I promised readers of The Pink Pages that I would update my journey here on my blog. I saved several updates for one post, so I’ll share them in chronological order like the book’s journal entries.

Dexa Bone Scan

Friday, May 10, 2024

With my chemo nurses, l-r: Paige, Emily, and Laura. — *With my chemo nurses, l-r: Paige, Emily, and Laura*

Today was my next-to-last Herceptin infusion and then I had a DEXA bone scan. Both went well.

The bone scan was probably the easiest test/procedure I had the entire journey. They told me to wear clothes without buttons or zippers, so I wore leggings and a t-shirt. They had me lie down on a table, positioned my legs slightly, and then ran the scan over my hips and legs. I asked why not the whole body, and they said the hips were the best indicator if there was osteoporosis in the bones, and if it was there, it was everywhere. Took no more than 10 minutes total. The results came back that afternoon, and they were all clear - no signs of osteoporosis. So grateful.

Breast Cancer Support Group

Monday, May 20, 2024

I attended my first cancer support group, the Bosom Buddies, that meet monthly in Rome at Advent Hospital. The hospital provides a meal, they have a guest speaker, and the ladies visit and support each other. Felicia had invited me early in my journey, but with all the commutes for doc visits, treatments, procedures, I just couldn’t make myself go out another day. But once all that stopped, I was happy to visit, and I enjoyed myself a great deal. There seems to be a “sisterhood” that develops with breast cancer patients - a been-there-done-that understanding and true empathy that binds us all together. If you’re feeling alone in your own journey, seek out support groups in your town - you’ll be blessed.

The Bosom Buddies invited me to come back to their June meeting to do a book signing of The Pink Pages. I look forward to being with those ladies again. I’ll share pix on social media after the event.

MRI of the brain

Thursday, May 23, 2024

With all the new cognitive side effects I’ve been having the last few weeks, the oncologist ordered a brain MRI. I find MRIs so baffling, but I’m grateful this one was MUCH easier and MUCH less painful than the breast MRI. This MRI required a “cage” of sorts to go over my head. They gave me ear plugs and put a headset over my plugged ears, then turned on music that I couldn’t really hear because of the ear plugs. But even with all of that, the MRI was still loud. I have NO CLUE how an MRI works, but as I laid there, I began wondering if all the different sounds were to cause the brain to react differently for the testing. I know that doesn’t make any sense though - the noise is still there with the breast MRI, too.

It took a few days to get the results. Here’s a TIP: if you have any control over scheduling your major medical tests, try to schedule them the first part of the week, especially when there’s a holiday/long weekend coming up. Since my test was on the Thursday before Memorial Day, I didn’t get the results until the following week, and had to call to get them. They did not put the MRI results in the portal at all, even after I got the results from the doc’s office.

Lab Work

Tuesday, May 28, 2024

Tim and I both had lab work done today for our PCP visit next week. His results were almost all normal, for the first time ever. His cholesterol is always high - he has eaten bacon or sausage and eggs almost every day of his life (and he’s almost 77) - so that’s to be expected. But for the past month, he’s been taking Red Yeast Rice supplements for the cholesterol, and it seems to be working. His numbers dropped dramatically, so now he’s only 5 points above the normal range after only a month. My lipids were high so I’m going to start taking the Red Yeast Rice too, and see what happens in my next labs in 3 months.

Ringing that Bell!

Ringing the bell upon completion of my treatments for breast cancer.

Friday, May 31, 2024

My last Herceptin infusion!!!

I wasn’t very emotional during my entire cancer journey - and when I rang that bell, I was laughing, happy, grateful, and relieved. But as I walked out of the office, and stopped to tell the ladies at the front desk that I was done, I suddenly teared up, and cried all the way down the elevator. I think I’d been holding my breath the whole time, just wondering if I’d make it through it all. And, thanks be to God, I did. Hallelujah!

I’d told my nurse about the headache I’d had for the past 10 days, and about the cognitive issues I’d been having that resulted in the MRI. She let the oncologist know about the headaches, who recommended I see a neurologist. Since my MRI was normal, I decided to wait on that - I want to see if things clear up as the chemo and Herceptin flush from my body.

This day was exciting on many levels - it was the release of The Pink Pages, and I hosted an online party to celebrate ringing the bell. I’d hoped to do a live video feed on Facebook, but the technology defeated me, so we went old school and just chatted. One day, I’ll attempt another live and see how it goes. :-)

PCP Visit

Monday, June 3, 2024

Tim and I had appointments with our primary care doctor. She spent about an hour with us, discussing everything that concerned us. I’m grateful to have a doctor like that.

I’ve had fluid on my ears for a couple of weeks, for some unknown reason, and she gave me a couple of at-home remedies to try. Those have created a lot of sinus drainage, so I’m hoping that has eliminated the fluid. I’m feeling better, so that’s a good sign.

We discussed the cognitive issues I’ve been having, and like Felicia, she thinks that they could possibly be from residual chemo fog, even this many months later. She agreed with my decision to wait a few weeks to see a neurologist, but said that if I was still having issues when I see her in 3 months, that she too will order me to see a neurologist. She explained that the neurologist would likely order an MRA, which looks at the blood vessels, and that radiation could have caused some vessel damage, which could explain why my blood pressure is so difficult to control right now. That finally made sense to me, so I’ll be deciding in the next few weeks whether to go ahead or wait it out.

Mammogram

Thursday, June 6, 2024

Mammogram day. Another day I’d been holding my breath on. Over the last few months, I guess since radiation ended, I’ve noticed that within the medical community, and even with patients themselves, there seems to be an expectation that cancer will return. I don’t want to live like that - I don’t want to let fear take over. But as I drove to the mammogram appointment, I admitted that I was anxious about the results. What if they found something once again?

This was the first mammogram of both breasts since the one I’d had in February of last year. After they discovered the cancer, the mammograms were focused solely on my left breast. But today, they’d check both and it would serve as a baseline going forward.

The 15-20 minutes that I waited for the radiologist to read my tests were more like years. But then the nurse came in and said, “He said you’re all clear. We’ll see you next year.” What HAPPY, HAPPY words! I almost skipped home!

My very next thought was about the Medi-port. I left the dressing room and popped into Felicia’s office just down the hall to ask her if the Medi-port could come out. She explained that my oncologist would be the one deciding that, not the surgeon. Since I had an appointment with the surgeon scheduled for next week, she told me to contact the oncologist and ask if I could have it removed then. The oncologist gave approval for it to be removed (yippee-skippee!) but said the surgeon would have to schedule it.

So I called the surgeon’s office. They only remove ports in the afternoons, so they rescheduled my morning appointment from June 11th to an afternoon appointment on July 2nd. So I have to wait another month. But at least it is a light at the end of a very long tunnel, so I’ll not complain.

When Cancer Treatments End

The weekend after my last infusion, I slept. Probably too much. I slept 12 hours on Saturday (divided) and 10 hours on Sunday. Even as I write this, I still find I’m “winding down” from a 16 month journey. It may take awhile, so I’m giving myself grace. Interestingly, that’s the word the Lord gave me for this year, and I’m seeing it play out again and again in different areas of my life. Giving myself grace. I’m grateful for His grace. Grateful indeed.

Looking forward: I have an interview with WTTI Radio about The Pink Pages scheduled for Monday, June 10th. It will be a short recorded interview so I’ll post on social media when it goes live. Book signings are being scheduled now, too, so I’m excited about all of that. I’m not planning too far ahead - I like seeing blank calendar days, as odd as that sounds.

It’s great to be on this side of the journey. I’m grateful.

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