Quick Update

The only two Health-related updates are these:

• I had the CT/CAT scan and bone scan at the local hospital a week ago Monday (10/17). This is something I’ll be doing every six months for a few years, to check for any recurrences. Friend Kristi’s tip (using a straw to drink the horrible contrast) worked like a charm, though it was still nasty-tasting. When I didn’t get a phone call the next day from the oncologist about the results, I began to figure that the scans went well and showed nothing suspicious; I called on Thursday (10/20) for the official results: Looking Good!

• My final reconstructive surgery will be one week from today, November 2, in Jackson. I’ll be in the hospital overnight (they are also removing my port), but will be home by the weekend. If all goes well, this will be my last surgery for a good, long time.

Breasteses

Today on “The View,” the topic of the whole show was Breasts.

Quote:

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Today the Ladies welcomed Lauren Hutton back to The View! Lauren, one of the most successful and celebrated models of all time, made an appearance to tell us why she decided to bare her breasts in BIG magazine for the first time and at age 61!

Next, Marie Czenko Kuechel, editor-at-large for New Beauty magazine, showed us the best ways to prevent or fix sagging breasts. For details, pick up a copy of this month’s issue of New Beauty magazine.

* Surgical/Non-Surgical Alternatives:
Breast Lift (surgical)
Breast ThreadLift (non-surgical)

Then breast cancer survivors Jo Beth Ravitz and Susan Carvalho joined this morning’s program with plastic and reconstructive surgeon Dr. David Antell to tell us how they were able to feel whole again thanks to the very latest procedures in breast reconstruction.

* Procedures discussed on today’s show: Tissue Expander/Breast Implants
* Nipple Reconstruction (tattoo or with grafted skin tissue)
* Latissimus Dorsi Flap
* Transverse Rectus Abdominis Muscle Flap (TRAM Flap)

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Anyhow, the last segment was the most interesting to me. They showed photos of one of the survivors’ reconstructed breasts before reconstruction (with expanders) and then again after reconstruction. Her expanders-ized boobs look like mine, except her scarring is way worse. It was exciting to see other peoples’ reconstruction. Also it reminded me that I’m not going to come away from reconstruction with perfect, gorgeous new breasts, but that they’ll be more than passable in clothing, and that’s a good deal.*

The other really interesting thing that came up on the show was that Elisabeth is seriously considering having a prophylactic mastectomy at some point. Her mother, aunt, and both grandmothers all had breast cancer and she’s like “I just know I’m going to get it, too.” I have half a mind to email her about genetic testing, as well as to say that my half-prophylactic mastectomy (Righty had no cancer, but got voted off the island anyhow) was, to me, well worth it.

*See, the plastic surgeon told us, way back when we first did our consult, that the biggest problem reconstruction patients have with their end results is that they’re expecting to be able to, essentially, pick their new breasts out of a catalog. Which is sorta what we did…walking in there thinking “I can ask for Carmen Electra breasts!” (stop laughing, ’cause she has gorgeous breasts and you know it!). But, he reminded us, this is not like an augmentation. We’re just trying to fill up a bra and make me feel normal and not self-conscious about myself.

Still, woulda been nice to have Carmen Electra breasts.

One Month Post Chemo

So, while my nails and hair are growing back, I’m finding that chemo is still affecting me in other ways.

First, there’s the chemopause. I’m still in it. Today is cd84. I haven’t temped since before Labor Day because it was so frustrating to see temps flucuate every day. I hope my ovary wakes up soon.

The other major way that chemo is still affecting me is my appetite. I barely eat, and when I do, I only nibble. Things sound good to me in theory and then when I sit down to eat whatever I’ve been dreaming about, I take a few bites and then push it around my plate. The only things I consistently eat is breakfast cereal, Nilla wafers, and Wheat Thins.

And I have lost my taste for several things I used to enjoy. There’s a BBQ ribs place here–Rib Cage–that has really good pulled pork sandwichess. Well, Tom suggested this morning that we take the boys to Rib Cage for lunch and my stomach turned at the thought. Why? Because Tom brought me a pulled pork sammich for lunch when I was having round #4 of chemo, and they put it on a piece of tin foil in the to go box, and all I could taste was the tin foil. Now I can’t get the thought of “but it’ll taste like tin foil” out of my head and I don’t want it anymore.

Same goes for Abner’s (a chicken tenders place). Tom never liked them, so if I wanted them I’d have to go by myself or with a girlfriend. Then I started going to the breast cancer support group, which offers lunch at the meetings. They bring in Abner’s. All summer long, I was thrilled to be having Abner’s regularly — sometimes they even gave me the leftover chicken tenders to bring home and I’d cut them up into salads, mmm mm! But then, just before my last round of chemo, I was having a bad-feeling day at the meeting, but tried to eat anyhow. After 20 minutes, I had to get up and leave the meeting to throw up my lunch. Now I can’t drive past Abner’s (and there’s two locations in town!) without feeling slightly ill at the thought of the smell of their dipping sauce.

The good news is (knock on wood) I haven’t had a single migraine since just before my last round of chemo. I still haven’t been able to take an Imitrex to test it out, see how it does with my migraines, because I haven’t had any since my migraine doctor appointment!

Ooh, and my skin is clearing up again. That’s also nice.

One Month Post Round 6

Am feeling better and better each day, although I still have Chemopause-related hot flashes throughout the day and night. Boohiss.

I’ve been on potassium supplements for a while now, and finally admitted to the oncologist at the last appointment that I was having trouble getting the pills down (they’re enormous). So he gave me a prescription for the supplements in effervescent tablet form and I am having a much easier time with them. They are orange-flavored and not entirely nasty (kind of a Sunkist soda flavor rather than a Tang orange flavor).

Speaking of things that are entirely nasty-tasting, I went to the hospital’s diagnostic center last week to pick up the contrast I have to drink before Monday’s CT/CAT scan. The woman who gave me the contrast said that she just ran out of the flavored contrast and wouldn’t be getting any more in because it’s too expensive. Ugh. So I can’t escape the foul-tasting contrast as long as I do the tests at the hospital.

My peach fuzzy hair is getting longer! It’s closing in on half-an-inch long. But it’s still completely white.

Weekly Update

Several new developments since last week!

I have hair! To be more precise, I have peach fuzz on my head. I look like a baby chick. But I don’t mind; my hair is growing!

I have a surgery date! I’ll have my final reconstructive surgery (as well as my port removed) on November 2.

I’m a chemo graduate! Today was my last weekly appointment with the oncologist, who told me I have graduated. I still have monitoring to do (a CT/CAT scan and a bone scan in two weeks), but I won’t set foot in the oncologist’s office again until mid-November. Exciting!

I’m flying solo! It’s just me and the boys again now. We are adjusting pretty well to no more Nancy or Rebecca (although Rebecca sat with them today while I was at the oncologist’s). We have an outing every day; today the boys went to the playground for the first time ever. Big excitement!

I think that’s it for this week’s update.