Runway for Life

On Thursday, I was modelling for Runway for Life. It's a benefit for The American Cancer Society. They put on a fashion show with cancer survivors as the models, showing off fashion from local stores. I was selected to model a handbag.

They went all out with fashionable hair-do's and makeup:

 

 

We were two cancer survivors from my company that modeled for the event, and our company sponsored a corporate table. I was so fortunate to have Karsten and Natalie in the audience, cheering for me, along with some great friends and colleagues. One of them even recorded a little video of my "5 seconds of fame"..

 

 

 

I don't usually consider myself modeling material, but it was a really fun event, and I'm glad I could take part in it. Not only was it for a good cause, but it was a total blast to do hair and make-up and hang out with the other models behind the scenes. And I think it was a great way to show Natalie that sometimes it's okay to do things you are not so sure about - and to not take yourself too seriously...

 

A quick update

Everything went well with the surgery. I was back home at about 3-ish in the afternoon, and back to work again on Thursday and Friday. On Friday I met with the plastic surgeon and had some of the bandages removed. Everything looks okay.

So, I'll return back to our normally scheduled blog posts - hopefully I'll get to write about Halloween sometime before Christmas!

In surgery for a few nip(ple)s and tucks

Waiting at the hospital - again.

Karen is going in for some adjustment surgery for her reconstruction.
They need to remove some excess skin and adjust shape a little on one side.
While they have her under the plastic surgeon will also reconstruct some "nipples".
Apparently they sew some of the skin together to create it and will then later apply a tattoo to give it a more realistic color.

I will keep you updated as I get updates.
Surgery is scheduled to start at 10 AM and should take about 1 hour.
After that there will be about 1 hour in the recovery room before she gets send on to the rest area where I can meet her.
The plan is that she will be sent home today in the afternoon if everything works out well.
 

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming...

But first a quick update.

I'm doing well. I've been back to work for a couple of weeks now, and though I was somewhat tired in the beginning, I'm feeling stronger every day.

Yesterday I had a follow up visit with my plastic surgeon. He seems pleased with the results, as am I. From his perspective I'm all healed from the last surgery, and he told me I can do whatever I feel like - go play rugby, if I want to (not that I have any plans to do that...) I'm still supposed to take it easy because of the hysterectomy for another couple of weeks, though.

And other good news: I've my hair is growing longer, and I got my eyelashes back!

All in all, things are moving in the right direction, slowly but surely.

I noticed that I'm falling way behind on blogging. So, I've uploaded a bunch of pictures, and I'll be posting them in the near future in as much of a chronological order as I can. Stay tuned!

Done with the drains!

I had my doctor's appointment yesterday, and everything went very well. Things are healing as planned. I even got my drains out, which was awesome! And I no longer have to wear the tube-top-thingie, which is also really nice.

And, they had the pathology report. All the tissue that was removed was benign. That was as expected, but still nice to get that confirmed.

So, for now everything is going as planned. I'm still taking it easy, but making slow and steady progress.

Day four update

Everything went as planned, and we got home on Tuesday. I was up and walking Monday night and Tuesday morning - the usual up and down the hospital hallway walk. Tuesday morning, we saw the assistant from the gynecologists office. She checked on the wounds and set up a follow up appointment on the 10th. Other than that, things were pretty uneventful, and we were just waiting for the paperwork to catch up so we could go home.  It was just after lunch when we left the hospital.

It's great to be home again. I'm moving rather slowly, but I'm able to get around. I have to take it easy - no lifting, limited bending and stretching, no reaching up high, and no driving for at least two weeks.

Today (Thursday) was our follow-up appointment with the plastic surgeon. They removed most of the bandages, though I still have to wear the pink compression thingie that looks like an 80's tube-top. The drains are still draining quite a bit, so they couldn't take them out yet - but we didn't really expect them to come out that fast, either. We have another appointment with them on Monday, maybe the drains will come out by then.

So, all in all things are going as planned. Slow and steady progress - and slow and steady wins the race, right?

Day one complete

Karen is doing good and is awake and starting to be a bit bored being confined to the bed.
We watched a movie and TV.

We expect that the doctors will come some time in the morning and hopefully she will be able to come home in the afternoon.

Update - Karen is out of the recovery room and into her regular hospital room

As the title says Karen is not back in her room and I got to see her.
She was awake and talking but just very tired.
She is currently sleeping a little so I am just posting and using the computer while I wait for her to wake up.

If everything goes according to plan she will be sent home tomorrow at some point.
The two doctors will check in on her tomorrow to make sure that everything is going to their liking.
She then has to check back in with the plastic surgeon on Friday as a follow up.

So hopefully I only have a few more hospital cafeteria meals to go before we can close this chapter :-)
I am sure Karen is ready to not have the nausea and discomfort she gets from the anesthesia too.

Surgery complete update

Just talked to the surgeon and was told that everything went as planned. He was actually done faster than I expected so it must have gone smoothly.

It will be about 1 hour before she wakes up and I can go see her.
More updates to come.

Surgery update - first part complete

Sitting in the waiting room - again.
As an extra feature I will do a local hospital cafeteria review - seems like I have tried them all :-)

Just talked to the Plastic Surgeon. His part is complete and went very well. He also removed the port that was used for the Chemo medication - I know Karen will be glad to have that one gone.

Now the next surgeon is taking over for the hysterectomy. That surgery will likely take 2 hours minimum. It is performed with a "robot" so they don't have to open her up completely. Rather there will be multiple small incisions in the abdomen where they can operate through.

I will keep the blog updated as I get further information.

Next step

It's been a while since I blogged, so I thought I'd give a quick update. I've got lots of cute pictures to post, and I'm hoping to get to it soon. I'll be at home for a while anyway...

I'm going in for surgery on Monday. The plastic surgeon is putting the permanent implants in (and taking the expanders out), and he will be taking out my port that was used for chemo (Yay!). Then the gynecological surgeon will be removing my uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries. Better get rid of all the spare parts I don't need anymore... That last part will be done laparoscopically using a robot, so it'll be minimally invasive. They'll only keep me in the hospital for one night.

I'm expected to be out from work for four weeks, so I'm hoping to have lots of time to post those cute pictures! Stay tuned...

A little chemo scare - but everything is okay

So, yesterday was supposed to be my last chemo treatment. Turned out, it got postponed to today. Don't worry, everything's okay.

Here's the story:

When I showed up for the treatment yesterday, the nurse that was going to access my port took one look at me and said "This doesn't look right". She got another nurse over for a second opinion, and she agreed. The problem was that the chemo is making me retain water - lots of it. But it wasn't even, my left side was much more swollen than the right one. And the port site seemed irritated and warm and more swollen than usual. They were concerned that there might be a blood clot in my left arm and/or in my left leg. They sent me to see my oncologist, who also agreed that it had to be checked out. He sent me to the hospital to get it checked out via ultrasound.

The plan was for me to drive there. I figured it was a good sing that they let me drive myself, they probably wouldn't do that if they thought I was about to keel over... They would send the orders over and have me checked out right away. If everything went well, I would till be getting my treatment later in the day.

I got to the hospital around noon-ish and found out that they couldn't fit me in until three thirty that afternoon. Well, another good sign, I guess, they weren't rushing to get me in. Unfortunately, that meant a lot of waiting, and no chance for me to get back to get my treatment that afteroon. Fortunately, Karsten came and met me for lunch at the hospital cafeteria, which was really nice. And I had brought my book, so time went by fairly quickly.

I got checked out, which was kinda neat. They use the ultrasound to check the arteries and veins. If they can compress them, there is no clot. They can also see/hear the blood flow in there. Apparently it works, because they found a clot in the leg of the lady that went in just before me. Which made me feel pretty bad for her, but honestly also a little better knowing that the technique works.

Anyway, no clots! Yay. So, after a long day at the hospital waiting room, I got the all clear and got re-scheduled for my (last) treatment this morning. The swelling is already coming down some, but it will re-appear over the next couple of weeks as a side-effect of the chemo. Hopefully not quite as bad, though, as they upped my dose on my diuretics ("water-pills").

So, better safe than sorry, I'm a day late on my treatment - but it was the last one!!!!!

Chi-chi-chi-chia pet !

On the new Chemo Karen's hair is starting to grow back. I think she would trade this for some eye lashes though.
But it is a sign that things are going in the right direction.

Chemo update

Well, I guess it's been a while since I posted something here. I'm about two holidays behind. Don't worry, we're still here. And I'll be posting lots of pictures in the next few days. For starters, here's a chemo-update:

I'm now on chemo round five. I had my treatment on Tuesday this week. The last three treatments are with a different drug than the first three. That means that lately, everything is like "opposite day".

- The old stuff would make me sleep for a couple of days. The new stuff doesn't make me as tired, but it makes my bones and joints ache.
- The old stuff made my hair disappear. With the new stuff, my hair is growing back, but I've lost most of my eyelashes, and my eyebrows are getting very thin.
- The old stuff made my eyes dry. This new stuff makes my eyes water.

And so on and so forth. Oh, well, only one more round to go after this one, so there's definitely light at the end of the tunnel. After the last round of chemo we'll have to wait at least four weeks before we can take care of the last surgery. For now, it sounds like I'll have surgery sometime in June.

And another great thing: The first stuff I got can affect the heart. I had a scan of my heart before we started and again recently, and everything looks great - no damage! That's great news.

Happy Valentine's Day, Cancer edition

I had my second round of chemo on Valentine's Day.

And it was really a great day.

There were two things that really made my day. One was these:

Beautiful earrings with red beads and hearts.

One of the other cancer patients - a relatively young girl that I didn't even know - came over to me while I was getting my treatment. She said that her friend had given her a box of these, and told her to make sure that everyone at the center got a pair. What a wonderful gift from a complete stranger. All the nurses wore them, too. So pretty.

The second thing that really made my day was that Karsten stopped by in his lunch break. It was a total surprise - and he even brought chocolates. How romantic is that! Gotta love that guy.

The second treatment went pretty well. We had some problems accessing the port again, but after two nurses worked on it a bit and made me turn my head and cough (yep, they actually said that), they got it working. The side effects this time have been similar to last time, but with less nausea and more fatigue. I must have slept close to 20 hours on day three and four, but I'll take that any time over the nausea. So, all in all not so bad. And tomorrow I'm back at work. I can't wait!

A new look

Last week, my hair began to fall out. So, on Saturday I decided it was time to bring out the shaver and do something about it. What's the point in vacuuming hair up all over the house for a week or two, anyway? So here's how I got my new look:

The obligatory "before" picture.

Natalie helped with the finishing touches.

The end result!

I do have a wig that looks fairly natural.

But I think this is my favorite new look. I love this hat!

Back to work - and back to the plastic surgeon

This week I'm back at work! It's been a great feeling to be back to "normal". I'll admit I'm a bit tired, but it's definitely worth it. The plan is to be out for a week when I get my treatments, then back to work for two before the next treatment.

On Tuesday, I had my blood count evaluated again. The numbers were up from last week, which is great news. Some of them (though not all of them) were even out of the "low" range and into the "normal" range.

On Wednesday, I was back at the plastic surgeon for a quick visit. I'm finally healing pretty well. I got another fill on both sides. The left side that sprung a leak is still somewhat "flat" compared to the other side. My plastic surgeon would have liked to replace the expander on that side. If the leaking expander is in there for a long time, it seems there could be some scar tissue around it to work with that could make the future expansion a bit more difficult.

The plastic surgeon called my oncologist to discuss. My oncologist does not think I should be going back to surgery while I'm on chemo. And in this case, he definitely has the final word. I was a bit disappointed, I wanted to move forward and get as much done as possible as soon as possible, but it obviously has to be safe. And a cosmetic issue comes way lower on the list than the cancer treatment itself. So it'll just have to wait.

My next treatment is on Tuesday. So, for now I'm going to enjoy the weekend. Should be a good one!

How low can you go?

Here I am, on day seven of my first chemo cycle. I had my bloodwork done this morning. My bloodcounts are lower than normal - as expected - but not dangerously low. All in all that is great news. In other words, I'm right on track with where we thought I'd be at this time.

The weekend was not all that pleasant, with quite a bit of nausea, especially on Friday and Saturday, followed by feeling very tired on Sunday and into Monday morning. But by now, I am feeling pretty good. I'm trying to get back into normal life, by moving around more (walking on the treadmill, etc.) and doing a few things around the house.

In other news, I've been cleaning up my drafts folder on this blog, posting lots of old pictures. I've backdated them, so in case you are interested in some fall and Halloween pictures from around here, scroll back to late November / early December.

Chemo day two update

I'm thru the first 24 hrs of chemo.

First they had to access my port. The nurse was great and did an awesome job. My port is sitting a little deeper than apparently is usual, so she went with a little longer needle, a one and a quarter inch needle. Unfortunately that wasn't quite long enough, so she had to do it again with a 1 and a half inch long needle. Not the most comfortable thing in the world, but in the big scheme of things not that big of a deal. And once the connection was made, it really was quite comfortable.

The first part wasn't that bad. They started out with the steroids and the anti-nausia drugs. The steroids quickly made me feel like I had just downed 10 cups of coffee. Karsten came to visit me during his lunch break, and he said I was talking pretty fast as well.

Then on to the good stuff. The first three rounds of chemo will each consist of three different drugs. Two of them come in big syringes that the nurse hooks up to the lines close to the port. Since it's not that good for the veins, they do it in a special way. They pull back a little, so some of my blood can mix in with the medication, then they push the mix in, and follow with a flush of saline. Rinse, lather, repeat... The last one is in a regular bag and is administered over an hour.

Then I got to go home, and to be honest I felt pretty great. I did the laundry, loaded the dishwasher, cleaned the micro wave, cleaned the silverware drawers, and cleaned the fridge, all in the hour before Natalie came home!

The steroids seemed to wear off slowly over the evening. Natalie and I spent most of the evening watching a movie on the couch, just cuddled up. Of course, I had checked with the doctors before hand, and it's perfectly save for her to be around me after chemo, I cannot transfer the medication to her by touch. I'm so grateful for that.

Later in the evening, the steroids wore off completely, and it was a bit like hitting a brick wall. I was very tired, and had quite a bit of nausea. In general, I think it felt like a good size hangover, though it's been a while since I had one of those! Luckily, it was time for my next round of anti-nausea medication, which helped a little bit.

This morning, I went back to bed after Natalie and Karsten left, and got a couple of extra hours of sleep. This morning I'm feeling pretty good, except that I'm not interested in eating at all (which is a first for me!). I'm also a bit tired, but really not that bad at all. So far, so good!

This afternoon I'm going back to the clinic to get a shot that will boost my immune system. After that, my next appointment is in a week to check my blood counts. Other than that, I'm just hanging out at home for a while. I've been warned that the weekend might be a little rough, I guess we'll see. I've got some pretty good meds to help me out, so I'm not too worried. 

Chemo

Karen is having her first round of chemo today and I went over my lunch break to spend the time with her.

She is just getting started and is just getting the medications she need prior to the chemo drugs now.

They will be starting the first of the trio of drugs in just a few minutes.
It will be interesting to see how she responds to the therapy.
Based on the nurse it sounds like she will not really feel any side effects until this weekend or so. Then the biggest risk is actually about a week to a week and a half after the treatment as her blood count and immune system will be at its lowest.