A hug from my doctor

Well here it is November and like always I am not even ready to think about the holidays and all that needs to be done. I am happy to say that my living room and dining room make over (hahaha that sounds so simple) is complete...YAY. I love the results and I'm having fun decorating. I was able to get some fall decorating in and I'm looking forward to decorating for Christmas. While all those ideas bounce around in my head I haven't any ideas about gifts this year...I better start shopping soon or I'll be going crazy at the last min.

I went to see my GI doc last month. My first time since my cancer surgery and treatment. I was happy to report to my doc that my Crohns beast has been very well behaved and dare I say better then pre cancer treatment. I think the chemo put it in its place (for a while anyway). My doc is so wonderful. At the end of my appointment he gave me a big hug and told me how glad he was to see how well I'm doing after the cancer treatment. He even got chocked up. He's the best.

Of course I was given my yearly to do list of blood work and tests that need done and doctors that need seen :( I went right away and got all my blood work...I haven't scheduled anything else yet...shame on me. Next week I promise.

BTW I am one year cancer free as of October 22nd Woo Hoo! Check out my other blog to see a few pics from the past year.

Love, laugh, and always know where the nearest bathroom is

Its almost April…why is it so cold!!!

Its because I don’t have any hair isn’t it???? I have to go and sit at baseball games in the cold (30ish degrees) with three hats on and I’m still cold??? (Plus the layers and layers of clothing) But I do love to watch my boys play baseball and so far my crohns beast has been cooperating. If I eat an early lunch I’ve been able to make it through the game. Double headers are another matter! Now that things have settled down after the surgeries and chemo I need to get back to my gluten free diet. That should help baseball season go a little smoother. I still haven’t called to schedule my GI appointment…shame on me. I need to do that soon. I’m wondering what he is going to say about meds. I don’t want to go back on the cimzia (I don’t even know if that’s an option). Right now the Pentassa is working well so hopefully I can just stick with that. Of course he is going to want me to have the dreaded colonoscopy but that’s going to have to wait till all my plastic surgery is done. Turns out I may have to have some touchups done sometime in May or June. That’s ok thou because after everything I’ve been through I want my new boobies to look their best so I’ll do whatever I have to do :)

I’m happy to say that my hair is starting to grow back YEAH. Unfortunately its growing back on my legs and under my arms the fastest!!! BOO

Well no early lunch for me today (no lunch at all). I am off to meet J at the eye doctors and then B has a game at 4:00…Its 32 degrees right now!!! I think I need more hats!!!

Love, Laugh, and Always know where the nearest bathroom is

Here I am

So…..here I am….I didn’t get swallowed up by the couch! As a matter of fact I am happy to say I am spending less time on the couch. I had my swap surgery and I’m praying that all the painful stuff is behind me now. I am slowly, slowly getting my energy back. I’ve started exercising again and I will never complain about dragging myself out of bed to exercise. I actually missed it.

As for my behind (and intestine) I am doing pretty well. I’m back to my normal bathroom runs. The four to six times a day seems like nothing compared to the 12 to 16 times a day during the chemo. I’ve stopped taking the flagel and so far the fistula has been calm. I have started the Tamoxifen which is causing horrible hot flashes…blah!

I’ve shared with you many times how much I HATE needles! Well before my swap surgery, when the very nice pre-op nurse came into start my IV she said the words I dread “You have very small veins”. This is never a good sign. So after tap tap tapping my arm and hand she gives it a try in the side of my left hand…strike one! She tries in my right hand…strike two. Sorry Ms. Nice Nurse today rule is two strikes and you’re out. She goes to get another nice nurse who isn’t very confident either but she does get it into my left hand on her first try. Ughhhhhhh!




At least this surgery was not as uncomfortable as the last. My new perky boobs are in and hopefully once the swelling goes down and everything falls into place they will look great (at least under my clothing :)

I am due for an appointment with my GI doc. During my last visit, before all the cancer stuff, he wanted me to have a colonoscopy in March. The last time I talked to the nurse I told her it was going to have to wait. I need a break from poking, prodding, and removing things. She completely understood.

Well it is March already and March for us means BASEBALL. J already went to FL for his spring baseball trip. His team did very well. He has a DH today but it’s away. His first home game is Friday so I’m looking forward to that. B however has his first scrimmage game today Yeah! I am very very excited. They will be playing on the brand new high school turf field.

I’ll let you know how that goes!

Love, Laugh, and Always know where the nearest bathroom is

The Post I Forgot to Post!?!

I started this post after Christmas and then forgot to post it (chemo brain) so here it is :)
Once again this is on both blogs :p

Being home and hydrated made me feel very good. I haven’t had much energy but I also haven’t had much pain and I’m back to my normal for me poo routine. The fistula has also been behaving.

My hair started falling out (2 weeks after 1st chemo) so we had a little buzz cut event. My boys already have buzz cuts and B and J’s friend Jeff needed a trim so J buzzed Jeff first and then B. Then off with my hair :( but I have to say it doesn’t look that bad. J already looks a lot like me and now we look like twins hahaha. We took pictures but I don’t think I’ll post those. I went to pick up my wig the next day and it is wonderful. The color and style are just like my real hair. People will never guess it is a wig (if they don’t already know that is)

I was very disappointed to miss my beautiful niece CSD’s wedding. I just wasn’t feeling well enough and my doctors don’t want me to be around any large crowds to prevent being exposed to germs. Thankfully I have the most wonderful family in the world. My niece CRSA and my sister CAE sent me pictures during the ceremony and reception….THEN my amazing, beautiful, wonderful niece and brand new bride CSD, brand new hubby N, and her Mom (sister CAE) came to my house on Christmas Eve to reenact the wedding reception. With the wedding dress on, Mother of the bride dress on, bouquets in hand; they came down my staircase escorted by my son (in shorts and a tee-shirt hahaha.) I cried! I also dressed for the occasion and wore my wig. They brought a center piece, snacks, cookies, and cake. We took lots and lots of pictures, and then we ate, and the bride and groom cut the cake. My beautiful niece KRS and brother RJS and sister in law RJS were also in attendance. I can’t even find the words to express how wonderful and special this day was for me. I love you all so much xoxo.

I finished my online Christmas shopping but everyone got a lot less than normal. They weren’t disappointed tho because they are wonderful. Hubby wrapped everything for me on Christmas Eve evening…nothing like waiting till the last min. (of course I do that just about every Christmas ;) This year we did a 2 fishes Christmas Eve Dinner (as opposed to the 7 fishes). Christmas morning was very nice. We opened our presents and then went to CRA’s for a wonderful Christmas morning breakfast. The rest of the day was relaxing. Hubby cooked a nice Christmas Ham dinner and we watched our boys play Wii. I use to be good at these games but apparently it’s not like riding a bicycle!

xoxoxoxoxo
Love, Laugh, and Always know where the nearest bathroom is

Think Again

(This post will appear on both my blogs…so if you follow both you only need to read this one today :)

The bad days after chemo continued with all the aches and pains and constant diarrhea, bleeding, and fistula problems. On Sunday my temperature was back up to 101.5 and my heart rate was high. My hubby called the oncologist on call and he of course wanted me to go to the emergency room. So off I went thinking they would draw some blood, check me out, and send me home…Think again!!! Not only was my temp. and heart rate elevated, my blood pressure was high also. Their major concerns were of course infection. They put me on a heart monitor, drew lots of blood, started me on fluids, and did a chest x-ray. The next concern was “did the chemo flare the crohns?” If you haven’t guessed already they admitted me. They said they wanted to keep an eye on me for the next 24 hours. They gave me an IV antibiotic and settled me into a room and hung an isolation sign on the door…no germs in…no germs out! They increased the dose of Flagel. Clear liquids only and a pelvic CT Scan in the morning. They also hung another sigh behind me to alert other nurses



A precaution due to the lack of lymph nodes in both upper arms

I got absolutely no sleep that night. My IV pump (aka Fabio)





KAS don't look at the next picture :)




was SO LOUD. If I had something nearby resembling a baseball bat I would have beat the crap out of it. Around 4:00am I finally just turned the TV on. Early Monday I had my CT Scan and was expecting to get some real food but they still had me on clear liquids. When the GI from my group who was doing rounds and who I didn’t like at all came in (not my GI by the way) she was #1 rude to my husband and #2 gave me a hard time about letting me have a general or even a soft diet. Lets see…you want the diarrhea to go away but if all that goes in is liquid then ummmm what do you think is going to come out??? Besides that I know my body better than anyone esp. someone who has only looked at me for 5 minutes. I could see if I were in pain or had no appetite. She finally agreed to let me try a general diet and if things got worse I would have to go back to liquids. So she leaves and guess what??? She doesn’t write the order for a general diet. The nurse was wonderful. She kept trying to call and get an order. Of course the beotch would not call back. Four calls and hours later another doctor from the group called back and gave her the order. He said start with a general and if I have a problem tweak it. THANK YOU. In the mean time many other doctors came in, my PCP, the infectious disease doctor, and oncologist who all agreed I needed to stay another day. My white count was high but that was most likely due to the chemo. My potassium was low so they gave me some to drink :( Now if you’ve never had liquid potassium you’re lucky because it tastes like crap. After gagging my way through I got about ¾’s of it down.

Fluids, fluids, and more fluids = lots of peeing. Hubby brought me my iPod so that I could plug my ears with Christmas music during the night (to drown out Fabio). It worked…I slept very well. Tuesday was another full day of IV fluids. Fabio and I are becoming very close…he follows me around everywhere. They are still waiting on blood work results to rule out certain infections. The GI beotch doctor hasn’t been back, just her PA who is very nice. They are leaning towards this not being a crohns flare but just a bad time with the chemo. But just to be sure they want me to have a pelvic ultrasound tomorrow…yes another night with Fabio. The fluids have been very helpful. I haven’t had any muscle or bone pain since they started them. I definitely was severely dehydrated. I slept well again with my Christmas music. Wednesday morning I went down for the ultrasound. It turns out the CT Scan showed a little something something near the uterus and they wanted a closer look. Well if they would have said something I could have told them it was probably the same little something they saw on my CT Scan in the spring which turned out to be fluid in my fallopian tube…that’s exactly what it was. The infectious disease doctor came in and said I was negative for all the infections they were testing for but thought they might keep me for a few more days. NOOOOOOOO. My oncologist came in and decided that she did not want me to have the port put in. She is going to reduce the dose of chemo and have me come in early that day and if I appear to be dehydrated again they will give me fluids and if need be more fluids between then and the next chemo. If however I have another bad time with the chemo they will probably not do anymore. Then my PCP came in and said I could go home YAY. I got myself dressed and waited for my discharge instructions and the nurse says your potassium is still low so after I get that for you you can go. NOOOOOOO…she comes back with a pill…are you kidding me…this comes in a pill??? Where was your stupid pill a few days ago when I was gagging??? I took it and then on my way to Home Sweet Home!!!

Xoxoxo
Love, Laugh, and Always know where the nearest bathroom is

Crohns Meet Chemo

Well its been a while since I’ve posted. I’ll try not to take too long to catch you up. I’ve been spending a lot of time dealing with the breast cancer treatment which has not been agreeing with my crohns beast. Even before my first chemo I was anemic and had to have some iron transfusions. I did have some side affects but I don’t think they bothered the beast. Those treatments were followed by a very busy week which included my first chemo treatment (Mon.) The treatment itself (4 hours) went well. I was just very tired that day and the next and I had an increase in diarrhea. I figured heck, diarrhea, I can handle that. Then Wed. night I started to feel horrible, even more diarrhea now with some bleeding and the constant diarrhea flared the fistula. That night every inch of my body hurt. It was like tiny knives/shards of glass racing through my body stabbing me. The pain and diarrhea and bleeding and fistula flare continued Thurs. which was the day I had a consult appointment with the surgeon who was suppose to put the chemo port in the next day. My heartrate was high and I had a slight temperature so needless to say they postponed that procedure. Friday the muscle and joint pain eased up a little but I had bouts of nausea and esophageal spasms and stomach/intestinal cramping. It felt like my entire digestive tract was in a knot. I’ve continued to have moderate diarrhea with some bleeding off and on and occasional spasms. The fistula is starting to feel better but is still making it clear that he is there and not going anywhere. I have a call in to my GI (who won’t be back in the office till Monday) and I’ve spoken to the oncologist (the surgeon called her too) I’ll have my blood checked on Monday and see the oncologist on Tuesday. My temp. is back to normal and my heart rate has lowered. I’m hoping I’m on my way back to feeling normal (for me) for the next few weeks before I have to go through it all over again. I’m hoping that this first treatment just woke the beast up to say HEY what is going on??? Maybe the next time he will just say “oh you again” and go back to sleep. A girl can dream!

Love, Laugh, and Always know where the nearest bathroom is

Lets Make a Deal

I don’t like to complain so much but come on…. Why can’t I just have one disease at a time or at least only one active at a time. I’ve accepted that I have Crohns disease…after all I’ve been dealing with it for more than 20 years. I’ve almost accepted having breast cancer after all its only been three months (wow it has only been three months…it feels more like three years). So crohns (looking down at my belly), yes I’m talking to you. Could you please just back off till I get through the reconstruction and the chemo. Could you just sit back and let me put all my energy into growing new boobs and killing any stray cancer cells. Wouldn’t you rather hide from me while I’m bald and nauseous. You don’t need to keep reminding me that you were here first. You don’t need to be jealous…I will always like you better than cancer. You can relax and enjoy some time off. You’ve worked so hard all these years so how about taking a well deserved vacation. Better yet how about joining forces with me and fighting this cancer together. Instead of chewing on my intestine go gobble up any bad cells that are hanging around. Ya know if you would quit flaring my fistula I could have more energy to get through the cancer treatment. Just so you know the sooner I get through the cancer treatment the sooner it can be just you and me again. You could attack the cancer instead of me. You could be the crohninator, my very own Arnold. Tell the cancer “Hasta la vista, baby!” You could be Batman and I could be Robin. Come on, Crohns, to the Bat Cave! There's not a moment to lose! You can be Mario and I’ll be Luigi: Strap your belt on, kid. We're going in! Come on what do ya say??? Don’t make me come down there and kick your, well I guess it would be my ass!…PLEASE…I’m begging now!

Love, Laugh, and Always know where the nearest bathroom is

Not Your Average Patient

I went to see the oncologist Friday. She was very nice and I liked her very much. She is also very thorough; she spent a lot of time with me. After going through my entire medical history and examining me including abdomen and fistula (joy joy) she explained the treatment. Since I am not your average patient she will be watching me very closely. She is very concerned about how the treatment will affect my crohns and the fistula. She is going to work with my GI through the treatment. We may have to change my meds a bit. Since the chemo can cause inflammation she wants me to take steroids the day before, the day of, and the day after the treatments which will be every three weeks for 3 to 4 months. The fistula will be a challenge because in reality it is a chronic infection so we have to be very careful that it doesn’t flare and get worse. She wants me to be on an antibiotic during the treatment. She also thinks that she will need to watch my blood count and iron count even more than most patients due to the crohns and fistula. She wants me back on the B12 and depending on the results of my blood work possibly iron. I will probably have my treatments on Tuesdays because that is the only day of the week that she has office hours at the hospital that is closest to me. This way if there is a problem or I need to see her I can do it on the same day. I will probably start the treatments in two weeks. We have to get insurance approval and she wants me to have a PET scan first. Everything is going very quickly which is fine. I want to be feeling good by the spring baseball season. J and B are doing their winter workouts and conditioning and B is still in search of the right college to attend after graduation. Since I will be bald during the baseball season J’s coach gave me a redhawks knit cap to wear to the games. It will be perfect.

Love, Laugh, and Always know where the nearest bathroom is

The Angry/Why Me Place

The bowel saga continues…I went very quickly back to my version of normal and even quicker to the other extreme of major diarrhea. Fortunately that did not last long and I am back to my normal. Other than that the beast has been quiet. The fistula on the other hand flared right after I came home. Since then it has been draining a lot and goes from hurting really bad to hurting just a little and back to hurting really bad. Last night it was hurting really really bad. So bad that it sent me to that angry/why me place. Isn’t dealing with breast cancer enough? Why do I have to deal with this pain too? Or, I’ve been suffering with Crohns disease so long why do I have to go through breast cancer too. Since the surgery I spend a lot of time sitting because that’s about all I can do. That’s the only time I’m comfortable. Then the fistula flares and I’m not even comfortable sitting. Arrrrggggg! I wonder if the change in my bowels caused the flare? I guess it could be from all the sitting around? Whatever the cause I’ve had enough. Of course as angry as all this makes me I am very thankful that no other crohns related problem has reared its ugly head. I just want it ALL to feel better….please!!! Speaking of sitting around, I don’t usually have the TV on during the day and let me tell you I’m not missing anything. I can’t believe we have all these channels and I still can’t find anything good to watch. I’ve never been fond of game shows and I no longer watch soap operas. I say no longer because years ago when my kids were younger I watched a few soap operas but now I have no desire to watch them. I’m sure if I tuned in it would only take me a few days to feel like I picked up right where I left off lol. Of course with all that’s going on in my life I guess you could say I’m living my own little soap opera…Nahh. I’m also not really crazy about talk shows so unless there is a good movie on I’m more tempted to take a nap. Well actually there are all the reruns of old shows. I do like Everybody Loves Raymond. I could watch that all day. I’m starting to get my appetite back but I don’t have any cravings. It would be nice to crave something I would really enjoy eating. The one thing I always crave and always look forward to is a Starbucks Chai Latte. My sister and sister in law have been bringing me those as often as they can…yum. Well since there is not a Chai Latte on the way that nap is sounding pretty good.

Love, Laugh, and Always know where the nearest bathroom is
For updates on my Breast Cancer journey go to:
http://yourboobsoryourlife.blogspot.com/

Who would have thought!!!

Hello my friends. I’m back! My surgery went well and I am now cancer/boob free. Expanders are in place and waiting to be filled :) Pathology was good. The tumor was a bit bigger than they thought 3cm instead of 2cm and they found 1 micro metastasis in one of the lymph nodes they removed which my surgeon is not concerned about but will change my chemo cocktail. My crohns has behaved well through all of this. As a matter of fact the anesthesia and pain killers have slowed my bowels down to a normal persons (who would have thought). I’ve had many surgeries in the past and went right back to my version of normal right away. I of course had no food on Friday but I started eating Saturday…not a lot but enough and I didn’t go till Monday night. Only twice on Tuesday. Only once on Wednesday and so on. As of today I am going only once or twice a day. I’m starting to hope this will last but I’m sure it won’t. I shall enjoy it while it does tho. I’m sure my bathroom misses me hee hee. I should start waving to it when I go past :). My GI wants me to call and let him know how things went. I think I’ll do that next week. Until then

Love, Laugh, and Always know where the nearest bathroom is

New Med = Less Bathroom (so far)

I went to see my GI the other day and we discussed the Pentasa I’ve been taking for longer than I can remember. 2 pills 4 times per day. I was out of refills and needed a new script called in. He told me if I wanted I could take 4 pills 2 times per day or he could switch me to a different drug (Asacol ~ mesalamine ) that was 2 pills 2 times per day. I said sure I’ll try the Asacol. About a week later, after my insurance company approved it (don’t you just love insurance companies) I got it filled and started taking it. I’ve been taking it for about a week now and it is helping better then the Pentasa. I don’t have to go to the bathroom as often woo hoo. As a matter of fact it is 1:42 and I haven’t gone yet. This is like the closest I’ve ever gotten to constipation lol. Going less should be very helpful during mastectomy post-op. My surgery is scheduled for October 22nd which is creeping up on me quickly. I’ve found some very informative blogs that have given me lots of ideas of what to take with me to the hospital and what to expect after the surgery. I’ve started packing a bag already so that I don’t forget anything that I read about. The bad news is my fistula has been acting up. I got a script for Cipro so I hope that gets it under control FAST. I don’t want anything to postpone my surgery. I just want to get this over with. I’m also getting back on track with my gluten free diet. All the junk food is gone. B had some friends over and the gobbled it all up. I want to eat as healthy as I can leading up to the surgery (something I should have been doing all along). Since I’ve been off the vitamin D3 my joints have been hurting more and the past few days have been really bad. This could also be because of the change in the weather. I hope I can get back on the D3 quickly after the surgery is over. Well I will try to update you a few times between now and my surgery. Until then

Love, Laugh, and Always know where the nearest bathroom is

Guess What

Guess what??? In honor of October (breast cancer awareness month) I’ve started a new blog. Yep…Its called Your Boobs or Your Life and it will follow my journey beating breast cancer and hopefully the stories of others who have been touched by breast cancer. If you would like to check it out you can go to
http://yourboobsoryourlife.blogspot.com/

Guess what??? I had some pain this morning but thankfully it went away. I’m not sure if it was related to the crohns but I’m glad it didn’t last long. I’ve been a little lazy the past couple days as far as my gluten free diet goes. (This could explain the pain) I have a lot of snack food in the house from the weekend. It was Homecoming and B had friends over after the dance. Oh and

Guess what??? B was on the homecoming court :) I was very very excited about this and yes I took lots of pictures. He didn’t get voted King…darn. He sure did look handsome tho:











Guess what??? Before my snacking weekend I did try some great gluten free products and here they are:



I really loved these english muffins





These bagels...love them too. I got both at Whole Foods.
I'll share more great gluten free stuff with you later, not because I have to go to the bathroom but because I'm tired!!!

Love, Laugh, and Always know where the nearest bathroom is

Oh NO Not Again

Scene: Doctors waiting room

Enter: Sweetpea and B

There again (or still there…not sure): Smelly perfume lady

Really…REALLY! We walk into the waiting room and immediately B and I look at each other and say OMG she is here. Sure enough there she is, sitting to our left, wearing her bottle of the worst smelling perfume ever. I go over to the window to sign B in and I lean in and tell the receptionist that I have a request. She asks what and I say, “Please tell the patients not to wear awful perfume”. She leans toward me and say’s, “Oh I know I’m getting a headache we have the sign up but they still wear it”. I said “It makes me want to…” and she finished “Throw up”. In addition to the smelly perfume lady we also had the crying baby with noisy toys…at least she was cute.

Well I went to my GI doc Monday just to touch base with him about EVERYTHING. The good news is my Crohns beast seems to be calm even with all the stress. He told me that if anything changes even a little bit to call right away and they will help me any way they can. We talked about all the tests I’ve had done and he ordered blood work to check several things including my liver levels. He wants to keep an eye on that now and especially through the chemo. He told me that he has other patients with Crohns who have gone through cancer treatments and they did not have any additional problems with their Crohns. I told him I would follow up with him after my surgery and after I see the oncologist. He gave me a big hug…he is so wonderful.

Okay ready for some chemo humor:

Top 10 Reasons That Chemo-Induced Baldness is Awesome

#10: Blonde jokes no longer apply to you.

#9: Increased aerodynamics. (important for runners, sky divers, human
projectiles)

#8: You can finally drive your convertible to work. (no more 'wind-tunnel'
hair-dos)

#7: You've got a blank canvas for new tattoos.

#6: You're now ready to audition for the Blue Man Group.

#5: Time to get a new driver's license...Hair Color: Invisible. (see how
that one goes over with the cop the next time you're pulled over)

#4: Think of the money you'll save...no more barber/hairdresser,
shampoo, hairspray, dandruff medication, hair dye, etc.

#3: Everyone knows that bald people make better lovers. (and if they
don't, perhaps it's time that you showed them)

#2: It distracts attention from your face. (alright, that was completely
uncalled for)

And the #1 reason that chemo-induced baldness is awesome:

Bald = Sexy (just look at Bruce Willis, Vin Diesel, Natalie Portman and Britney
Spears...ok, she's hot in a bald and crazy kind of way)

Love, Laugh, and Always know where the nearest bathroom is

In A Nut Shell

So here it is in a nut shell (well it’s more like a coconut shell):
Way back at the end of May I had a routine CT Scan for my Crohns (I blogged about this previously). Somewhere in late June I got the results which showed several things about my Crohns and a few non-crohns things. One was something near my uterus and the other appeared to be the cyst in my breast that has been drained many times. Since the something near the uterus was new I followed up with my GYN about that first. After some testing it proved to be just some fluid in my fallopian tube, no big deal, common when there is a lot of scar tissue in the abdomen. So then I scheduled a mammogram to check on the cyst and I was due for my yearly anyway. I was right, what they saw on the CT Scan was the same cyst but the doctor who looked at my mammogram noticed something else. So after more mammograms and ultrasounds and a biopsy the diagnosis was breast cancer. Let me just say that I thought there were a lot of doctors and test with Crohns hahaha but we have a new winner!!!. Here are the particulars in medical mumbo jumbo:

Diagnosis from core biopsy:
1. Invasive Lobular Carcinoma, Intermediate (this is good) Nuclear Grade
2. Lobular Carcinoma In Situ, Intermediate Nuclear Grade

Strongly positive for estrogen, strongly positive for progesterone (this is good, lots of success treating this type)
Negative HER-2/neu, score 1+ (1+ (negative = good))

MRI Findings:
No chest wall involvement (very good)
The mass is about 2.2 cm (small = early = good)

CT Scan:
Lungs clear. No nodules. No enlarged lymph nodes (good but won’t know for sure if there are any lymph nodes involved until surgery pathology is done)

Whole Body Bone Scan:
No evidence of bone metastases

No date for surgery (possible early to mid October). My surgeon is wonderful and very good of course. He is very positive and so am I.

Because of my strong family history of breast cancer (mom, sister, first cousin) I am having a double mastectomy, reconstruction (Yay for perky boobs), followed by chemo, and 5 years of tamoxifen

I saw the plastic surgeon yesterday and he is wonderful as well. We went over all the options and now he just needs to coordinate a date with the surgeon. So I am waiting by the phone and hoping I can get this over with as soon as possible.

I’ve stopped the Cimzia. I can’t be on any drugs that suppress the immune system. Today my tummy has been a bit out of wack so I am trying to stay relaxed and praying that the crohns beast will stay calm through all of this. I have the most wonderful family who has always given me so much love and support and (no surprise) they have been by my side every step of the way. I am usually what one might call a “worrier” and I have to admit that I cried almost nonstop through the testing and for about a week after the diagnosis but I am amazed (once I stopped crying) at how calm I’ve been. A calm that can only come from God. I am so blessed to have so many people praying for me.

“And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7

“My faith is strong because I know my God is faithful, and His faithfulness is my shield”

A New Battle

Hello everyone, I have been away for awhile dealing with a new battle that I need to fight a new battle I intend to win. I’ve been spending lots of time with doctors & having tests done. As a matter of fact this past Thursday and Friday were the only breaks I’ve had except for weekends.

On Aug. 23rd I received the official diagnosis of breast cancer. My doctors are very positive and so am I. I will share all the details with you soon and plan to get back to blogging about crohns living with me and my gluten free adventures and family and baseball…so hang on it might be a little bumpy here and there but God will see me through this too.

Please keep me in your prayers. God is great and the power of prayer is awesome!

Love, Laugh, and Always know where the nearest bathroom is