I met with Dr. Heithold today for a pre-surgical consult. He's the general surgeon that will be doing my surgery to insert the port catheter IV thingy (like my technical name for it!?)
He went over the procedure and even brought in one of the things to show Lee and I what it looks like. It will be completely under the skin, on my left side of my upper chest, right under my collarbone. In the center there's this "gel-like" feeling pad with little nobby things so when I go for chemo the nurses will be able to find it very easily and know where to insert the needle.
The doctor was going out of town later this week and my oncologist wanted this done before I meet with him on Monday... so I have surgery scheduled for tomorrow afternoon at Hutcheson to get this thing put in place. I can't eat or drink anything after midnight tonight and the surgery won't be until 3:00 or so tomorrow afternoon. I'm going to be starving by tomorrow night! Luckily I ate a huge dinner fairly late this evening so I hopefully won't be ready to chew my own arm off tomorrow morning! I have to have a ride home from the hospital, obviously, since I'll be put under with a light anasthesia... so I'm sure Lee will have a good ole time messing with me and my drugged-up, groggy self tomorrow.
I'll keep you all posted on how it goes and I'll get a picture of it in my chest to show off what it looks like. It's the hottest accessory to have, and, I guarantee, you'll all want to be sporting one of your own after you see mine!!
As always, thanks so much for all the prayers, cards, comments, e-mails, phone calls, etc. It means so much to know I have so many friends rooting for me during this difficult time. I love you all.
Showing posts with label appointments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label appointments. Show all posts
Monday, December 15, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
So many appointments...
Gretchen from Dr. Voelzke's office (my oncologist) called me this morning with all the dates and times for the procedures discussed yesterday. There are so many different procedures to get done in the next week. It's pretty overwhelming, but has to be done.
Monday, the 15th, I go for a consult visit with the surgeon who will be doing my port/catheter connected to the main vein in my chest. He won't be doing the port that day; he likes to meet with the patient first. Gretchen said that she told him I needed this inserted before the 22nd since that's when I meet next with my oncologist. So I'm thinking I'll have the port put in sometime shortly after that by the end of the week.
Wednesday, the 17th, will be a really long, grueling day for me. I have to be at Memorial Hospital at 6:45 a.m. for hospital registration and then will undergo the rest of the preliminary tests and the biopsy needed to begin chemotherapy. First, I'll have the PET scan so I won't be able to eat or drink anything after midnight Tuesday night. After that, I'll get the Pulmonary Function Test to check my lungs since they'll need to be monitored along the way since one of the chemo drugs has a tendency to cause lung damage over time so they'll be monitoring them closely. When that's done, I'll head to the Pathology Department for the bone marrow biopsy which I am so not looking forward to. When that's over, I'll have an echocardiogram done, again to monitor my heart in the same way as the lungs since one of the other chemo drugs can cause tissue damage to the heart over time.
Friday, the 19th, I have an appointment that was set up a few weeks ago with my primary care doctor just as a follow-up to the blood work and things he had done then. I'm going to call the office and see if this appointment is necessary and may end up cancelling it. I don't think there's really much for my main doc to do at this point since the Hodgkin's is being cared for by my oncologist. But I'll check with them just in case to see if he needs/wants to see me... he might, just to check on my general well-being while going through all this.
Monday, the 22nd, is when I'll meet with Dr. Voelzke again to go over the findings from the tests perfored at the hospital and then we'll discuss and plan my chemotherapy treatments and when they'll begin. The chemo could start as early as the 23rd, but I'm hoping to see if he'll let me start the therapy the following week, after the Christmas holiday is over. I'd really like to enjoy Christmas with my family without fear of being sick from my first round of chemo.
I've been "window shopping" online and found a few wigs that I think I like. They are styles that look similar to my real hair. I'd like to have a wig ordered and in hand before I lose my hair and really feel like a freak.
Today has been all right. I woke up early after not getting much sleep since Gretchen called pretty early. After I spoke with her, I couldn't go back to sleep since my mind was reeling with thoughts of all these tests and things and I had a little breakdown. I cried and called my mom just really upset. I want to be strong and I'm generally a very independent person. It feels so out of character for me to ask for help, so I know I'll struggle a bit with asking the family to help with Logan and other things around the house once I get treatments and have sick days and weaker moments. My mom told me it's okay to not be so strong, and it's okay to ask for help. That's what they're all there for. My grandma said that cancer is a "family thing", something that affects the whole family, not just the person diagnosed. She's right. I'll have to learn to let my guard down and just ask for and accept the help. Lucky for me, I have the greatest family in the world, and a loving, supportive husband and beautiful son to keep me motivated to fight to live. That's all the motivation I need, just looking at my little boy, knowing I can and will fight this for him.
Thank you so much for your prayers and good thoughts in this time when I need them so very much.
Monday, the 15th, I go for a consult visit with the surgeon who will be doing my port/catheter connected to the main vein in my chest. He won't be doing the port that day; he likes to meet with the patient first. Gretchen said that she told him I needed this inserted before the 22nd since that's when I meet next with my oncologist. So I'm thinking I'll have the port put in sometime shortly after that by the end of the week.
Wednesday, the 17th, will be a really long, grueling day for me. I have to be at Memorial Hospital at 6:45 a.m. for hospital registration and then will undergo the rest of the preliminary tests and the biopsy needed to begin chemotherapy. First, I'll have the PET scan so I won't be able to eat or drink anything after midnight Tuesday night. After that, I'll get the Pulmonary Function Test to check my lungs since they'll need to be monitored along the way since one of the chemo drugs has a tendency to cause lung damage over time so they'll be monitoring them closely. When that's done, I'll head to the Pathology Department for the bone marrow biopsy which I am so not looking forward to. When that's over, I'll have an echocardiogram done, again to monitor my heart in the same way as the lungs since one of the other chemo drugs can cause tissue damage to the heart over time.
Friday, the 19th, I have an appointment that was set up a few weeks ago with my primary care doctor just as a follow-up to the blood work and things he had done then. I'm going to call the office and see if this appointment is necessary and may end up cancelling it. I don't think there's really much for my main doc to do at this point since the Hodgkin's is being cared for by my oncologist. But I'll check with them just in case to see if he needs/wants to see me... he might, just to check on my general well-being while going through all this.
Monday, the 22nd, is when I'll meet with Dr. Voelzke again to go over the findings from the tests perfored at the hospital and then we'll discuss and plan my chemotherapy treatments and when they'll begin. The chemo could start as early as the 23rd, but I'm hoping to see if he'll let me start the therapy the following week, after the Christmas holiday is over. I'd really like to enjoy Christmas with my family without fear of being sick from my first round of chemo.
I've been "window shopping" online and found a few wigs that I think I like. They are styles that look similar to my real hair. I'd like to have a wig ordered and in hand before I lose my hair and really feel like a freak.
Today has been all right. I woke up early after not getting much sleep since Gretchen called pretty early. After I spoke with her, I couldn't go back to sleep since my mind was reeling with thoughts of all these tests and things and I had a little breakdown. I cried and called my mom just really upset. I want to be strong and I'm generally a very independent person. It feels so out of character for me to ask for help, so I know I'll struggle a bit with asking the family to help with Logan and other things around the house once I get treatments and have sick days and weaker moments. My mom told me it's okay to not be so strong, and it's okay to ask for help. That's what they're all there for. My grandma said that cancer is a "family thing", something that affects the whole family, not just the person diagnosed. She's right. I'll have to learn to let my guard down and just ask for and accept the help. Lucky for me, I have the greatest family in the world, and a loving, supportive husband and beautiful son to keep me motivated to fight to live. That's all the motivation I need, just looking at my little boy, knowing I can and will fight this for him.
Thank you so much for your prayers and good thoughts in this time when I need them so very much.
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