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!
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!
Keep making great progress Ang! :) Mark on behalf of both of us!!
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