Surgery Rescheduled

This morning I found out that my surgery has been postponed two days and is now rescheduled for Thursday, July 7. Apparently the operating room was overbooked on July 5 and several cases had to be rescheduled, including mine.

I'm frustrated by this change because we (that is, Allison and I) have been making arrangements in our lives based on the July 5 date -- time off from work, visit from out-of-state family to help after the surgery, etc.

But it's out of my hands, and so I'm doing my best to practice "radical acceptance."

I have an MRI tonight, a CT scan tomorrow morning, as well as appointments with my oncologist and surgeon tomorrow afternoon.

This is also a bit more frustrating because my nighttime sciatic pain has been worse lately making it difficult to sleep. Getting the tumor out of there, I hope, will ultimately alleviate that pain. And so I'm anxious to finally have this surgery (which I've wanted since last November) and get on with whatever happens after that.

As always, thank you for your support, encouragement, and prayers.

Radiation is a Wrap, Surgery Next

Today I finished radiation treatments -- 25 out of 25. It feels great to have that behind me (excuse the pun). But it will also be a little weird not to rush off to OHSU every morning to get zapped. So far, the side effects have been minimal. Those I have had may persist for another week or so and then should get better. 

Next up is surgery. It's been scheduled for Tuesday, July 5. It takes 3-4 weeks for the healthy tissue around the tumor to heal from the radiation, which reduces the chance of infection after surgery. The week before surgery, I'll meet with the oncologist and surgeon, have another MRI as well as a CT scan. The surgery hopefully will be the last major cancer treatment procedure I have to do. After surgery, I move into the monitoring phase with scans every few months to make sure the cancer hasn't recurred anywhere.

Today I went to have the port-a-catheter in my chest flushed. It hasn't been accessed since the end of March with the last round of chemo. So today I had to go in and they stuck the needles in, flushed it with saline and put in the heparin that keeps it from clotting/clogging. I'm not sure how long I'll have to keep it in, but eventually it'll come out and I won't have this device protruding from just under my skin with a tube going into my neck. It doesn't bother me and I don't notice it much, but I'd rather not have it.

I don't have any medical appointments for the next three weeks. I'm grateful for the respite from it all. I'm back to running. I'm now able to run 4 miles without stopping, and my pace is picking up, too. It feels so very good to get back into a running routine that has been so important to me.

My eyebrows are BACK, baby! And hair is growing back just about everywhere I lost it. I still have a few lingering effects from all the various treatments, but lately I've been feeling the best I have since I started down this cancer treatment road last December.

Thanks to everyone who has been so kind and supportive and encouraging through all of this!

Radiation Update, Two Milestones, Checkin' the 'Brows

I finally started radiation treatments on Tuesday, May 3. As of yesterday, I've had 8 out of 25. So far, radiation has gone smoothly. The appointment only takes about 10-15 minutes and the treatment itself is only 2-3 minutes. The technology is amazing. The machine rotates around my body and delivers varying amounts of radiation to the tumor. Apparently, it is accurate up to 1 millimeter, which blows my mind. The side effects I may experience include fatigue (not yet) and maybe a radiation burn on the skin (not yet). The treatments are cumulative, so I may experience the side effects more towards the end. The hardest part about it is going every single day. With travel time, it takes about an hour and a half. I can't complain too much. I live about 25 minutes away. There are people from around Oregon who travel hours to do radiation at OHSU.

The more time that passes since chemo ended, the stronger I get. I've been working to get back to running. These days, I jog more than I walk and my stamina keeps improving. I had an awesome milestone yesterday when I ran a whole mile without stopping to walk. I want to get as much of my strength back before I have surgery. That will be around the end of June or beginning of July.

The other day, I noticed hair growing back on my face. It was the strangest thing, as I haven't had to shave for about 4 months. It was just a bit of fuzz on my upper lip and underneath my lower lip. It was almost like I was 13 again, as the hair was the soft kind that boys hitting puberty get on their face. It got long enough I had to shave it...milestone #2.

Just yesterday, I noticed my eyebrows have a slight fuzz of hair growing in. I have exactly one old eyebrow hair on one side, and two on the other, so the signs of more hair growing back is a very good thing. I can't wait to get my 'brows back!