Reconstruction Surgery Completed

Wow it has been a really long time since I posted. We have been so busy getting ready for Christmas and my surgery that the time just flew by. Things have been great health wise too so there hasn't been much to post either. :-)
I think most of you know from my previous posts that I had decided to go ahead with my reconstruction surgery. It is the final step in my cancer treatment and I've been looking forward to getting it done and getting on with my life. It's been a long year and half but I'm finally on the home stretch.

I went in last Monday (Dec 6th). There was a bit of a fiasco on the Friday before. The hospital called me Friday afternoon and canceled my surgery due to lack of beds availaible at the Civic Hospital, then 3 hours later called me back and said it was back on. Bizarre, but I was glad to be able to go and get it done and over with. On the advise of my doctor I went with a procedure called a Free TRAM Flap. It's essentially a transplant of muscle, fat and skin from the tummy that is used to create a new breast mound after a mastectomy.
We arrived at the Civic at 8:30 am on Monday and I was wheeled upstairs by 10:30 am. I got up there and things happened relatively quickly. Dr. Guay's team were ready and after a quick chat, some drawings and signing the consent for the removal of my port (Dr. Guay and I had discussed prior to the surgery about removing it), I was wheeled into the operating room. I believe the surgery was roughly 3 1/2 hours long. Next thing I knew I was waking up in recovery around 5 pm. I was disappointed to hear when I woke up that my port was still in me.
My surgery ended up being more complicated than expected. The first thing was that the vein in my underarm where the main source of blood flow to the flap comes from was too small to use. He had to find a different vein to use which took some time. The second complication was around the veins in my lower abdomen are not typical either. My anatomy apparently is different than most people with respect to where my veins are located. I didn't get a lot of details around that unfortunately. In the end the surgery turned out to be more complicated and they ran out of time to remove my port.

I spent the next 3 1/2 days in hospital. The surgery turned out to be much more intense than I was expecting. I was in pretty rough shape for the first 3 days. I couldn't keep anything down and I was very much out of it because of the pain medication. I was able to sit up in a chair on Wednesday evening. Things really didn't start to turn until late Thursday afternoon when I was able to start eating again and able to go for a short walk down the hallway.
My stay at the hospital for other reasons was also not very enjoyable. I was in a room with a lady who had been in a car accident and was there for 30 days. Not really sure of the history there but she was I have to say the nastiest woman I have ever come in contact with. Not just someone who was mad about her injury or having a bad day/week but nasty to the core. She was so mean to the nurses and the hospital staff you wouldn't even believe the things that came out of her mouth. I felt terrible for the nurses, she was so abusive. She had no respect for anyone or anything. She would keep me up all night with her TV on because she would sleep during the day. She refused to wear her earphones too so I didn't sleep much for my whole stay. I thought about saying something to her but one of the nurses told me she had become violent early in her stay at the hospital so I decided to just ignore her as much as possible.

I was so happy to get discharged on Friday AM I can't even tell you. It was a very relaxed and slow weekend. I have strict orders to not do much for 3 weeks. Not that I can do much anyway. I have an incision line from hip to hip which is slowing me down.
My Mom is here this week helping out and taking care of me, so things are going smoothly. Thanks Mom!!!

Thanks to everyone for the get well soon wishes and I'm sorry if I haven't returned phone calls, I'll hopefully return all calls this week.
I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2010 CIBC Run for the Cure

Hello everyone!  Just wanted to let you know that I have registered for the CIBC Run for the Cure this year.
I wasn't able to participate last year because of my chemo treatments but this year I'm looking forward to it.  This event is so huge and benefits the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. 

I hope you will help support me and create a future without breast cancer.

If you would like to make a donation please follow the link below to my run page.
Thank you!!
http://www.runforthecure.com/site/TR?px=1354311&pg=personal&fr_id=1101&fl=en_CA&et=QFqEvZM8uNfJZXn91h-9ew..&s_tafId=5598

Relieved

Last week I had a bit of a scare.  I went for my 6 month follow up with my oncologist and he scheduled some routine tests and blood work.  I went for my mammogram 2 weeks ago now.  I really didn't think much of it because it's only been 6 months since I finished chemo and I'm still on the Herceptin, so I figured I should be in the all clear to get the go ahead for my reconstruction.
I got a call last Wednesday from the Women's Breast Health Centre wanting me to come back in for more mammogram pictures and an ultrasound.  I know it's usually not good when they call you back in.  I was lucky to get an appointment 2 days later so I didn't have to suffer long.  It was a rough couple of days though.  All those feelings of fear coming back after I had such good results and finally feeling like myself again.
As it turned out the radiologist noticed some thickening on my right breast on my original mammogram and wanted to take more pictures.  It usually means there are changes in the breast that could indicate cancer.  They took more pictures and did the ultrasound.  The radiologist came to examine me and told me that they couldn't see anything and that it maybe because I've lost some weight that they has been some changes and thickening.  I'll be going back in 6 months for another mammogram to see if there are any other changes and I'll be talking to my oncologist about it when I see him next in October. 
I'm choosing to believe that the changes are expected and I'm still ok.  I'm not sure what my oncologist will say about my reconstruction plans now.  On his recommendation I've moved my surgery out a month so that I can totally finish my Herceptin treatments in mid November and then my surgery will be at the beginning of December.  He may want me to move it out again until we have another mammogram and can see if there are any changes.  We'll see I guess.

Overall though I feel great!  I feel good about my exercise and my eating habits now.  My hair continues to grow but not fast enough for me.  It's a very dark colour that I'm not a fan of and it's coming in curly.  I'm still not comfortable going out without my wig.  I was hoping by September but I'm not sure.  I've made my first hair appointment in over a year for this weekend to get my hair coloured and trimmed up, so maybe after that I'll feel better about it.
It's been a busy summer but I'm enjoying this one much more than last year that is for sure.  I hope everyone is enjoying the nice weather.
Take care.

Preparing Food to prevent cancer

The kind of food I put in my body has been a huge focus for me as I fight cancer and prevent it from coming back.  The other part of that is making sure I prepare the food correctly as well. 
The Canadian Cancer Society has a page under prevention called Cooking and preparing food, that describes how to prepare and store foods safely for overall good health to help reduce your risk of cancer.  A lot of it is stuff we all know but I thought the BBQing suggestions were something to share since it is the season.

Let me know if you find this interesting or helpful.

I hope everyone has a wonderful summer!

My quest to stay healthy

Every since I was diagnosed last summer I often wonder how this happened to me.  I didn't think I was living an unhealthy lifestyle but apparently after getting educated on the topic of breast cancer it became obvious that I wasn't living a healthy lifestyle either.  I know that I won't be able to do everything that everyone recommends but making a effort to change some things has to help right?  My boss at work told me something when I first got diagnosed that has really stuck with me.  He told me that whatever I believe in will help me beat my cancer.  So I decided to work on 3 areas in my life to change and believe that these changes will fight my cancer.

1. Diet.  I needed to start focusing on healthy eating and the kinds of foods that many doctors recommend as cancer fighting or foods that prevent cancer.  A really good book that I bought on the subject is "Foods That Fight Cancer".  It talks about the science behind food chemistry and how some foods protect the body against some cancers and how some can actually help in the slowing or prevention of tumor growth.   Some of the foods we have been concentrating on is eating more fish, kale, berries and just more fruits and vegetables in general.  I also have been trying to reduce my sugar intake per day as well as reducing the amount of red meat I eat.  I love steak so I don't think I can give it up totally but we have for sure cut down our red meat.  One good habit I've been not bad at is cleaning and cutting up my vegetables in advance so that it is easier to throw a salad together now.  Another thing I've started doing is taking a Vitamin D supplement.  I've read a few places now too about how Vitamin D helps prevent breast cancer. 
   
2. Exercise.  The second area I decided I needed to be better at was exercise.  I've read a few articles now about studies being run in the States where woman with breast cancer were followed for 5 years and the women who exercised 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week had less instances of recurrence. One study suggested it reduces your recurrence by one quarter to one half.  John and I used to belong to a gym but we found once Samantha was born it was very difficult for us to find the time to get to the gym to workout and/or play squash like we used to.  So once I was diagnosed we quit the gym and now have started building a work out area in our basement.  It works out much better now since I wasn't going to feel comfortable going to the gym while I was in chemo and now we don't spend the time driving back and forth to the gym .  The unfortunate part is that we don't get to play squash much anymore but hopefully once my arm is in better shape again we will be able to start again.  Exercising consistently absolutely makes a difference in the way I feel and my energy levels.  
3. Stress.  The third thing was reducing my stress levels.  I needed to recognize when I was stressed and figure out how to relax.  The past year before I was diagnosed was very stressful for both John and I with us not knowing what was going to happen with Nortel and whether we would have jobs.  Now that we are now both working for the companies that bought our business units from Nortel, it's been so much better not having to constantly worry about that.  I also on the recommendation of a friend went to talk to someone about how I was feeling about my cancer and how to deal with my fears of dying. There were many things I learned from those sessions and I'm very happy that my new friend Jamie recommended I talk to Jim.  He taught me how to focus on my core values and beliefs and how to recognize when I'm unhappy and how not to stay in that place.  Jim is a big part of my recovery and I'm very grateful to him.  

As time goes on I'll do more and more but I think I'm off to a good start.  

Radiation is finally over now.  I finished on the Friday just before the May long weekend.  My skin is peeling now and it's starting to feel just like a regular sun burn. I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.    I just need to get through my Herceptin treatments and my reconstruction surgery now.

Reconstruction

At my last oncology appointment I had mentioned to Dr. Young that I was interested in talking to someone about the possibility of reconstruction.  He said no problem and set me up for a consult.
At the end of last week John and I met with my referred cosmetic surgeon Dr. Guay.  He is a very interesting man to say the least.  He actually puts on educational seminars for woman about breast reconstruction very 8 weeks or so.  He goes through the different options for reconstruction, risks and side effects.  I think he goes through some before and after pictures and has former patients come in and talk about their experience.  I'll find out on Thursday though.

We talked for a short bit at my appointment but as it turns out my radiation won't prevent me from having reconstruction.  He has recommended for me to go with a tissue transplant procedure called a TRAM flap instead of a implant.  It's essentially a transplant of tissue from my tummy.  The surgery seems to be more intense than my mastectomy.  The surgeon cuts the flap of skin, fat blood vessels, and possibly muscle for the implant from my tummy and then attaches it to blood vessels in the chest.  He said I'll likely be in the hospital for 5 to 7 days.  There is a high risk of blood clots in the first 36 hours apparently and I might have to get back into surgery within 6 hours if one develops.  Here is a good link on Breast reconstruction from the cancer.org site if you are interested in reading more about it.  The advantage with this procedure is that I get a tummy tuck as part of the deal.  He actually told me after he examined me that it wouldn't hurt for me to gain a bit of belly fat before the surgery because I'm marginal for having enough tissue in my belly as it is.  I see a few pieces of guilt free cheesecake in my future I think :-)
The other slightly surprising thing we learned at my appointment was that I don't have to wait until next year.  I've heard before that I would have to wait to close to a year after radiation before I could do the surgery but apparently that isn't the case.  He asked me if I wanted to go ahead and I said yes.  So we are tentatively booked in for the surgery on October 25th.  I'll see how it goes at the seminar this week but right now I'm feeling like this is something I need to do in order to feel good again.
I've finished just over 3 weeks of radiation now.  I'm starting to see the redness and dry skin.  It's not unbearable but I'm hoping it doesn't get too much worse.  I'm also experiencing some fatigue now but that could just be because I'm getting up earlier to make it out to the hospital for my 8:10 am appointments.
Overall I'm feeling good, my hair is growing and I've got half my eye brows back now.  It's a really great feeling knowing by the end of this year I'll be done everything including my reconstruction.  Something to look forward to.

Radiation begins

I’ve just started radiation this past Monday.  We started a week later than expected.  I think it was probably pushed out because of the Easter long weekend.  So far so good.  Nothing unexpected has happened.  Besides driving out to the General everyday it’s been relatively easy. 
I went about 3 weeks ago now for my preparation appointment.  That lasted about an hour. The first thing the therapists did was to make me a “shell” . It’s essentially a fitted piece of plastic for my chest. They heat it up and then place it on top of me to get a firm impression. It’s made to keep me in place every day and to keep my breathing from my lungs very shallow. They want me to breath from my stomach. Not sure I’ve ever done that before but I try while I’m in the machine.  The shell snaps on to the sides of the table to keep me tight and in the same place every time. The therapist then lined me up on the table that goes into the CT scanner and slid me in. They took all the images they needed in order to plan my radiation treatments.  Next was the part I wasn’t prepared for. The BIG needle to tattoo me in 4 spots so that they can line me up every day. That was unpleasant for sure.
So every day I go to radiation it lasts about 20 to 30 minutes. The type of radiation I’m getting is called Tomotherapy.  Everyone refers to the machine as Tomo.  The Ottawa General has 2 Tomo machines.  Basically I lie on a table with my arms above my head, they put my shell on, line me up with lasers that are in the room, slide me in the machine which looks just like a CT scanner and do an initial scan to make sure I’m in the right position.  Then the therapist comes back in the room and does minor tweaking on the computer screen on the Tomo machine and then the treatment begins right after.  There is a slight noise the machine makes during treatment but I can’t feel anything.  It’s actually nice to have 15 mins to just close my eyes and rest in the middle of the day.  I’m told in a couple of weeks I’ll start to show signs of a sunburn and might start to feel more tired by the end of the 5 weeks.  In general I'm feeling great!  I think the chemo is finally out of my system.  My energy levels are back and I feel like that huge cloud that was over my head has lifted.  My eye sight was getting bad by the end of the chemo treatments too but that has resolved it's self as well.

Radiation

I'm here at the Cancer center getting my herceptin treatment this afternoon so I have a few minutes to update everyone on my appointment last week with my radiation oncologist.
I saw Dr. Esche last Tuesday and everything went well.  He also wasn't very impressed that I couldn't lift my arm over my head at the appointment.   First thing he said to me was that he reviewed my pathology results from my surgery but insisted that radiation was still necessary.   He believes there could still be microscopic cancer cells floating around.   He told me because I am one of the few that have had a complete pathological response from chemo that according to statistics I have a very good prognosis now.  Very nice to hear from him.  We talked about the preparation appointment that I would need to do for my 5 weeks of radiation.  I need to be able to lie down and have my arms above my head for 20 minutes.  They will essentially map out where they are going to radiate everyday using a machine similar to a CT scanner.  He is going to radiate the lymph nodes in my chest wall and just below my shoulder, while trying to not radiate my heart and lungs.  I'll have a pretty bad burn by the end of the 5 weeks and might get tired but other than that I shouldn't experience any other side effects.  I'm scheduled to start radiation on April 12th.
I'm feeling very well these days and in good spirits thanks mostly to my pathology report.  I continue to work hard on my exercises to get my arm back to working order.  I'm making progress but it's slower than I expected.
One more thing I forgot to mention in my last entry is that my hair is starting to grow back finally.  It's going to be a long time before I don't have to wear that wig but it's started.  Yay!

Hope to talk to everyone soon!

Finally some good news....

Today was a good day.  I had my post operation appointment with my surgeon this afternoon.  My pathology actually came online while John and I were in the office.  The results were very positive.  There was no cancer found anywhere.  All my lymph nodes were clear as well as my breast.  The chemo took out all my tumors.  
In the words of my surgeon "You can't get a better pathology result than that." 
I'm trying not to get too excited about it because I still have a way to go before I'm finished all my treatments but my prognosis does look very good for the future.  We have a lot of hope now.

Overall physically I'm feeling ok now.  The past week has had it's ups and downs.  I had a drain that was removed on Day 5 after my surgery which was less than pleasant and there was some painful days after that but I'm defiinitely on the mend now.  Everything is healing well and I'm working my arm to get back my range of motion.  I don't think my surgeon was overly happy about how high I could lift my arm today so I'll have to work at that in the next few weeks before I see him again.
Tomorrow I see my radiation oncologist to plan out when my radiation will begin.  I'm hoping he will be encouraged with my results as well. 
Thank you to everyone for all of your positive thoughts and prayers, we could not have done this without you!

Milestone #2 done

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to let you know that my surgery went fine yesterday. There were no surprises. I had a mastectomy and had all my lymph nodes removed under my arm. I'm still in the hospital until tomorrow morning but I feel not too bad. I'm tired and have a bit of pain but we are managing it with some medication. I'm starting to feel a bit of numbness under my arm now, but I do have more movement in my arm than I thought I would. I'm pretty confident I'll have a speedy recovery, by keeping on top of my exercises so not to develop the lymphedema. I think the hardest part will be adjusting emotionally to the change in my body.

We should get some pathology results in a couple of weeks. Keep your fingers crossed that they got enough under my arm. My surgeon did come to see me this morning and said he had looked at my MRI from the end of January and it looked good. The tumors had shrunk down to the point where they are almost nothing. He said it's very rare that you would get it all with chemo with the size of tumors I started with but he thought my body had responded tremendously. My echocardiogram results were good as well. My ejection fraction was 64% which is roughly the same as before I started my Herceptin treatments. I really think my exercising is helping with it. I've read a few articles about studies that are being run in the States with good results with breast cancer survivors.
http://bodyandhealth.canada.com/channel_section_details.asp?text_id=3680&channel_id=12&relation_id=30077

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/NWS/content/NWS_1_1x_Exercise_Can_Improve_Breast_Cancer_Survival.asp

So on a happier note we had a wonderful vacation in Jamaica! It was just what I think we all needed. My sister's wedding went off without a hitch and it was absolutely beautiful. Here are a couple of pictures.
My sister below with her new husband Mark.


My family


Take care everyone and thank you so much for all your positive thoughts and prayers. It obviously works!

Chemotherapy Done!

Hello everyone!
Some good news to share.  I've finished my 8th and final chemotherapy treatment yesterday.  It was an important milestone which I'm very proud to have made through fairly well.  I did decide not to ring the bell though.  I really felt like I am not finished my treatments so I've decided I'll ring the bell in November when I finish my last Herceptin treatment.  I'll be really done then hopefully, with my surgery and radiation behind me at that point as well. 

I also had my follow up appointment with my radiation oncologist after my treatment.  If you have read my previous post about my first encounter with him you will understand that I wasn't looking forward to seeing him again.  To my surprise though he was quite encouraging this time and pleasant.  Maybe my first appointment I had caught him on a bad day.  He was very encouraged that my body has responded so well to the chemotherapy drugs.  He suggested that if my body responded that well to the chemo drugs that he would expect my body to respond well to the radiation treatment as well.
Overall he was much more positive about my prognosis than when he first met that was for sure.  I think the only thing he was concerned about was that I was going to elect not to proceed with the radiation.  I assured him I was on board and wanted to reduce my risks for re occurrence and believed that radiation would do that.
So it looks like I'll start radiation roughly 6 weeks after my surgery.  It really depends on how fast I heal.  He also said that he thought I would think the surgery would be much less on me physically than my chemo.  I hope he is right.  The emotional part will be the toughest I think.  We didn't talk about reconstruction.  I didn't want to get into that whole conversation again.  I'll talk to a cosmetic surgeon after who has experience in reconstruction after radiation.
I'm feeling pretty good still.  I went to work today and felt fine.  I think it really helps me going to work and keeping my mind and body active. 
Just have to get through the next few days and then the countdown to Jamaica starts!

Surgery Date

Happy New Year Everyone!

Just a quick update to let everyone know my surgery is scheduled for March 4th, and I have my MRI scheduled for January 27th.
Other than that nothing particular new.  I did really well this past cycle, only had really 2 to 3 days where I wasn't feeling 100%, but overall much better than the last 2 for sure. 
Now just counting down the days to the last chemo on the 19th!