Dr. Coolio + Halloween

I LOVE Halloween.  

Since I had an oncology appointment, 

my first costume of the day was breast cancer inspired.

Survivor Princess.  

Dr. Cole said they couldn't dress up, but she did her best to be holiday festive, 

with her Halloween orange dress with circular "pumpkins." 

My results for all tests:

Some of the wording looked pretty scary.  

(Lots of talk of osseous disease and degenerative changes, among other things.)

Dr. Cole thinks these findings are most likely just documenting things 

that were already there because of past treatments and disease.  

However, we are hopefully getting all the past CDs in order to 

compare and make a better analysis.  

I asked all kinds of questions, and she answered them all.

I first wanted to make some kind of arrangements where I wouldn't have to drive downtown at all those crazy hours, so many times in a week for tests.  

I asked about some pains in my lower abdomen, wondering if it was a hernia.  Nope.  

Should I get a new port, as so many people in DFW seem to be having difficulties with it.

I'm set up with a referral, if I want it replaced.

What about the MUGA result?

She's not too concerned about it, as it's just on the low side of normal.  

She has referred me to a cardiologist, who is interested in studying these drug-induced heart changes.  She also set me up to see a new radiation oncologist.

Asked about where to go from here.  

We can't really make a decision until we see the other images.  

No tricks this Halloween.

No real good news treats, either.

Hurry up and wait. 

Bone Scan

You guessed it!  

Another trip downtown, 

Another scan.

This time, it wasn't raining, and I didn't have to face rush hour.  

The drive was much better.

My tech for the bone scan was awesome.  

The nurse who accessed my port did a great job,

thanks to that x-ray I now show everyone.  

This is the one they inject me with "plutonium."  

("I'm sure plutonium is available at every drugstore,

but in 1955, it's a little hard to come by!"

Then, I waited and waited for this special sauce to go all through my body.  

I waited long enough in the office, 

and then went to get lunch and walk around outside for some Vitamin D.  

The scan took the longest of them all, but was the easiest by far.  

MRI

 The MRI was interesting.
Drive downtown on a Saturday afternoon.
Not exactly how I like to spend my weekend.

They had me dress all in scrubs, with no-slip socks.  I must have been a little puffy that day, as the nurse felt the need to give me XXL scrubs!

The one to access my port was a Resident.  He was interested in the x-ray, but accessed my port with no trouble.  (Although, by this point, the area of skin all around it was becoming sensitive to all of the needles from the week!)

The MRI was of my brain.  It didn't take long and was quite painless.  

I did notice that there was no place for me to place my MAROON scrubs afterward.  

I also noticed a large crack at the top of my windshield when I got home.  

I thought it was a rock during my drive.  

Turns out, it was one of my children.  

MUGA

This test was already off to a bad start,

as I had to travel downtown,

in rush hour,

to arrive 30 minutes early,

for an 8:30 appointment.  

You can only imagine my anxiety.  

I hate driving in crazy traffic.

The drivers here are insane.

I didn't know where I was going.

It was raining.

I had to leave EARLY, and I'm not really an early morning girl. 

But, I made it.  

With an elevated blood pressure.  

When I checked in, the woman at the front desk said,

"Oh, you're here for a MOO-GA."

"I'm here for a Muh-ga."

"Okay, fill out this paperwork for your MOO-GA, 

and someone will come get you.  Also, 

paper close attention to this form.  If you can't check 'hysterectomy,'

you're going to have to take a pregnancy test."

"What about a bilateral oophorectomy?"

"What's that?"

(by this time, I had about had it with this 50-something woman, 

representing the front office of a medical facility,

who didn't know how to pronounce the test I was about to undergo,

but she had no idea what the name for the surgery to

remove ovaries is called."

It wasn't even 8:30, and I was already over it.

Thankfully, the woman next to her had overheard our conversation and explained the surgery to her colleague, who STILL wasn't sure if that could prove that I wasn't pregnant.  

"I better call back and check."

And, what do you know?

I passed.

"Just write that surgery in the blank."

(Maybe Y'ALL should make another form!)

Soon, my tech, came to get me.  

He was VERY kind, and you could tell he had been

doing this long enough to know what he was doing.  

He also had a student shadowing him.  I felt like this was going to be fine.  

Then came the really not fun part.  

There is only one nurse in that clinic who accesses ports.  

She came to start the process.  

She wasn't comfortable with my port.

"What's wrong with this port?  What kind of port is it?  How LONG have you had it?  It's so big.  It moves.  It must be a double port.  I don't know about this one."

She called it.  She didn't know about it.  Not one bit.

She stuck me several times.  

"Yes.  This HAS to be a double port."

She stuck me a few more times.

"I've NEVER had to double stick someone.  I'll try one more time."

This whole time, I'm thinking

what if my port can't be accessed and they have to do IV?

How any attempts will it take this time?  

As she kept talking and complaining about my port,

how I was sitting, where my arm was positioned,

how the doctor didn't place my port correctly, 

and so on.

After that last attempt, the nurse put a needle in, but not all the way.

She tried to move it around to find the right spot.

Every bad memory of bad IV sticks came rushing to my mind.  

I couldn't stop the tears from pouring out.  

"Maybe you should go over to the main hospital and have the nurses there access your port."

(Maybe I don't really want to do that after all I've already been through this morning!)

Thankfully, Brandon stepped in and suggested that he call a nurse from the hospital to come to us.

And, they both left me in the freezing cold MUGA room.

Finally, someone else was on their way, and I got to move out of the freezer into a warmer room to wait, complete with warm blankets and some Teddy Grahams, since I was a crying baby.  

They did suggest that I call the past chemo nurses to get info.
I also was able to get the X-ray of the actual port and its placement.
Nope.
 It's not a double port, weirdo.

MOO-GA Results:

LVEF (Left Ventricle Ejection Fraction) is 47%

55% or higher is normal.  

CT Scan

After all those great feelings about my new place, I had to go and do something 

like get a CT scan.  

The *delicious* vanilla shake was exactly as I remember it.  

The straw helped, though!  

While drinking this breakfast smoothie, I thought about asking if 

I could have my port accessed.  

The awesome front desk woman, who had already been amused by 

my choices and comments about the Barium smoothie,

said, "Sure! Just go upstairs to the Cancer Clinic!"

She said this like it was no big deal.  

However, when I went upstairs, 

the woman who checks people in was not well pleased

"Do you have an appointment?" she responded to my request.

"I didn't know I was supposed to."

"Well, I just don't know if they'll be able to fit you in this morning."

(I still had an hour until my appointment.)

"Even with an hour left?"

"I'll see what I can do."

What do you know, but someone called me back in 12 minutes, 

and I was headed back downstairs, with port accessed.  

The techs were great.
The CT was easy, one of the easiest, in my opinion.

If only we could make that barium smoothie more like a Dr. Pepper.....

CT Results: 

1. Osseous metastases; no other evidence of thoracic metastatic pathology.

2. Recommend comparison with any prior imaging, if available.

In other words, my spine is screwed up, but it's most likely because it's been 

eaten away by cancer already.  

We need the CDs from all my other scans to compare.  

H&P#45 + Flu Shot + First One at New Clinic!

I think I'm gonna like it here!



They have a sustenance room (food + drinks).
I have my own room for treatment, with tv, a Lazyboy chair, and privacy.

They don't have the cold spray before accessing my port.
My nurse today also had a difficult time and had to stick me twice.  Two sticks in a port is SOOOOOO much more tolerable than two sticks of an I.V., though!
They have pumps, so the process will most likely be much quicker.

And, I have a new (permanent, I think) order for a disabled parking pass.
I'm also finally getting a flu shot!

It also stopped raining today, so my drive here was much less stressful.

Here's to a new clinic!

Dr. Coolio

I'm finally up and running in Dallas with a new oncologist.  It's comforting that she already knows me through my story, having discussed my case with Dr. Fleener.  It's nice to have another young, female oncologist who studied with Dr Fleener, and seems ready to take on my craziness.

It's been a rough few weeks in our lives.
Stephen finally moved here and started his new job.
Our house finally went under contract.
We moved our stuff out of the house and into two storage units in Frisco.
The buyer decided she didn't like our house without our stuff in it.  (She went in the day BEFORE our scheduled deep clean and saw the mess left under furniture in a house for four years.)
She backed out of the contract, but had only put in $100, so we *really* lucked out.
We discovered a leak in the roof, water all on the sheet rock in the garage.
Stephen went to check on the place and found our dining room chandelier destroyed, after having fallen from the ceiling and smashed on the ground.
Insurance couldn't get their act together, and I had to postpone my treatment.
It's been raining nearly everyday for three weeks!

As you can see, we've had quite a few bumps in the road in the last few months.

That's behind us, for now, as I embark on this new journey with a new doctor.

Meeting Dr. Cole was a great first impression, one of a caring and kind and interested physician.  She asked about my eye and hands, posing a question I haven't heard before: "Is Brachydactyly connected to breast cancer?"

I'm excited about getting going on treatment.

I'm not too excited about having to do a bunch of baseline scans, especially since we tried to do them in the summer, so I wouldn't have to pay for more until the new year.  Also, I am not excited AT ALL about driving downtown for the MRI, MUGA, and bone scan.  I'm having MAJOR anxiety about driving there, so I might UBER my way.  We will see.....

As Dr. Cole was ending our meeting, she summarized her plan, where I go from here, explained all the baseline tests she wanted, and ordered labs to be done right in the office that day.

"Coolio?"

I've been thinking about what the next phase of my blog posts would be titled.  She gave herself her own nickname!





Kicking cancer to a new curb!!!