Me 2 - Hal 0

Post-op follow up appointment with my doctor.  Good news all around.  She said she looked at the slides of the various parts she took out of me and they were all “clean”, meaning no cancer cells.  She said that this was a first for her.  She had never had a patient thus far that did not need treatment after surgery.  I am an anomaly, yet again.  This does not mean that she still won’t be following me for the next few years, but right now I am all good.

Next up, when can I do stuff again?  I am getting bored sitting around especially during summertime (playtime).  She said six weeks after my surgery date I can begin more rigorous activities (that would be August 18^th for those counting).  Of course, I need to take it slow, my body will still be healing.  I am to continue walking and can do light activity.  So, I asked and did get the okay to do a little golfing, short swing stuff, so pitch and putt here I come (I can’t carry my bag though – 5lb weight restriction until six week mark).

Vanquishing the Spawn of Hal

Surgery day.  I have to be at the hospital around 10:30am.  This is a long time to go without food or water after waking up.  Good thing I loaded up on food last night.

Even Southpaw can't handle deadly wipes.

Pre-op time.  First they inform me that my surgery time was running behind a little, about an hour.  Next, the nurse had me use these pre-op antibacterial skin wipes all over my body.  About 10 minutes later, my entire body started to itch from the wipes.  Oh, the fun.  Now she has to give me a sponge bath.  

Southpaw does his IV check

Next, the anesthesiologist comes in to set the IV line in my arm.  A delightful fellow who tells me that it will just be like a little bee sting as he sticks my arm.  Bee sting my ass is what I tell him.  

ID bands so they don't hurt me any more than needed.

And, now we wait.  Family gets to come back for a little visit, mom even sneaks in a friend.  The doctor stops by for one final chat.  Finally, the wheel me to the operating room around 1:45pm.  They get me situated on the operating table and begin to put me under.  This is pretty much the last thing I remember until after 10pm that night.  The surgery lasted until about 4:50pm.  After the surgery I was apparently in a lot of pain, thrashing about.  They sedated me with a nerve block and eventually moved me to my room around 8pm.  The nurse checked on me around 10:30pm.  I remembered being very thirsty and in pain.  She gave me a pain pill and some apple juice.  I also had a little jello.  About 2:30pm, I woke up in a lot of pain.  The nurse called the doctor to get authorization to give me a Dilaudid push and off to sleep I go again.

While I Can

Couple of buddies enjoying some libations

In true stride, I have managed to fit a whole lot of summer fun into my shortened two week summer break.  A bunch of time on the golf course, in the water, and a softball game filled a majority of my time as well as catching up with friends.

Pinky on caddy duty.

Guess we will move to another beach.

And, today, the day before my surgery was jammed packed.

Started the morning off with a round of golf and a short lesson.  Next, lunch at the new ramen noodle place by house.  






Then, a little going away party for the Spawn of Hal at the Dodgers/Phillies game.  Nothing like Dodger dogs, peanuts, and whiskey for my pre-op meal.  

Quite Fortuitous

And, if that wasn’t enough, a stop at Hop Woo’s in Chinatown after the game for noodles, eggrolls and potstickers.

Another yummy smoothie

Pre-op Abdominal CT Scan, time to drink another "smoothie".

Never get used to drinking this thing, good thing Southpaw doesn't have any taste buds.

Spawn of Hal

Every good production needs a sequel.

Treatment:  The Spawn of Hal

Opening montage of our heroine rebuilding her life over the past year and a half.  She is getting her strength back.  Enjoying life and all her favorite activities.  Back out on the softball field, basketball court, golf course, and in the water surfing and boarding.  Working full time again.  Life is good.  Doctor visits going well, blood work looking good, scans looking good.  But, the fight against cancer is never really over.  Nothing like a sprinkling of cancers cells in my female parts to be a giant buzz kill.

The fibroids.  Like many women, I had uterine fibroids for some time.  They are noncancerous growths of the uterus that often appear during childbearing years.  They showed up on scans that were done before my breast cancer surgery.  There were also several small polyps in my uterus as well.  The gynecologist did an endometrial biopsy at that time and the results were negative.  When my oncologist put me on the Tamoxifen, he said we would keep an eye on the fibroids as they have a tendency to grow in patients on this drug.  In April, the first sign came in the form of a little spotting of blood one day.  Keeping in mind, my body has been forced into a post-menopausal state after chemotherapy so any blood is not a good sign.  I had my regularly scheduled check-up in May with my oncologist.  I told him about the spotting and he said I needed to get a check-up with a gynecologist and it was time for another ultrasound to check on the fibroids.  A couple of days after my check up with my oncologist, the spotting came back and was pretty consistent for almost a week.  I made an appointment with the gynecologist.  She found a large cyst on my cervix (about 3.5cm) and sent it to pathology to be tested.  She also did another endometrial biopsy.  A couple of days later, she informed me that both the cyst and the biopsy tissues had cancer cells on them (the spawn of Hal).  A few days after that conversation, I met with oncology gynecologist.  We talked more about where the cancer cells were found.  They were on the outside of the cyst and the outside of the lining of the uterus.  She informed me that I would need a hysterectomy and since my cancer was hormone based she would also like to take the ovaries and fallopian tubes.  I told her that I didn’t want to have any more surgeries so it would be best to take everything this one time.  She will also need to harvest a few lymph nodes from the abdomen area to determine if the cancer cells have gone beyond the female region.  She assured me that it would only be a minimal amount of lymph nodes this time and I shouldn’t have the same effects as when they took them from my arm.  This is good to hear, it was a long road to get the lymphedema in my arm under control.  She will be doing a laparoscopic assisted vaginal hysterectomy.  If all goes well, I will spend one night in the hospital and be back to normal routines in a couple of weeks.  The recovery time to be back to all my activities will depend on how my body heals, anticipating about six weeks.

So now it is time to have as much fun before the surgery.  So off to the golf course and into the water I go.

Drug Trial Day - the end is near

It is the second to last round of shots for the drug trial.  Only one more to go after today.  Stopped by the vampire's lair first.  Today they only took nine tubes of blood, not too bad.

Southpaw and his dog checking out injection sites.

My leg is finally getting used to these injections.  The welts are not as big or itchy as they have been in the past.  It helps that they adjusted the dosage after last time.

Drug Trial Day Goes Awry

It is once again drug trial day.  First stop, as always, the vampire's lair.  Today they are taking a whopping twelve tubes of blood.  Really!!!  Southpaw and I do not approve.  And, I must not have had enough water this morning because it was taking forever to fill them all (over 15 minutes).  Blah!

After a quick chat with the doctor, it is time to prep for the shots.  A little Ativan and some Lidocaine cream on the thigh for me while the pharmacist mixes the injections.

Southpaw making sure the Lidocaine cream is working.

Now it's time again for the injections, four in the thigh.  Oh yeah!

Number 1 going in.

All four done and bandaged.  Now we wait.

So, after treatment there is an observation period for an hour.  Why?  Because you never know when this might happen:

Just a little bit of swelling.

Let the games begin.  The nurse came by to check on my leg.  She lifted the blanket and was taken aback by how large the welts were at the injection sites.  They were also very itchy and super sore.  She asked if this was normal.  I said no.  She went to get the research nurse.  A couple minutes later they both return. "Oh, that doesn't look good." The research nurse was a bit surprised by what she saw and went to get the doctor.  She returned a few minutes later with the Investigative Pharmacist (have no idea what that is).  They were both perplexed.  A couple minutes later the doctor arrived.  "Oh, my.  That's not good."  Mind you, I am already a bit loopy because of the Ativan so this is all very comical.  The doctor prescribes a dose of Benadryl intravenously.

     Doctor:  "You won't be able to drive."

     Me:  "She's my ride."  Pointing to my friend sitting in a chair near by.

     Friend:  "I'm only drunk."

     Doctor:  "That's okay, you are still going to be better off than her."

Good times at the cancer center.

A few minutes later, after a couple of tries, the IV is in place (it gets to come home with me tonight because I have my yearly scans tomorrow) and Ethel is back by my side.

Hello, Ethel.  It's been awhile.

After about an hour, all is good and I am finally discharged.  My leg is still swollen, but I have been reassured that the swelling will start to go down this evening.

Never a dull moment on this journey.  Now it's time to eat.

Aussie meat pie on mashed potatoes with gravy.

A well deserved treat today.