me to Dunwoody (for non Atlanta folks Dunwoody is a nice suburb of Atlanta), just 8 miles away to a nice hotel. I am not sure he is up for the Hampton Inn is Thomasville 5 hours away! So when we get pass this biopsy and whatever goes with it, he may have a little freedom!
I got a little work done tonight -- just some follow up to my meetings today. It is after 9:30pm and I have not stopped all day. Needless to say, I am beat. I do have an appmt Thurs at 12:45 to get the PET scan which is good. Tomorrow at 2pm we meet with the surgeon to find out what is next. Wednesday I am back at work to see a couple of agents, and we will see what Friday brings. I hope a biopsy so we can get moving on this!
Oh- Nurse Kathy came today. She said it was possible my wound would close up by the end of next week. Then all I have to do is put some kind of cream and a bandage on it -- nothing on the inside of it-- no drainage-- and I may be able to do it myself. That would be great so Bob does not have to be around every time I take a shower. As it is now, if I shower, he has to change the dressing. It has to be changed for drainage at least once a day anyway, but we have to time it for when he is around--or like last week, if I go somewhere overnight for work he has to go too. It was easy to convince him to go to with me to Dunwoody (for non Atlanta folks Dunwoody is a nice suburb of Atlanta), just 8 miles away to a nice hotel. I am not sure he is up for the Hampton Inn is Thomasville 5 hours away! So when we get pass this biopsy and whatever goes with it, he may have a little freedom!
Sunday, October 21, 2007
weekend
Except for the lovely dinner that Mitzi, Susan and Rita took me out for tonight, Sunday, it was a pretty uneventful weekend. I watched Bob's tennis match on Saturday - he says he came in second- and ran a few errands. I cannot believe I did not watch the Alabama game. I decided they do better when I don't watch, and boy was I right. I, was however, on the phone getting scores about every 3 minutes.
I spent all day today-- and I mean all day working. I had to do planning for 2008 and it took me from 9:30 to 5:30. I stopped for about 30 minutes when friend Lisa came by for a visit. Bob had to help me with some excel formulas (again thank goodness for Bob and his many talents!). He finished that part while I was out to dinner. I could not even look at the number again without my eyes glazing over. So I will look tomorrow and see if there are any bad errors that jump out at me and then I will turn them in. This is pretty much the only part of work I don't like, but you gotta do it.
I am working Monday and Wednesday out calling on agents. Tuesday is the appmt with the surgeon, and I guess he will schedule the biopsy then. I am ready to get it over.
I spent all day today-- and I mean all day working. I had to do planning for 2008 and it took me from 9:30 to 5:30. I stopped for about 30 minutes when friend Lisa came by for a visit. Bob had to help me with some excel formulas (again thank goodness for Bob and his many talents!). He finished that part while I was out to dinner. I could not even look at the number again without my eyes glazing over. So I will look tomorrow and see if there are any bad errors that jump out at me and then I will turn them in. This is pretty much the only part of work I don't like, but you gotta do it.
I am working Monday and Wednesday out calling on agents. Tuesday is the appmt with the surgeon, and I guess he will schedule the biopsy then. I am ready to get it over.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
A bad night but much better now
I don't think I have used these words but I hope I have expressed the sentiment. Sisters are angels... they are nurturing, suppportive, loving, hand holding, etc. Brothers are God sends (all this includes in laws too!). I know you have all read how incredible all my relatives have been. This place has been like a hotel with relatives and friends coming to kick in and take care of me, and I know how lucky I am. While brothers are generally not warm and fuzzy like sisters, they have their own way of showing love and support, and often in a "take charge" attitude. Don't misunderstand, sisters, epecially mine, have that "take charge" attitude too. This may be just my way of saying that Rosemores (my maiden name) in general are control freaks. Anyway, today brother Michael (who is a family practice Doc) had a long talk with Doc O. After their conversation I do feel like both are really watching out for me and making sure I have the best medical care out there. Doc O said he really did feel like one of my leisions was probably pneumonia. The other was iffy. If you recall, Doc O is my leg surgeon who has now referred me to Dr. Miller, the lung surgeon. Doc O also told Michael that he had breakfast with Dr. Miller today. In fact, he returned a call to Michael shortly their after. It looks like when they do the biopsy they won't just take a portion of the leisions out but will remove them totally so they do not have to go back in. Also the procedure, while no picnic, will not be as bad as I thought. I was equating the chest tube with Cindy's experience which was absolutely horrible. She had the tube in (actually 3 tubes) for weeks and had a lot of infection and drainage. Mine will only be in to re-inflate my lungs, and I should be in the hospital and tubeless, only a couple of days. Doc O also said it was possible I would not have more chemo since I had just had 2 more rounds. They would just take out the leisions, and come up with a plan. They had further discussion about my treatment, with Michael sharing some ideas, and he came away feel that Doc O was going to make sure his sister had good and expedient care.
Needless to say, I am feeling a whole lot better. I did not sleep very well last night, but tonight I will rest a whole lot easier. It is still pretty upsetting but I now know it may not be as bad as I think, and there are a lot of people, in and out of the medical community really looking out for me.
I went to the office for about 5 hours today. I was pretty tired after not sleeping, but I could not just lay around here. Plus, thank goodness, I have work to do. I was able to get a bunch of stuff I need to work on at home tomorrow and maybe have some agency appointments next week. Of course I see Dr. Miller on Tuesday, and I hope he will be able to schedule my biopsy for some time next week--or at the latest, early the following week. But I should have Monday and Wednesday wide open.
I mainly wanted to let you know that I am feeling better and more positive than I was yesterday. I have heard from so many of you today, and I know I am in all of your thoughts and prayers, and I am so appreciative.
Needless to say, I am feeling a whole lot better. I did not sleep very well last night, but tonight I will rest a whole lot easier. It is still pretty upsetting but I now know it may not be as bad as I think, and there are a lot of people, in and out of the medical community really looking out for me.
I went to the office for about 5 hours today. I was pretty tired after not sleeping, but I could not just lay around here. Plus, thank goodness, I have work to do. I was able to get a bunch of stuff I need to work on at home tomorrow and maybe have some agency appointments next week. Of course I see Dr. Miller on Tuesday, and I hope he will be able to schedule my biopsy for some time next week--or at the latest, early the following week. But I should have Monday and Wednesday wide open.
I mainly wanted to let you know that I am feeling better and more positive than I was yesterday. I have heard from so many of you today, and I know I am in all of your thoughts and prayers, and I am so appreciative.
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