Sunburned Butt!

Hooray!!!  Phase two treatment complete! It has been a long five weeks, but we're finally done. We have had 25 radiation zaps to the butt area. Well, really more than that 25 x 4 = 100 and I'll still be cooking for about 6 week while the body begins to heal. So just imagine one hell of a sun burn in that tender region, thank heaven for lidocaine cream. I have done well with treatment with few side effects.

The  next step is three  rounds of  Bracytheraphy, internal radiation which will be a week apart. This involves inserting a tube and then sending in a radioactive seed which will sit at the cervix for 3 to 8 minutes. This will be a high dose of radiation administered right to the top of where the cervix used to be. This will reduce a recurrence to this area to about 2%. Sounds pretty good. The rest will be up to me to keep it at bay.

I'm posting a couple images of the radiation treatment zapping center. Lovely position face down, butts up.

Standing up to Cancer!

 

Hump Day

Today I'm at the half way mark of my radiation  treatment. Only two and a half weeks to go for the external radiation. But, we discovered a complication today. Last week I had complained of my right arm hurting this week I noticed my hand and arm were swollen, they did an ultrasound on my arm ..... yes, I have a blood clot. Talked with the Doctor he said they would start me on blood thinners tomorrow. Then his nurse called wanted me to return corvallis and pick up the drugs today. At first I said yes I'll be there, then I called her back and said it will wait till morning.  Maybe a mistake if the clot makes a run for it to the lush land of the lung.   All this because of the stupid power port that was put in. I have enough problems keeping my blood counts up and now they have to thin it down and with all those side effects that go with it. Darn.....I'm just a little ticked......

Week Two - In Zap Land

We made it through another week. I so look forward to the weekends when we don't have to go any where and I can sleep in.... Pure heaven!  So here is a quick recap of  last weeks events in Zap land.
Monday ran into an old friend, she is also getting treatment. Plan on coffee and a chat later next week. Tuesday I was a little late but they got me in and out in record time. Wednesday I was early, good thing too because they have a massage therapist and I received a 15 minute shoulder and neck rub....ahaaa.  On  to the table where I have to lay face down with my little butt in the air as the machine rotates around me zapping me with my four daily doses. Today while I'm still on the table the tech's take x-ray's to double check my positioning. With all that complete, I'm off to see the Doctor. The nurse took my weight....shit lost 5 pounds (never thought I'd be saying that).  BP, blood draw, and a million questions. Doctor's a little concerned with the weight lose. More protein....need to keep the cells feed. Rick even has me eating meat to keep my protein up. Thursday we had to be in town extra early so Rick could go to the Chiropractor.  A quick trip to Home Depot and and then up to zap land. Today the social worker left me some gas cards to help out with our daily commute. Friday .....yahoo!  They were running a little behind.....nice group of tech's always interested in how your feeling and what your up to. Last zap of the week, but then I had to get a cat scan where the take pictures to see what the radiation is doing to my innards and if they need to make any changes. The tech said things looked normal for week two. I ask him how long the radiation stays in our system....well it takes about 6 weeks for the body to completely build new cell, that's when radiation ends. But with daily zaps it will accumulate getting stronger till I'm done. So every day I increase my army - go get'm guy's!

Waging War - Made it through week one!

Week one over and I'm almost feeling normal again. Monday we started the day with my first radiation treatment. I was on time at 9:30 but the staff was running late and I had my chemo appointment at 10:00. I'm still waiting .... at 10: 15 they sandwiched me in. I'm feeling like a rush job, what a way to start treatment.  It only takes about 10 minutes to actually do the radiation. I'm being treated with 4 beams to the pelvic area, both sides, front and back. I have three tattoo dots so the tech's  can line me up in the same position each time. I will get this 5 days a week for 5 weeks.
Off to the infusion center for chemo, 45 minutes late. I'm a little un-nerved but the staff wasn't worried, didn't even realize I was behind schedule. OK... relax, just RELAX....deep breathe.... this was the tough part of the day for me. I'm thankful Rick, and my friend Linda were there to keep me me centered and my mind occupied.  We started by having to access my power port which was implanted about 2 weeks earlier.  Painful...so they numb the area to get me plugged in, took two tries. Once plugged in they took blood samples to send up to the lab to check my blood counts and chemistry. If I'm not up to snuff no chemo. While we waited for the results a fluid IV drip was started. The chemo drug I'm receiving is called cisplatin and very hard on the kidneys. I was well hydrated a week before treatment and after. The blood test all came back excellent. It was a go for the chemo......
Chemo makes you feel quite nausea's, wanting to vomit, but they drugs to help you to the tune of $500 per pill. Get real, maybe holy shit... was my reaction! My doctor had not scheduled me for these little wonder pills, but those dedicated nurses managed to score me some. Thank you, thank you. You only need three one in the infusion and then a pill on days one and two. All the chemo  now cursing through my veins, time for more fluids. The whole infusion took six and a half hours. I'll need to do one more cisplatin treatment in 28 days. So now we are over the river and through the winding hills to radiation every day.

Wraping My Mind Around It

Waffling...... not sure this is a word but, this is what I've been doing. When I found out I had cancer I was adamant about not doing Chemotherapy. Now I'm faced with to do or not to do! I saw the chemotherapy doctor last Friday along with the Radiation doctor. I was there for a consultation, why did they think I need to add chemotherapy to my treatment?

Well, my grade three, aggressive cancer has a 75% chance of returning to the cervix area, hence the radiation plan. The chemotherapy that is being planned, called Cisplatin, is to enhance the effectiveness of the external radiation. The plan is to administer two rounds of Cisplain three weeks apart, at the same time as the external radiation, for a duration of  five weeks everyday but weekends. Then I'll return to Willamette Valley Cancer Institute in Springfield to receive the internal Bracy radiation therapy followed by three or four more rounds of chemotherapy with Carboplatin and Paclitaxel.

I talked again with Dr Dotters, her feelings, throwing everything I can at this cancer now, will help stop it's return. I'm young, I'm in good health and I have a can do attitude.

So... I prepare for war!

Good news .... Bad news

 Well, I know it has been a while since my last post. I've had some major decisions to make. My post op appointment  yielded good news and some bad. The good news, I'm healing up nicely from the surgery. I'm all most back to my old self.  The pathology report showed Endometrioid  Adenocarcinoma stage2b grade 3. Twenty three lymph nods were negative as well as ovaries, fallopian tubes both negative. All great news! 

Now for the not so great news. The cancer invaded the cervix to a depth of  1.6 cm out of 2.0 cm max wall thickness and the cancer is aggressive.

OK....so what does all this mean. First surgery did not totally take care of the problem. Follow up treatment will be needed. Dr Dotters felt that radiation therapy was a must, because of the aggressive nature of this type cancer it would likely return to the cervix area. It was also recommended to sandwich the radiation with chemotherapy to kill any cancer cells that might have escaped and are hiding that the radiation would not get.

Wow,  radiation OK I can do that.....I can see that's a no brainer.  But, Chemo No No No! Please No! I need to think. We set up consultations with both the Radiation and the Chemotherapy Doctors so I could get my questions answered. I had time to think and do some research.

Decisions .... What to do now!

Big day ...Post Op checkup!

I must say I'm a little nervous. I have only spoken with the nurse when my pathology report came back and there were no red flags. I'm really hoping that Dr Dotters got everything. I'm not to keen on doing chemo or any radiation treatments. I would prefer to take a more natural course of treatment with nutrition and supplements. Changes have to be made and I'm the only one who can make the change. Build up the immune system so the body can heal it's self. We'll see how tomorrow goes!