Rabbit Ears

Thank you!  I am grateful for the overwhelming response to Pink Ink. Last week was a lesson on how quickly the picture can change and the blog affords me the ability to update my family and friends a little more efficiently. Your outpouring of care and concern and positive energy means the world to me.  I derive great comfort from your comments and I hope you will take the opportunity to comment directly on the blog!   

Why Rabbit Ears for my title today? Many of you will understand.  But, for those too young, televisions once had antennae that we called rabbit ears.  They were used to improve the reception and make the picture clearer on the TV set. It was long before cable, remote controls, satellite TV, digital and HDTV but sometime after dinosaurs roamed the earth.

As I wrote in Fast Forward, complications arose following the additional diagnosis of invasive lobular cancer in my surgery pathology.  All of a sudden, that which seemed fairly clear to me, became very fuzzy....MRI to rule out additional cancer, sentinel lymph node surgery to rule out spread of cancer, the radiation regimen that I elected (brachytherapy) hanging in limbo, and the possibility of additional surgery for better margins. 

Happy to report that the picture is becoming clearer! 

• The MRI that I had on Tuesday evening was negative for additional cancer.  YAY! 
• The precertification for coverage of the brachytherapy was denied by my insurance company, based upon the second diagnosis. :'(
• There is no need to reopen the original surgery site.

The surgeon, the radiation oncologist, and I are disappointed that the brachytherapy option has been removed from consideration in my treatment plan.  As a result, I will now not need the additional surgery on the original site, which is good.  However, I am now forced  to have the external beam radiation which will require 33 treatments, each weekday, over a 7 week period.  [OK....I'm not forced, per se. I could pay for it out-of-pocket.....$$$$$.] External beam carries additional potential side effects but the brachytherapy had a few risks, too.  My radiation oncologist assured the same prognosis with either method of radiation delivery. I am grateful that I live minutes from Apple Hill, where those treatments will be delivered.  It should take less than an hour of my day.

The lymph node surgery is next Thursday.  Following the pathology on that, which I should know by the time I leave to come home, the picture will be clearer. 

I had an opportunity to spend time with several lovely friends over coffee this week.  Played my weekly game of Mah Jongg.  Also spent a few hours with Logan, our second youngest grandson, on Tuesday.  What a delight he is!  Saturday morning, I am having breakfast with a friend who is visiting after moving away from York and is on her own breast cancer journey. That visit will be followed by attendance at the Inauguration of Dr. Pamela Gunther Smith as the 4th President of York College.  Tomorrow afternoon, Mitchell and his family are planning to visit.  Next Thursday night, Anne arrives for the long weekend.  What better comfort can a mom and grandma ask for??? 

I know that my emotions and moods are erratic. A friend, gratefully celebrating her first anniversary being cancer-free, assured me that the ups and downs are normal and I should be easy with myself. [My apologies to those that have witnessed my wrath, my impatience, my crying.....]  What a roller coaster!

 

 So, as the announcer once said on TV....stay tuned!  Enjoy the weekend!

I wanted to show you my bracelet made by my friend, Sheila Bardol.  I commissioned her to create them for my daughters and daughters-in-law, our eldest granddaughter and my dear friend with whom I travel this journey. Sheila added the guardian angel to my bracelet.  The bracelets are intended to unify these women with me, as I traverse my journey, as well as show them there is HOPE.  Sheila's company is J2Originals.  Thanks, Sheila!

                   

PS  For those of you that are curious, the brachytherapy would have involved insertion of a device into my breast.  After insertion, it would be opened and would resemble a kitchen whisk.  There would be catheters on the outside of my body which would receive radioactive seeds that would travel into the device and deliver the radiation. It would have involved twice a day treatments for five days.  From insertion to removal of the device, it would likely have been only about 10 days.  Very high tech, but expensive.  I'm disappointed!