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MAPPING…

Hi all,

Hope you all had a great 4th of July weekend! Go ‘Merica!

So here’s the deal. In the beginning of my diagnosis I sat with my surgeon and she gave me a general idea of what my treatment plan would be. It started with surgery, then chemo, then radiation and was a broad overview of how it was all going to go down. Within each of those areas, the specific doctor goes over the nuts and bolts of that stage of treatment and what to expect dog spiel herunterladen.  We map out a plan, so to speak.

This past Thursday was radiation’s turn. I’m almost done with chemo (more on that below) so it was time to meet with my radiation oncologist to go over my plan and then do the radiation “mapping” which is where they put you on the machine and very precisely map out the area to be radiated and then determine the exact dose of radiation you will get.

There is a whole simulation process that happens. There’s a team of about 6 people adjusting me and analyzing my scans , marking exactly where the radiation will hit how much can you from spotify.  Also involved is a tape measure, body tape, markers to draw on body tape, body positioning, body re-positioning, determining machine calibration points, digital photos of your positioning, several scans on the machine, breathing technique practice and finally 7 pen tip sized tattoos to map out the area to be radiated. This whole process took about 2 hours from start to finish and the end result is that when I actually start radiation I can just get on the table, get in position and we can get going brightcove video downloaden.

Last week in my entry titled “HEART” I mentioned that radiation can have long term effects on the heart if you’re getting radiation on your left side, like I am.  Because of that, I had to learn the above breathing technique where I breath in, then deeper, then hold my breath for 20 seconds. This pushes air into the space between my breast and heart, and hopefully moves my heart out of the way, protecting it from the radiation iphone sms. I’m happy to report that my heart did move and so this technique will work to lessen the amount of radiation that may hit it.

But as much as that radiation procedure is precise and follows a specific plan of start and end points, one of the lessons I’m learning throughout this whole breast cancer journey is that trying to create a roadmap of how your treatment plan will exactly go makes about as much sense as trying to control the path a tornado takes.

Sure, there are things I can still control, like initial appointment times and making sure my Taxol ice is ready for me at the right time or getting heat packs in advance so I’m not wasting time and heating my veins (helps the nurses)  before I go into the chemo suite farming simulator 2015 herunterladen.  It all helps keep some of it moving along, but as I’ve found out several times along the way, there’s no real roadmap to follow in Breast Cancer Land.

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You’ll remember back when I had my four AC chemo’s scheduled, the last one got derailed by a high fever, infection and hospital admission. I’ve had to delay going back to work a few times because of lingering side effects. Several times I have mentally prepared for things to go one way, only to hit a speed bump and get turned another way robot karol kostenlos herunterladen.

Well, the same thing happened this week. Many of you wrote or texted, congratulating me on finishing chemo because Friday, July 1 was supposed to be my last one. Thank you for remembering and celebrating with me. However, I hit another speed bump and again my journey got sidetracked.

On Thursday I unexpectedly wound up in a dermatologists office and was diagnosed with shingles zum herunterladen duden. Yes, shingles. If you don’t know what they are, Dr. Google defines it quite pleasantly like this: “Shingles is caused by the chickenpox virus that lies dormant in the spinal cord throughout life and is only reactivated when the body’s immune system becomes compromised or weakened. Shingles is a painful, blistering contagious rash.” It went on to say that patients undergoing chemotherapy are more susceptible to shingles because chemo significantly reduces your immune system disney plusen tv.

So although I had mentally prepared myself and started a premature celebration that July 1st would be my last chemo, when I told my oncologist about the shingles diagnosis and powerhouse anti-viral meds I was prescribed, she thought it would be best if we postponed chemo and pushed it out a week to July 8th.

The new plan is for me to wrap up chemo this upcoming Friday and then get started with radiation on August 1.  I’m already mentally preparing myself to get stuck a couple times with the needle again, ice my hands and feet for 90 more minutes and sit in the chemo chair for 4 more hours. But I will only celebrate when the last drip is dropped and the IV needle is taken out and tossed.

As it stands right now, the end of radiation should be some time mid September. I will also still be getting the every 3 week antibody infusions until next April.  I’m told the chemo will stay in my system for awhile as well as some of the side effects from it, but I’m holding out hope that after I’m done my immune system bounces back quickly and I can get some of my energy back.

As I get closer to finishing this year long process I am thinking about what my actual roadmap will look like when I’m done and look back. I envision it to be like a real map that at the beginning is neatly folded and flat. But then after you open it and find your route, you try to fold it back exactly the way it came and you can’t. There’s always one or two creases that wont fold right and you wind up just pushing it down flat to try to appear as though it’s folded back correctly.

And so it may not be neat, and it may not be pretty, but I know that eventually my tornado path of a treatment plan will eventually get me to the end of this journey.

BAND OF BADASSES

Often women get a bad rap when it comes to supporting each other. There’s a zillion articles and stories about how they tear each other down, rip them to shreds behind their backs and try to sabotage them in some way herunterladen. And sometimes unfortunately, that’s true.

But more often than not, it goes the other way. And there’s nothing like a breast cancer diagnosis to prove it download or download.

As soon as I mentioned my diagnosis, women I know who also have or had breast cancer instantly reached out to me. Friends of friends who know people who have been through it or are going through it put me in touch with their friends herunterladen. And every last one of them, without hesitation, offered me their help, assistance, knowledge, ears and shoulders. Some of these women are now cancer free herunterladen. Others are still in various stages of treatment. Everyone pretty much went on the same journey, some just took different roads. A few didn’t need chemo, some chose mastectomies over lumpectomies, and one is a recurring survivor Farm frenzy 2 free download german. All of these women have given me the gift of their time, patience, understanding and compassion, but they also have given me something that is needed more than anything else when going down this path – strength download series for free.

I started thinking about them and how amazing they all are. As I worried in the middle of the night about being able to handle all that is coming down the pike, I couldn’t help but think of them and how they made it through and made sure I knew I would too filme auf tablet downloaden. I couldn’t put my finger on exactly how to describe them all.

Until recently when I got an email from my cousin, Erin, asking how I was doing fotos von sd karte herunterladen. She signed off with, “I love you. You are badass…”
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And there you have it. There is no other way to describe this band of women sticking together and stepping up. They are badasses who, after finding out another was among them, instantly pulled me in and created a protective barrier between me and cancer. They are not going to let it get to me, not while they’re around. They have gone to war and came out victorious, raising their physical, emotional and mental scars up like trophies, their last F U to cancer. And they are making damn sure I will raise my own when it’s time.

It’s every last one of these badasses who I will be thinking of as the medical oncologist goes through my long treatment plan with me again on Friday morning. And when the nurse puts that IV needle in to start the first phase of my chemo. And when I drag myself from appointment to appointment to appointment, making sure I’m strong enough to continue.

And it will be every last one of these badasses that I will thank when I finally hear the words in April of 2017, “You’re all done.”

And since I’m now a member of this club no one wants to belong to, this much I know; When I get that call, email or text that someone who knows someone who knows someone just got diagnosed with breast cancer, I will be there for her, letting her know that she too, is a badass.