March 3 Reflections

This past Thursday, I had scheduled the  port placement and tumor clip placement at Brookwood.  It wasn't until Wednesday afternoon that I got the appointment for the next morning early.  By the time 30 minutes had gone by, I had the call to come in even earlier because they had some cancellations due to the severe icing that we were expecting.

So, Thursday morning, Bill and I were up very early to take our time to get to the hospital.  Family Promise families were at the church, and with school cancelled for the day, We had to make some quick decisions about who, what and how the families would stay at church.  Carla Palmer was fantastic making phone calls.  Lynne Beckham was a lifesaver being able to go in early Thursday, and ultimately stayed for about 24 hours making sure the families had good food and supervision. The volunteers that were able to make it in and help out were great.  Carla and Malinda worked hard to get this off my worrying plate.  So thankful for that.

We got to the hospital just fine, and were taken back pretty quickly.  Things worked out well for Bill to be with me all morning...due to the weather, UAB finally closed and the orchestra rehearsal was cancelled for that morning AND the evening.  Another gratitude!

I was put completely out.  When I woke, Bill was brought back pretty quickly.  So, the port got put in well.  It's a little bit bigger scar than I thought it would be, and more sore!

The unexpected twist was that Dr. Bullock said when he went in to take a biopsy of the sentinel lymph node, he found that the tumor was encapsulated within the lymph node.  He took the entire node out and it's been sent for a frozen dissection and a regular (?) dissection.  Results may come in Monday or Tuesday, hopefully.  From what Bill said, Dr. Bullock was pretty surprised to find it that way.  We don't know what it means.  A little unnerving.

We got home around 2:30 and I just sat in my comfy chair with my feet up.  So nice to have a home where I can be comfortable.

Two scars...about 2 inches, each.  One is on my right front side, and the other is on my left side (node) lower almost under my arm.

Yesterday was Friday.  I realized that I really didn't want to wait the entire weekend to hear from Dr. Nabell.  Monday I have scheduled the two scans in the afternoon.

I got on the very cool MY UAB MEDICINE PATIENT PORTAL.  I was able to send Dr. Nabell a message checking that she had heard from Dr. Bullock and what concerns she might have.  I was so grateful that she called me back before the day was out!

She basically said not to assume anything before information was received, and that the current track is the right track until tests show that it's not the track to be on.  She did ask for me to go to Brookwood to pick up the mammography and ultrasound info on disk so their radiologist could go over it.  She will also add an additional mammography scan.  If there is lymph  involvement, it's more important to have all the scans, so Monday will go as scheduled.  I will bring the Brookwood disk to UAB when I get the scans.

So more waiting while hoping that we can get a move on next week with actual treatment.  Rachel and Caden have come to help around the house a couple of times and it's been awesome to have them around.  They make me happy!  Bill has also been great, but that is no surprise!