So here are those updates. The CT body scan showed that I have some scattering of cells in my chest wall and abdomen and a 1.5 cm nodule on my adrenal gland. The scattered cells are not necessarily cancer, but the doctors will do another scan after chemo to see if these tiny cells have reacted to chemo in any way, if they get to be fewer then there is a good possibility that they were cancer, if they are unchanged not so likely to be cancer. The nodule on my adrenal gland is not suspicious for cancer, but could have been the catalyst for my weight gain. The Bone scan looked clear!
Okay, so the surgery was scheduled, my awesome Lil Bit (aka Sarah Buchanan) was an awesome chariot driver and nurse for the day. I have video to prove it, I am planning to attempt that upload that link with this post so bear with me. My girlfriend Kressy, had the great idea of a small video camera for my blog and appts, so she got me this awesome little video camera, now I have to be smarter than the camera and learn to upload and post to the blog! lol
The portcath is a permanent IV placed in my chest under the skin, so chemo can be administered through this. Otherwise, the veins in my arms would eventually be desecrated with chemo, such a pleasant thought right! The surgery went as expected, the pain was a bit much during the evening, my amazing oncologist called me herself to check on me and decided to call in some pain medication that night. I was able to rest well! I woke around 3:00 AM, remember this is my magic hour for insomnia, and I was hurting and my hives were itching uncontrollably. I took a pain pill and did not really inspect my hives, they have been out of control with all the anxiety and physical things going on in my body lately. Oh my, I woke up at 5:00AM when Sean had to go to work and I was covered in hives. After the surgery I was to keep this gauze and suffocating tape on my chest for 24 hours, however, it appeared that my skin was burning under the tape. Sean went to work, I was going to tough it out....blah blah! I eventually could not stand it any longer, I began peeling the tape off....not fun! I had a reaction to the tape over my entire chest and up my neck and around my left shoulder, oh and I felt like a bus just hit my chest. Life is good....right! Lol.
Sean and I met with the nurse practitioner later in the day, she confirmed it was fairly common for that type of reaction to happen with the tape they use after surgery...really....really, someone could have said that, or USE DIFFERENT FREAKING TAPE! I am miserable wanting to itch, hurting like a cow is sitting on my left chest and arm and now we need to sit for an hour and 45 mins to talk about chemo and then financial obligations. Really, really! So the meeting with the nurse practitioner was overwhelming and long! The moment that I couldn't really handle it was when she was reviewing the medications I would be taking to manage my symptoms at home for nausea and pain. I couldn't handle it b/c these are the exact same medicines I have educated my terminal end of life patient on. This is impossible, I cannot be a patient, I cannot be in the same category as the very patients that I have cared for! Too much! I don't even have the words, other than curse words!
So I got sent home with a giant bag of information, medication organizers, and that underlying feeling of panic! Oh and I met with the financial adviser and each cycle of chemo alone is $6000, thank god for health insurance!
So today, I am going to have a wig party with my girlfriends, and try to pick a descent wig for myself, then dinner and then Sunday will be relaxing and preparing for Monday.....chemo!
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