We met with Dr. Beaulieu last Monday to review the pathology results from my surgery. Apparently she removed 13 lymph nodes, not just the one as I previously reported (remember my rant about Dr. Beaulieu coming to talk to me after my surgery when I'm all stoned from drugs?). Anyways, out of the 13 lymph nodes, only 3 were cancerous. This is a good thing - the best would have been no cancer but 3/13 ain't bad - as Dom says, 'it's better than 10/13.' So for us regular folks it doesn't really matter that much but they do use the number of infected lymph nodes as a way to stage my cancer which influences treatment regimens (this sort of matters less since I've already had chemo). And to our surprise, I actually had two tumours in my breast, not just one - they were so close together you couldn't tell, even Dr. Beaulieu couldn't tell when she removed it so it was a surprise to her too. Dr. Beaulieu also removed tissue and skin around my tumours which all came back negative for cancer - this is good because that means that she didn't miss anything. As I had predicted one of the tumours was dead and the other one was still alive but both were very small. They can also tell if the tumours responded to chemo so the two tumours responded to chemo but the pathologist could not find any evidence that the tumours in my lymph nodes responded to chemo which is a little concerning...but there's no real explanation - sometimes cancer can become resistant to treatment over time or remember my theory about the Parent Cancer and the Kid Cancer (the Kid Cancer being the one in my lymph nodes) well that's a possibility too - that Kid Cancer flourished after Parent Cancer died...
Oh and I felt like it was Christmas because Dr. Beaulieu changed the bulb on my drain. Remember that gross tissue stuff that had blocked my drain? Well after a week of that thing floating around in the drain bulby-thing it began to stink so every time Dom emptied the drain it stunk - like rotting flesh. Dr. Beaulieu was able to find a new bulb and changed it for me while she also changed the dressing on the drain. She also removed my bandages from my incisions and said she was very pleased with how everything was healing. So, I have two incisions both about 8 cm long and not very far away from each other but you wouldn't see it unless I'm wearing a bathing suit, I don't even think you could see them if I was wearing a tank top. So overall, I'm pleased about the surgery.
On Tuesday I had my last acupuncture treatment with Hippie Bruce as Tran is back from his trip. I did ask Hippie Bruce if I am allowed to flip flop between the two of them because Japanese and Chinese acupuncture are so different and I think I've benefited from both of them a lot. Hippie Bruce said that was totally fine with him. I am going to go back to Tran for the month of February and see how it goes and I'll see if I want to go back and forth between the two of them after that.
On Tuesday afternoon I met with my oncologist Dr. Dent (aspergers-like personality) to touch base on things since my surgery. Dr. Dent was the most un-aspergers-like that day, she sat down right beside me and had a somewhat normal conversation. We talked about the pathology results - unfortunately she has no explanation as to why the lymph node tumours didn't show evidence of responding to chemo. I also asked her if there's any way to test and make sure that I don't have any rogue cancer cells floating around my body (your lymph system basically gets dumped back into your bloodstream so if there are rogue cancer cells, in theory, they can hop on the lymph highway and basically go wherever they want to in your bloodstream). Dr. Dent's answer was that that was what chemo was for - to target the tumours and any rogue cancer cells floating around (which makes sense). Apparently there aren't any tests really that I can take - other than the MRI, bone scan and CT scan that I had before I started chemo but those detect tumours, not micro-tumours - so I am pretty much keeping my fingers crossed for the rest of my life and will continue to live an 'anti-cancer' lifestyle (there really is a test I found out on Friday but I'll get to that in a bit).
On Wednesday I met with Dr. Caudrelier (radiology oncologist) to go over radiation. The nurse who brought me to the examination room was new to this particular job and so asked me if she could see my drain because she's never seen one before - I told her 'sure, I talk a lot about this drain and have shown it to lots of people!' I never miss an opportunity to share/educate someone. I told her about the grossness that has come out of the drain and how happy I was that Dr. Beaulieu replaced the bulb on it. I had met Dr. Caudrelier way back in August when I first went to the Cancer Centre and he remembered me from them - I joked with him I looked a lot different back then since I had long hair, eyebrows and eyelashes.
Oh and on a side note, I forgot to mention in the last blog that my hair is really starting to grow back! Apparently, the last hair to fall out is the first to grow back so I've developed this five o'clock shadow for eyebrows and my eyelashes have almost completely grown back. My hair on my head has really started to grow back and its not patchy at all like everyone said it would be (trust me I study it in the mirror for a few minutes every day and Dom reports on the areas that I cannot see). I'm pretty sure that in a few weeks I'll look like GI Jane - remember her? If you were old enough to watch R-rated movies waaaay back in 1997 (I was in second year university) then you remember GI Jane.
Actually, now that I see her again, I look just like her right now except her eyebrows are way better. This is me working out in my basement:
Just
kidding, I can only do two-handed push ups, with my legs together and
probably on a few in a row. I'm not quite up to GI Jane standards
yet...but you just wait!
Getting
back to my appointment with Dr. Caudrelier - he's French and I mean
Parisian French, not Quebec French and he's got a strong accent so I
really have to pay attention when he talks. He started by trying to
'sell' me radiation so I interrupted him and said 'you don't have to sell
me radiation, sign me up that's what I'm here for'. So we talked about
different radiation techniques and the different treatments that he's
done for patients when working in Europe. Here's my treatment regimen:
- 28 treatments starting right after Family Day
- one treatment everyday Monday to Friday
- each treatment takes about 15 minutes
- the treatments will cover the right side of my chest from my sternum in the middle up to my collar bone, over to my armpit and just below my boob
On Friday I met with my naturopathic doctor, Dr. Craig. We went over the results of my surgery and I asked him the same questions that I asked Dr. Dent. Dr. Craig did tell me that there is a new drug that was originally used on meth addicts to help them through detox, then used on AIDS patients to help the immune system and has recently been used on cancer patients with good results to help the immune system fight off cancer. Its called LDN (low dose naltrexone) and a recent study using this drug on triple negative breast cancer cells had great results so I will be getting a prescription for this drug this week. Dr. Craig also told me that there is a new company in Alberta that tests the peptides in your urine to predict the likelihood of cancer recurrence. Its a very new test and it has been studied with results of 98% accuracy - so I will be taking this test in a few months after all of the cancer treatment is done, which is great because it will help to inform my decision on any future treatments to avoid a recurrence. Oh and I go back on my strict diet for radiation - no carbs and no sugar. I have been on a low-carb/low-sugar diet ever since chemo ended but this will be much more strict but I've done it before and Dr. Craig showed me a great new website that I will use for recipes.
Dad and Linda came up this weekend which was great because I hadn't seen them since Thanksgiving before Dad got his hip replaced. We didn't do much because it was so friggin' cold so Dad and Dom went on a brewery tour while Linda and I went shopping. It was a nice relaxing weekend and Dad is going to come back up in March for a visit since we are both not doing much these days - we might as well do it together!
Thanks to everyone who sent cards and gifts over the past few weeks - we just got a nice gift certificate to the Keg from some of the Finks so we will be using that before the radiation diet starts.
I think that's it. I hope everyone is keeping warm. Dom's parents gave us their snow blower when they moved into their condo this summer and so far, I've used it twice and always whisper a little thanks to them every time it snows!
This was me on my first attempt:
I've got the hang of it now:
This is my dream - a snow blower for Fat May and Lola:
