Looking Forward!

Well its been a while since I’ve posted anything. I’m very happy to say that I had my last chemo on Feb. 8th. This one went well like the one before. No major diarrhea YAY = no need to go in for fluids three days a week. Now I just need to get my strength back. The oncologist is very pleased. I should be able to go off the flagel next week (looking forward to that). I hope that goes well because the abscess has been flaring off and on. I can’t stand taking the flagel. If I don’t swallow it just right it leaves a horrible taste in my mouth. My GI’s nurse has been keeping in touch with me. I will need to make an appointment after all my plastic surgery is done. (My swap surgery is next week double YAY hahaha.) I’m suppose to have my annual colonoscopy in March but I told nurse P that I’m going to wait for a while…I just want all my doctors to leave me alone for awhile. She completely understands. I’m really looking forward to NOT having a doctors appointment every two weeks.

Speaking of looking forward…its almost baseball season. I’m so excited to see my boys play. I should be feeling much better by the first game. J will be a starting pitcher this year!!! B is a senior so it will be his last high school season. I hope it is a great one for him. I also have to plan a graduation party for him and enjoy his last summer of travel baseball. After that I want to go to the BEACH! I think I deserve a wonderful vacation with sun, sand, ocean, and of course a fabulous hotel suite :) Hubby travels to FL a lot for work and since both my boys will be in college I’m hoping to get to go with him in the fall and winter and spring and summer lol…every chance I can. Now that is something to look forward to!!!

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

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

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