Moving Forward

Today Di and I...and Terry.... went to see Dr. McIntyre, the oncologist, to get info for when chemo starts. She will start July 15th. I think the reality has hit Di. She was a little upset today. Not bad. Just not good. And I want good. She has decided to join in a research drug that they hope is the "New Wave" of curing breast cancer. Basically Di will get 1 of the 3 different types of chemo. It will be randomly picked. T.A.C, T.C. or T.C.B. are the drugs. TAC is kinda the old standard. TC is without the "A" drug and seems to have less Nassau with the patients. Both TAC & TC would be 6 months of treatment. TCB is a year long. The introduction of the B drug is what is believed to be the new wave. It's been tested on other cancers just not breast cancer. Or something like that. I'm basically still processing the information that was thrown at us this morning.

It took almost 30minutes to go over all the side effects of the drugs. Jeezz. I mean rectal bleeding?? WTF? Of course the cancer patients that "B" has treated were originally colon cancer. So it kinda makes sense.

Anywho. Must get back to work!

cd

So you're saying I don't have to sleep on the couch anymore?

Ya, that's right. I've been sleeping on the couch for about 10 days. And I didn't even do anything wrong! It started because Di was sleeping on the recliner my mom let us barrow because it was much more comfortable to sleep on with the 4 drains under her arm pits. If she needed me during the night I was right there. As you all know 2 drains were taking out this Monday. So, are you ready?? The last 2 were taking out this morning with the strict stipulation that she is NOT to do anything active for awhile. When Dr Meade asked her how she was doing she replied with her awesome smile and said "GREAT, I've been doing stuff..vacuuming, cleaning the bathtubs, mopping...yaa, I feel pretty good." Of course Dr. Meade responded with the "are you crazy lady?" look. He told her that he wouldn't take out 1 of the 2 if she was going to do those kind of things. She gave him the sad eyes, yes the same one she gave me 5 days ago when I broached the subject of me moving back to MY BED! He couldn't resist either. So he made her promise she would take it easy. Di would have promised him a ride on "The Di Train" if it got that last drain out! That's right, you read it correctly "The Di Train". Not sure what it is exactly..not even sure I've been on that ride to tell ya the truth. But I digress. (Oh...sorry Terry)
We are to go back in two weeks to start the "expansion" process. Basically filling the artificial boobs up with saline until the desired size is reached. (COME ON FULL C!!)
We meet with Dr. Killbride tomorrow morning. I think we will discuss chemo and all that that entails.

I'll leave you smiling with a picture of Nephew Luke. (sorry Brent)
take care people

cd

1 week post operation

Well, the weekend came and went. Di has felt a little better every day. We were able to visit with many of you, and speaking for Di, I know it lifted her spirits. Thanks to all of you.
Di is been weening herself off of most her meds. She doesn't take the pain killers or Valium except when she is about to sleep. I personally don't know how she does it. Me...I would be looking to have them refilled by now. Well, maybe just the pain killers. Maybe not.
We went to Dr.Mead's office today to get, what we hoped would be her drains removed. She had to settle with having 2 removed. Looks like another week with those punk a** drains #2 & #4. No one likes drain #2 & #4, no one. I got to watch them pull the two out..man, those things are long. I had no idea. Like maybe 10inches long! IN HER BODY....4 of them...well 2 now. Hopefully the other 2 will come out later this week.

I made it to work for a few hours today. That was fun.

Oh, I brought Di's car to the shop to do a full maintenance work over while Di is all drugged up and can't drive. Please Dear Lord Almighty. Let this hold Di's " I want a new car" stage go away! At least for another year...or 2.

Nobody came to mow my yard this weekend. What's up with that? ;)

Di and I might try and see a movie tonight. She wants to get out of the house some more. Maybe go to The Studio Movie Grill to see The Hangover and eat dinner. We could both use a good laugh...and they sell beer there too. (don't tell Di that I agreed to go today because there are no games on tv)

thanks again for all the support.

cd

2 Steps Forward, 1 Step Back

As well as Di has been handling all that has come, she did wobble a little today. Not her best day. But I want her best day to be everyday. The pain reliever she was taking was making her feel nauseous. So most of the day she wasn't feeling to good. We got another pill that put her right out! We'll see if this makes her nauseous when she awakes. It shouldn't. So hopefully when she gets up from her nap she will turn her day around. She kept telling me that the 3rd day was hump day. I kept saying "sure baby... sure" in my sarcastic tone. She has no energy so I'm kicking her ass in the "arguments" category. It's a game we play.

I actually got to go to work for a few hours today........that was fun.

I really need to mow the yard. Where are all these people that say "we'll do anything for you" now?

Seriously kidding folks. DO NOT COME MOW MY YARD! I actually enjoy mowing my own yard. So don't piss me off.

Some of the things that Di got today were awesome. Really nice. Too nice. Almost. You will all be glad to know that I have gained 5 pounds in the last week. Crazy jealous aren't ya? No more cookies people!!! Jeez..

I think Di is healing pretty well. She hasn't had a ton of fluid coming from her 4 drains under her arm pits. Not much swelling either. Her left hurts more then the right, because she had her lymph nodes removed on that side. The cancer didn't spread to the right side, so no need to scoop a bunch out of there. Now I'm starting to feel nauseous thinking about it. I help Di with her drains and have to leave when she squirts it into the cup...It makes this horrible noise. Grosses the S out of me.

Di basically eat crackers, mind you we have like 100 different kinds, and strawberries today. Picked up some chicken. She ate a little the other night, maybe when she gets up I can get her to eat some more. If not we have more strawberries and other fruits. We will all just have to wait and see. I'm going to get some chores done and get dinner ready....so I can sit down and watch the Rangers game! Blog ya later

cd

Easy Breezy

I tell you guys, if this is the tough part then Di has already beat it! She is great. It's about 10:30pm, 6-16-09. I am blogging(never thought that would come out of me) and Di is up reading. Status Quo around here. Well, except for the minor detail of being in a hospital room. All else is good. Di even had me tighty up the sink and pick up some. Ya, she back. But it's no problem. I need direction. Not from you guys though. So no ideas.
She will be going home tomorrow. Not sure when. It's been nice having the RN's empty her drains. She has 4 of them. 2 under each arm. They will probably be there for 7/10 days so I am not looking forward to emptying those..yuukk. Que Erin. Enter stage left.

All of the nurses have been excellent. Every single one has giving Di high marks on her recovery. It's funny to see the facial expressions of the nurses from last night that are back tonight. They are amazed at how quickly she is progressing. It's been night and day folks. Really cool to see. Not that I doubted how quick it would be. Hell, I told her we should have left earlier today. Then she reminded me that the room was paid through the night.....So ya, I'm staying with or without her. Might as well let someone else change those 4 drains. You know what I'm talking about. You know.

Di was happy to get all the flowers, sweets, cookies..<-damn you Michelle!-and fruit basket(was actually pretty cool looking & tasty), emails, calls and visits. Thanks, GraceAnne for coming by. My sisters and both our parents and Roberta thank ya'll too. Thank you Mrs. Billy and Sherrie(Nurses)for all they did. Especially the first night. We are looking forward to tomorrow! Looking forward to the next challenge. Looking forward to chemo & wigs. Looking forward to London for Riam & Eric's wedding. Looking forward to radiation. And looking forward to kicking cancers ass. So jump on folks, Di and I are going for a ride. Plenty of room for "Band Wagoners". So come on.
blog ya later,
cd

All is well. Resting up.

Last night was pretty uneventful. Nothing cool to report. The hospital had a cot I slept on so I was happy about that. Not so happy about the every 2 hour wake ups by the RN's. Not that I would complain. No really, it was fine. I got my sleep. Di has been in and out of it all day. She is pretty jacked up on some heavy duty narcotics. Thankfully. She did get up this morning to go to the rest room. A good sign. She needs to get up and move around as much as she can. So maybe after lunch Terry and I can coax her into walking around. She loves cheese and crackers so we ordered some for her in hopes that it would give her some type of energy. Enough to get her up.
I plan on sleeping here again tonight to keep an eye on her. I guess Terry will stay for the day. Don't think I could pry her away even if I wanted to. Not that I want to. It's about noon and Di has had a few Animal Crackers and some water....oh and ice. The patch she has behind her ear helps with nausea but makes her mouth dry. Better dry mouth then mouth projectile! Dr. Killbride seems to have done a great job on the surgery. That's what Dr. Mead said anyway. He said she made great incisions and it made his reconstructive job easy. All the RN's that have cleaned her wounds have commented on the "new technique" he used. Apparently none had seen the technique before. We were told that he is on the cutting edge of reconstructive surgery. From what i saw the wounds looked great. I thought it was going to be pretty nasty. It wasn't. I don't like "nasty", and it wasn't "nasty"..thankfully.

They just dropped off lunch. Chicken was pretty good. Di ate 4 or 5 bites. Not bad for Di and meat...some of you know what I'm talking about. Not a big meat eater.I made her eat some veggies too. Of course she started with the ice cream cup. That was no problem. Went down quick. She's up now. Sitting in a chair. Time for me to talk to my wife. I'll catch you up later.

thanks again folks. for the flowers, calls, emails, thoughts and prayers.

cd

Surgery is DONE!

All went well. No surprises. Actually the doctors all said that it was uneventful. That is good news. Didn't want any "events" happening. Not on my wife. Not today. She is recovering in the recovery room. Hopefully I will be able to see her soon. real soon..

So. We have won the first round. I feel good. I can hold her up long enough to get to her next round. With every ones help she will be done before she knows it.

They haven't given her a room yet so I don't know the room number. Dr. Mead seems to think it possible to leave tomorrow... we'll see. No rush here. Whenever she is ready I'll be ready.

Props to Terry for being here the whole time. Alan and Erin are here too. My mom was here this morning. that was nice. Thanks again to all who have sent there well wishes and good thoughts. It is comforting..

cd

Here we are waiting, waiting, waiting...there she is sleeping, sleeping, sleeping. Hope she wakes up and asks,"Am I done yet?" All good in the neighborhood, we are almoat done with the Surgery. Any time now the Plastic Surgeon should be walking through the door to say, "All done. Everything went well. she is doing great. She'll be in recovery for about an hour or so then to her room!"
Let's see if that's what happens....that better be what happens...or an "Elective Surgery" will be done on the Surgeon himself by me, Erin. And I only know how to insert pacemakers :)

We'll keep you posted. May be a late night, but hopefully not long before she makes it to her room. Until next update, over and out....

Guest Blogger: Erin Shreiner, sister-in-law, sister, friend

Surgery Day.

So far so good!!! In surgery as I type. Went home to let out Dexter The Dog, he's our dog;) & get some freaking pants on. Terry and I are freezing in the waiting room.
Good news on the Rt side, lymph nodes came back negative. It means less pain on that side and less time to recover....on that side. So that's awesome. Finished the right breast about 4. They called us to tell us the right was done and they were headed to the left breast. It's 4:45 so I'm headed back to the hospital. Thanks for EVERY ONE'S kind words and prayers. I know Di appreciates it. She always "gives". It's nice to see others pulling for her and "giving" back to her. So guys, thanks. thank you from Di and me.

kick it.

Mapping her chest for surgery

Di is at Dr Mead's (reconstructive doctor) now so that he can "map out" her chest. He literally will draw lines and mark up her body so he can photograph it to send to her breast doctor, Dr Kilbride. So when she arrives Monday for surgery Dr. Kilbride will know what Dr. Head wants to do. Got it? Can't wait to get home and see what it looks like. Maybe she will let me color it in! Maybe it looks like a connect-the-dot thingy! I'm waiting for her call right now. Guess I'll have to wait until after work. She said she could do this Dr's visit alone. Not sure if Terry (her mother) went. She has been able to make almost all her doctor visits. It's hard enough running a business so having her parents around has been a blessing for when I haven't been able to go.

I know she is looking forward to "Girls Night Out" on Friday. It will be her last Hurrah for a while. So, thanks lady friends, for taking care of her.

April 29..So it's Breast Cancer!.?.?.?

April 29 is a day Di & I will never forget. What we thought, and the doctors thought, was probably a calcium deposit turned out to be Breast Cancer. That was a sobering call. The next few days were pretty hard on her...and me...and her mom....dad...my mom, sisters, brothers....you get the point. She is loved by many and no one wants this thrust upon someone they love. No one.
Stage 3, spread to the Lymph Nodes, left breast. Stage 0 non invasive right breast, has not spread. Double mastectomy it is. Followed by chemo, then radiation. Then chemo pills. We're told.
Surgery is June 15. Followed by a month of recovery, then off to chemo once a month..or so for about 6 months.
June 1, we went to our fertility doctor to "Harvest Eggs". We were able to freeze 3 fertilised eggs that we hope we can turn into kids when this is all over...whenever that may be. If anyone wants to know about "The Room" I had the pleasure of visiting to "give" my "deposit" you will have to get me liquored up first.

There is no doubt in my mind that Di will beat this. She is young, mentally & physically strong, and has the support of many. All which will be key in her recovery.

I will do my best to update this blog as often as time allows so that all of you can follow her on her road to recovery. I thank all of you who have allready called, written, sent cards and sent there prayers our way. It is important that Di feels our love. Some days will be better then others. So remember, the day your card, or whatever, gets to her may be the day it is needed most! Don't hesitate to get in touch with me if there is something you want. We will do our best to keep our life as normal as possible..when possible. With our family and friends we will soon look back at this as the year we beat cancer...as a family...as friends.