Friday, February 21, 2020
No chemotherapy for me today. My wound care appointment went about as I expected yesterday. Dr. Dash confirmed my new wound does, indeed, expose my bone. Dr. Dash, of course, wants me to stop chemotherapy so I can heal my wounds, but she does not make that call. Dr. Doom and Gloom is the decision maker as to which issue is more urgent.
When I returned home from my wound care appointment, I called Dr. Doom and Gloom’s office to tell the receptionist I had a wound open to bone and I needed Candice the PA to call me as soon as possible. When Candice the PA called me back, I told her about the stage four wound. I explained it was deep but clean, and I would happily go to treatment today to finish my cycle if that was the preferred treatment.
I am happy to say, at this moment, exposed bone trumps cancer. I am sure as I continue my cancer treatment and my cancer spreads even more, that may no longer be the case. Candice the PA spoke to Dr. Doom and Gloom and called me back again with the news that I am on a chemotherapy break.
I needed to call to schedule a CT scan to look for visible cancer. When I was scheduling the appointment, the woman told me it was the scan that required a special drink two hours before the scan. I have had this type of scan twice, once at the hospital and once at the wound care building lab. When I did the test at the hospital, the drink tasted like butt. When I did the test at the wound care building lab, they added a flavoring that was not awful. I scheduled the scan at the wound care building lab.
I then needed to schedule an appointment with the infusion clinic to access my port so the intravenous fluids can be administered during the scan. On March 4th I will start my day at the hospital at 9:00 a.m. to have my port accessed. I will then roll the eight blocks to the wound care building lab so they can give me the drink at 10:30 a.m. I am hoping for no snow next week so I can get there. My scan is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. and I am hoping to be on my way home by 1:30 p.m. That is a lot of my day for a 15-minute scan.
After I scheduled my scan and port access appointments, I called Dr. Doom and Gloom’s office to schedule a follow-up appointment to decide next steps. Dr. Doom and Gloom will review my cancer status shown in the scans and determine if exposed bone still wins. If the cancer has still been spreading or growing bigger on chemotherapy lite, I might be given an expiration date, and I do not think I am ready for that yet. I like the arbitrary three years I have given myself. Denial is still my favorite friend.
All my ducks have been put in their row to deal with this temporary setback. Two weeks from today I will either receive devastating news or I will be able to keep rolling along my current path. I would like to hear I have a clean scan and my cancer is gone, but I know better. My cancer may still be tiny pinpricks across my body that do not show up in scans and are only visible when they slice me open.
Today, I do not have chemotherapy, so I get to go have lunch at school with my seven-year-old, Mika. It is Friday, and that means it is chocolate milk day. Mika will be happy to get two chocolate milks today. After lunch, I will start my March client work so I can keep ahead. If it were warmer, it would be a perfect day.
My piece of advice to you is to accept your reality. I have a deep wound that needed action now. I have done my part to resolve the issue. I went to wound care, called Dr. Doom and Gloom, and scheduled the necessary appointments. I did not ignore the wound because it is real. I can still brush off my upcoming demise because it does not feel real yet and hopefully it will not until I am 100. I might be ready to die by then.
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.
No chemotherapy for me today. My wound care appointment went about as I expected yesterday. Dr. Dash confirmed my new wound does, indeed, expose my bone. Dr. Dash, of course, wants me to stop chemotherapy so I can heal my wounds, but she does not make that call. Dr. Doom and Gloom is the decision maker as to which issue is more urgent.
When I returned home from my wound care appointment, I called Dr. Doom and Gloom’s office to tell the receptionist I had a wound open to bone and I needed Candice the PA to call me as soon as possible. When Candice the PA called me back, I told her about the stage four wound. I explained it was deep but clean, and I would happily go to treatment today to finish my cycle if that was the preferred treatment.
I am happy to say, at this moment, exposed bone trumps cancer. I am sure as I continue my cancer treatment and my cancer spreads even more, that may no longer be the case. Candice the PA spoke to Dr. Doom and Gloom and called me back again with the news that I am on a chemotherapy break.
I needed to call to schedule a CT scan to look for visible cancer. When I was scheduling the appointment, the woman told me it was the scan that required a special drink two hours before the scan. I have had this type of scan twice, once at the hospital and once at the wound care building lab. When I did the test at the hospital, the drink tasted like butt. When I did the test at the wound care building lab, they added a flavoring that was not awful. I scheduled the scan at the wound care building lab.
I then needed to schedule an appointment with the infusion clinic to access my port so the intravenous fluids can be administered during the scan. On March 4th I will start my day at the hospital at 9:00 a.m. to have my port accessed. I will then roll the eight blocks to the wound care building lab so they can give me the drink at 10:30 a.m. I am hoping for no snow next week so I can get there. My scan is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. and I am hoping to be on my way home by 1:30 p.m. That is a lot of my day for a 15-minute scan.
After I scheduled my scan and port access appointments, I called Dr. Doom and Gloom’s office to schedule a follow-up appointment to decide next steps. Dr. Doom and Gloom will review my cancer status shown in the scans and determine if exposed bone still wins. If the cancer has still been spreading or growing bigger on chemotherapy lite, I might be given an expiration date, and I do not think I am ready for that yet. I like the arbitrary three years I have given myself. Denial is still my favorite friend.
All my ducks have been put in their row to deal with this temporary setback. Two weeks from today I will either receive devastating news or I will be able to keep rolling along my current path. I would like to hear I have a clean scan and my cancer is gone, but I know better. My cancer may still be tiny pinpricks across my body that do not show up in scans and are only visible when they slice me open.
Today, I do not have chemotherapy, so I get to go have lunch at school with my seven-year-old, Mika. It is Friday, and that means it is chocolate milk day. Mika will be happy to get two chocolate milks today. After lunch, I will start my March client work so I can keep ahead. If it were warmer, it would be a perfect day.
My piece of advice to you is to accept your reality. I have a deep wound that needed action now. I have done my part to resolve the issue. I went to wound care, called Dr. Doom and Gloom, and scheduled the necessary appointments. I did not ignore the wound because it is real. I can still brush off my upcoming demise because it does not feel real yet and hopefully it will not until I am 100. I might be ready to die by then.
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.