Monday, January 22 – Appointments…

I slept until 6 AM this morning, probably because I stayed up until the kids left last night. I was tired and was seriously thinking of just kissing them all good night and heading to bed, but I toughed it out.

One of my sons from another mother stopped by on his way to the “pot shop” to see if I was doing alright, and if I needed anything. So sweet of him! I’m still dealing with the ache across my shoulders from the Taxol, so asked him to pick me up a small bottle of CBD oil in a 10 to 1 mixture to see if that would help. He did and talked to the folks at the shop and they said the best pain relief comes in the 1:1 ratio oil. Not sure I want to go that far. I am testing the 10:1 for right now to see if that provides me the relief from this ache. The heating pad helps, but I’m also having hot flashes throughout the day and a few at night, add in the heating pad and I get really HOT.

This morning was my appointment with the oncology surgeon. My surgeon is 8 months pregnant! If I am able to complete the next 5 treatments my target surgery dates would be right before she returns from maternity leave. If my chemo gets cut short, I am definitely looking at surgery prior to her return to work. She decided to refer me to her colleague to be on the safe side. In the meantime she has all the current notes from Dr. Sikaria and will work with Dr. Goldberg and her colleague who will be taking over my surgery, Dr. Ali-Jones, to get my surgery scheduled.

I learned today that they usually prefer to have the plastic surgery 3 to 4 days after my lumpectomy, to be sure clean margins were obtained before the clean up and reduction/lift on the other side to match. Target surgery is 4 to 6 weeks after the end of chemo. Right now my last chemo treatment is February 21, that puts surgery between March 21st and April 4th. I might just be able to go up north to celebrate Passover with my family!

I have another follow up appointment with my new surgeon – Dr. Ali-Jones in two weeks. This way we have a chance to meet each other before my actual surgery. I have to remember to ask her if my port will be removed prior to surgery or if this is something she can do during my lumpectomy.

Hubby was sad that we will not have Dr. Madorin to complete my surgery, but I have heard great things about all the surgeons in this group, so I am not worried.

I also had an acupuncture appointment today and Homa and I discussed the fact that I am still experiencing the numbing/tingling of neuropathy. I am not sure if it is any better than it was before when I was getting both Taxol and Carboplatin. This, along with the fact that my digestion is so sssssllllloooooow was addressed in today’s session. As for my digestion, hours after I eat I am still feeling food in my stomach, and I eat much smaller meals now. Homa said it’s because my stomach lining has been disturbed by the chemo. Once I stop chemo it will grow back and my digestion will get better. I sure hope so! I am tired of taking two Prilosec every morning, popping a few Pepcid during the day to deal with GERD, and two Zantac every night and still having to chew on a Pepcid or two in the middle of the night.

Tomorrow is blood work for two doctors (Chemo and GP for Thyroid), and the ultrasound on Blink to see what it looks like.

Life is waiting on my food to digest