Scan Results

My onc. called last night and left messages on both my home phone and my cell. Unfortunately I didn't hear my cell because I was at a restaurant with Rich, Jaren, and Alyssa. My ct scans and bone scans were all clear! So no cancer found anywhere else in my body! Finally some good news! Last week I was nervous about the scans,because everything seemed to be going wrong, but after much prayer, I hardly even thought about them after they were done. God gave me His peace! I didn't expect to know the results until I saw my doc next Wed.
One thing I am not sure about is whether or not a tiny amount of breast cancer would have shown up or not. Since I didn't have clear margins on the tissue removed in the lumpectomy, there might still be some cancer left in my breast. Hmmm, I wonder if I could have another MRI, and if that would show small amounts of cancer left. More questions to ask my onc. when I see him on Wed. I have a list of questions I keep adding to!
Yesterday was a long day at the hospital. We got there at 11:15 and went to the Breast Health Center to have my drain removed. Not sure how much I want to say about that...let's just say I'm one of the unlucky ones that it hurt real bad. I guess it doesn't hurt everyone that bad. I took a Percocet before I went, but that didn't help any. Just made me feel really woozy after the drain came out. It burned for several minutes after. Then it felt ok the rest of the day, and even with all the pain, I'm still glad to have it out!! Although it worries me that if I have a mastectomy I'll have to have a drain (maybe more than one) again. There's got to be a more humane way to do that!
After that I went to imaging and they started me drinking the yucky stuff for the ct scans. They also accessed my port and gave me an injection of some nuclear stuff for the bone scan. While I was waiting to finish the drink (it takes an hour to drink it all), we went to the cancer center to get my blood drawn for the labs my onc. wanted before I see him. It was nice to see and get a hug from my nurse Andrea! Then I had the ct scans--took about 5 minutes. I usually feel a few minutes of intense nausea after the test. The tech slowed down the contrast stuff they gave me through my port, and that may have helped a little. The feeling passed after a few minutes, then I was able to get up and go off to my bone scan! For the bone scan I just had to lie still for about 20 minutes while this huge machine moved slowly over me. Its the same machine that did my MUGA heart scan earlier this week.
I've got all my blood test results too already. Isn't it amazing how they can get all these tests done so fast these days? I can just look online and see all the results as soon as my doc releases them. My blood tests look even better than they did a few weeks ago at my pre-op. My platelets are up more and my hemoglobin is 12.5--finally in the normal range after being below normal since my colon resection over a year ago.
I was able to take the dressing off my drain site today, and tomorrow I can shower. Today I took a quick bath and washed my hair under the faucet.
I am having some occasional sharp pains in my armpit area and at the incision site, which is totally normal. The nurse said they call them "zingers". They get a little annoying, but not too bad. Still have a lot of soreness and stiffness in my upper arm and shoulder. I've been doing my exercises! And, of course, my breast is still bruised and sore, but that's not too bad either.
I think I'm going to stay home from church tomorrow. Its my last day before going back to work and I really just want to lie in bed and read the paper! We are having a picnic at the park nearby about 12:30. We always have our Mother's Day picnic there, and we always freeze! Hopefully it won't be too windy. Temp is supposed to get to around 60. And I think its supposed to be sunny.
Well, this week should prove interesting! Hopefully by the end of it I'll know what type of surgery I'm going to have and when, and when I can start chemo.
Keep me in your prayers!
Tina