Special Day

Today is very special because on this day in 1951 my mom and dad got married. 7 children, 11 grandchildren, 8 moves and 60 years

later, they renewed their vows this morning in church.
They have always stood by each other and by all of us through many ups and downs. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for showing us how it's done. I love you so much.

Update: Hair Watch 2011

Let the shedding begin! I could probably sit at the sink all day pulling out handfuls of hair, it's equal parts fun and disturbing. Instead I'm wearing a hat (thanks MJ!) so it doesn't get all over the place and going about my day.
On the upside, perhaps I will also lose my mustache, chin whiskers and the other hair I usually pay so much money to remove. :)

Bionic Vein

I had a little surgical procedure today to have a port put in my chest. It's basically a little device under the skin that allows access to my bloodstream, both for withdrawing and infusing. Since I'll be having weekly infusions, it is much more efficient and less painful to stick a needle through a thin layer of skin and into the

port than to have to find a vein in my arm every time. I'm all for that except that it makes this really creepy large bump under my skin.
(photo doesn't do it justice)
So.Not.Sexy.
Jet is really into the idea of people having robot parts (Luke Skywalker, Steve Austin), so when I was explaining it to him, I told him that they gave me a bionic vein.

Hair Watch 2011

So my hair is supposed to fall out soon but it hasn't shown any signs of it so far. I admit I'm feeling a little impatient. Not that I'm excited about it or anything, I'm just so ready. It's the one major chemo side effect that I'm totally prepared for. I shaved my head in college a couple times (and since) so at least I know I have a nice smooth round head. I'm ready to wear cute furry hats and pretty scarves and jeweled turbans with feathers and my son's dragon paintings. I'm ready to show off just how okay I am with it already. But then, you know, when it actually happens, maybe it will be a bit upsetting after all. Maybe I should be glad that my hair is hanging in there. In the mean time, I have been gradually shortening it. Can't really get much shorter now and don't want to pay for any more temporary haircuts. But I do really like it super short. That may just be the way it stays forever after it comes back.

Chemo: Round 1

I started my first round of chemotherapy last Wednesday, Sept. 14th. The experience itself wasn't so bad though it took a long time, about 5 hours. Everyone was very friendly and the infusion room is actually quite lovely as it has 2 walls of windows that look out into a copse of trees. I graded some papers, played with my new iPad (Crocker staff rules!!), and my mom brought me lunch. :)
In addition to the chemotherapy drugs, they also give you anti-nausea meds as well as a steroid to mitigate any possible allergic reactions to the chemo drugs. I didn't realize that steroids are actually quite a stimulant. So for the next couple of days I was flying high, very energetic, got lots of things done. Sat and Sunday were a little rough. I had a little bit of the body and bone aches that I was told to expect. I was also told to expect major constipation from the anti-nausea meds but instead I had the opposite. For about 4 days I had several gut wrenching bowel movements (GWBMs) per day, but that has been my most serious side effect so far. Other than the GWBMs, I have been feeling pretty good. In fact, the past 3 days or so I've been feeling very normal. I'm supposed to be experiencing some fatigue at this point but I can't say I'm any more tired than usual. I won't assume that it will always be this easy but SO FAR SO GOOD.

The Details

So here are all the details about my cancer.....
I had 2cm tumor that was classified as Invasive Ductile Carcinoma, which means cancer cells that started growing in the duct tissue but then spread beyond the ducts themselves. There was also an area of the tumor that was Ductile Carcinoma In Situ, which is where the cancer cells have remained within the duct, this is sometimes considered precancerous tissue.
On 8/19, the day before my 40th birthday, I had lumpectomy surgery where they removed the tumor as well as 2 of the sentinel lymph nodes, which are the first nodes that those ducts would drain in to.
After surgery, they analyzed the lymph nodes and tumor cells and determined several things:
-There were no signs of cancer cells in the lymph nodes -very good news.
-It is a grade 2 tumor (out of 3) which indicates it is moderately aggressive.
-It is an estrogen receptive tumor, which means that estrogen helps it grow. The downside of that is bye-bye IUD or any hormonal birth control. The upside is that there is a drug (Tamoxifen) that can target the estrogen receptors and greatly reduce the chance of recurrence.
-The tumor is HER2 positive which also indicates that it is aggressive, but there is also a targeted drug for this.
-There is evidence if lymph-vascular invasion, meaning that although the lymph nodes were clear, it is possible that cancer cells could have spread through my vascular system.

Any two of the above characteristics would have likely indicated chemotherapy as a treatment, with all of them there is no question about it.

So my treatment plan is as follows.....
6 rounds of chemotherapy with the drugs Taxotere and Carboplatin at 3 week intervals (18 weeks total)
One year of Herceptin infusions, weekly for the 18 weeks of chemotherapy, then every 3 weeks
Additional surgery after the chemotherapy is done because the margin of clear tissue around the in situ portion of the tumor was too small.
Then 5-6 weeks of radiation therapy just on the localized breast area
Then Tamoxifen daily for 5 years (pill)

That's all!

The Beginning

I found out I had breast cancer about 20 minutes before performing on stage in Vegas. I'd had a biopsy a couple of days before, after a routine mammogram turned up some suspiciously clumped calcifications. I had hoped to put off returning the calls from the breast center until after we performed but it was getting too close to 5pm. So I called to get my biopsy results at 4:45 and got the news; Invasive Ductile Carcinoma, likely Stage 1, very treatable. The show went on, we danced well but didn't win any prizes. (btw, this was no glamorous dance gig on a stage at the strip, we were dancing at a bellydance competition in a banquet room at Sam's Town. Totally cheesy but lots of fun.)
The rest of the weekend was rough not knowing anything more than that basic diagnosis. I couldn't reach my husband who was camping though I didn't want to until I knew more. I was so grateful to have my troupe with me, a group of strong, wise women who could support me, hold space for me and party with me all in equal measure. Marie was correct when she told me that this waiting time would probably be the hardest part. Having so many unknowns swirling in my head was emotionally exhausting. Mastectomy? Chemotherapy? Has it spread? My job? My kid??
Fortunately, it was only a couple of days before we met with a wonderful team of doctors who could tell us everything we wanted to know.