Hair today, gone tomorrow!

Last night I was about half way through reading Nordie's at Noon when I got to the chapter on recurrence. Did you know that once you're diagnosed with breast cancer, you're never officially pronounced cured? It's a really good indicator when you reach your 5 years anniversary without any recurrence, and even better once you get to 10, but you're never fully and officially cured.  

What kind of bullshit is that?!?

So I promptly stopped reading that chapter. And decided that today I would share with you some things that have made me smile lately (that chapter of NaNoon not being one of them.)

First, this dragonfly from San Diego. Yes, I know, it's physics or gravity or something that makes it balance practically anywhere. But to me, it's magic (kinda like the internet). Also the best $4.99 I've spent in a long time. And Mom, if you're reading, there just may be a white and pink one of these in your not-so-distant future.

This arrived in the mail from Aunt Judy in Valentine, Virginia while I was traveling last week. How can anything that comes out of Valentine, Virginia not make you smile?

My brother Dave brought this back from Hawaii to his daughter (my niece), Jordon, who then decided that I needed to have it. Think she's trying to tell me something?

Sometimes you just have to buy the rhinestone covered ballet flats from Target... particularly when they're on clearance for $13.78. What girl doesn't need sparkly shoes to wear to chemo?

Also, I wanted to share with you all a date to mark on your calendars. Saturday June 16th. That's the day of my big haircut, so Rob and I will be planning some kind of festivities. Most likely in the Fredericksburg area. Most likely with some sort of theme (crazy hats anyone?) And most definitely involving lots of food and appropriate amounts of libations.

Until then, the count-down to chemo begins. T minus 39 hours.

Whew!

Oh my gosh, where to start as I'm back from a whirlwind week of travel?!? How's about another photo recap, shall we?

The week started in San Diego at the 3rd annual COSC Conference. That's BGen Hedelund speaking. He's the head of Marine & Family Programs at HQMC and is my boss's, boss's boss. 

Each year we stay at the Town & Country, which (if you're in a tower room) looks a lot like this.

This nice thing about the Town & Country is that this is the view from the other side. The conference didn't leave much down time, but I still managed to sneak in a quick walk over to Fashion Valley...

... and reward myself for all of my hard work.

Then it was off to fabulous Las Vegas...

...to celebrate Kristen and Ryan's wedding.

They hosted a delicious rehearsal dinner at Trevi...

... and a beautiful ceremony in the Tuscana Chapel at Caesar's Palace (where personal photography was not permitted, but I was able to sneak in one quick pic.)

 

After the ceremony, Cleopatra and Caesar guided us to the reception.

At the reception, there was a lot this...

... some of this ...

... a little bit of that ...

... and a whole lotta this!

And you definitely can't forget this. How awesome are they?

 

And speaking of awesome, my sister-in-law is running the Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure in DC on Saturday June 2nd. Click HERE to find out more or to help their team raise funds.

As much as I would love to join their team, I will be taking it easy this weekend. My first round of TCH (not to be confused with THC, which sounds like a lot more fun) is on Thursday and my first date with Neulasta is Friday, so I'm expecting to feel like crap by Saturday. But keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't suck too badly!

Not to worry, though, Rob and I will be sure to keep everyone updated. All of your comments, emails, phone calls, texts, and cards are just incredible! I may not reply as quickly as I'd like, but please keep 'em coming. They seriously make my day and we can't thank you enough!

And last, but not least...

Thank you, Kristen and Ryan, for making us a part of your celebration. We are so, so happy for you and couldn't love you both more!

Have a happy Memorial Day and a great week everyone!

Hey you kids get off my lawn!

Okay. I have to take a minute to brag on Rob, who most of the time does not suck as a husband. He did an awesome job of turning our yard into a super comfy place for me to relax and enjoy the sunshine (but not too much sunshine) on the days when I won't be up for doing much else.

Here's the front

And here's the back

So glad I don't know how to operate the lawn mower

Hey you kids get off my lawn!

Check out more photos HERE.

So while he was busy with that, I was busy doing equally important things. Like getting a pedicure and drinking wine!

You see, there's this whole long list of things you're not supposed to do during chemo and pedicures are one of them. Also on that list? Eating meats and seafoods that are raw or undercooked. So I've been eating the heck out of some sushi this week! Too much direct sun is also a no-no.

But what's the really disappointing part?

We'll be staying at the Stratosphere, home of Sky Jump Las Vegas (seriously, watch this video, it's awesome). And my docs expect me to stay at a hotel that offers a 108 floor free-fall and not take advantage of it???

I can see my house from here!

Well... I wasn't actually told I couldn't, just that the harness might be a little uncomfortable on my port and that maybe I should save Sky Jump for another Vegas trip.

But you all won't tell on me....right?

Anyway, that's enough about landscaping and jumping off towers. It's time for s'more wine! We discovered a new (to us) vineyard out in Middleburg.

We hopped on the bike...

... and rode to Chrysalis Vineyard.

Where we saw some cows...

...listened to some jazz...

...and ate some barbeque.

This is my barbeque eatin' shirt

So that was our weekend. How was yours?

One of these things is not like the other

Just finished reading a pretty good paper on NIH's site about Breast Cancer Before Age 40 Years written by some folks out of UNC Chapel Hill. To save you the trouble of reading the entire thing, here are some of the highlights:

• Of all the new cases of breast cancer (the ACS estimated 230K for 2011), only 2.4% occur in women under 35 years. That's 1 in 1,500, if any of you out there are the bettin' kind.

Of that 2.4%...

• Twice as many of those women are African American
• Majority come from low socioeconomic status
• Majority also have a "positive family history of cancer"
• And "the combination of obesity, high energy (caloric) intake, and sedentary lifestyle"
• Many are early child-bearers
• Are "the triple-negative phenotype" (estrogen, progesterone, and HER2 negative)
• And are BRCA positive

 Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

Now is the time to start playing the lottery, 'cause I meet NONE of that criteria!


The paper goes on to support how important chemotherapy is to the under 40 crowd, because the risk of local recurrence (breast cancer coming back after surgery) is 9X higher and mortality is 39% more likely.

So now you're thinking... C'mon, Kiki, give me some good news. You always give me some good news. And you're right! The good news is, the lifetime breast cancer survival rate for women 30 - 34 years is 76%. Just a few percentage points lower than our more mature counterparts (84% for women 45 - 80 years).

Now who's bored with all this science stuff??? 

Me, too! Here's what we did this weekend...

We went to a beautiful wedding for our friends Candice & Andrew

Where I oh-so-cleverly camouflaged my latest accessory (i.e. mediport) with this fabulous necklace

Where we also  enjoyed the company of these fine people

And danced the night away with the beautiful bride

Then we celebrated Mother's Day with Mom by taking her out to Giorgio's and forcing her to give up her old laptop for this brand new one so that she can actually get online and read this blog.

Wanna see more pics from this weekend? Check 'em out HERE! Wanna see which states have the highest incidence of breast cancer (sorry California and DC)? Check out the American Cancer Society's Breast Cancer Facts & Figures 2011 - 2012.

Have a great week!

The funny thing about chemo

Well it's been kinda quiet here on the blogger front. Mostly because I don't really have anything new and exciting for you, and partly because I started my new job this week and have been asleep by 9 each night.

I do have a few appointments scheduled for next week. A dental cleaning, because they recommend fixin' yo' grill before chemo (and because it was already scheduled 6 months in advance.) A follow up with the doc who put in my port, to make sure I haven't been main-lining vodka through it (vodka is sterile, right?). PS - this thing still frickin' hurts after a week and has left an awesome green bruise. And an echocardiogram. The funny thing about chemo is... the docs require lots and lots of tests to make sure you're healthy enough for them to start poisoning you.

Other than routine bloodwork (to make sure my white blood cell counts haven't nose-dived), that should be the last of the testing for now. Then I'm looking forward to the COSC Conference right around the corner (helloooooo San Diego) followed by Kristen and Ryan's wedding (what happens in Vegas...).

Then chemo is scheduled to start on the 31st of May.

I'll be on a 3-week cycle and will receive my treatment calendar at the first appointment. I'm only permitted one supporter at a time, so for everyone who has offered to give Rob a break and come pass the time with me...

1. You're awesome, thank you so much.
2. I'll post the calendar as soon as I have it.
3. In chemo class we were told to bring snacks for our supporters. But I've decided that since I'm providing the poison, you can provide the snacks.

Until then, have a great weekend! We're off to Sugar Loaf, MD tomorrow for a wedding ('tis the season) and brunch on Sunday for Mother's Day. But first! Dinner with the Cantrells at The Bavarian Chef... which I'm pretty sure is German for OMG Yum!

Also kinda like the Swedish Chef... but throws things a lot less.

Have a great weekend and a Happy Mother's Day!

Keep on keepin' on

No new information today, really. Just a couple of quick updates (i.e. things I meant to post sooner but forgot.)

#1 Got a call from Grace the Genetic Counselor last Thursday. The gene test was... negative! Yay! So I don't have the BRCA gene mutation. Which is great. But also means that my diagnosis is just that much more of a fluke.

#2 The types of chemo drugs I'll be starting are Taxotere, Carboplatin, Herceptin, and Neulasta.

#3 I took most of the dressing off my port last night, and it doesn't look at all bad. See?

Okay, it's still really red because I just took the bandage off. It did not come off willingly.

Extreme Close Up! See that bump right there? That's braile for OUCH!

I'm a little brain-fried right now from spending the entire day in HR transferring all of my employee records to the new position. But I did get to spend about an hour today with my new team and it already feels like home. Everyone is in high-gear getting ready for the COSC Conference in San Diego at the end of the month. Hopefully I'll get the okay to travel. Fingers crossed!

If it's too loud, you're too old.

Last night we ventured about a mile away from the house to a place called Brothers, where the food is bad and the music is loud. I don't think that's their official slogan, but it should. But like I said, it's about a mile from the house and there's no cover to hear the band.

Mynx was playing. Let me tell you a little something about Mynx. First, their lead singer looks exactly like the old lady from Poltergeist.

This is the band's MySpace picture from 3 years ago. It's almost as crappy a picture as the one I took.

See?

She looks just like Poltergeist, right? Second, that is the last smack I will ever talk about that woman 'cause man can she sing! Jimmy Hendrix, 4 Non Blondes, Carrie Underwood.... she nailed 'em all. And was awesome.

So some drinks were had, and more photos were taken. Not very good photos, but photos none-the-less. 

This is Alyssa on my right (your left), who is fabulous and usually a lot less squinty. And Stephanie on my left (your right) with whom I have a who can wear the tallest shoes contest.

That's Chris on Rob's left (your right), who is Alyssa's fiance (though they hate that term and prefer "Jay Z" and "Beyonce") and who is also usually a lot less squinty. And Chuck on Rob's right (your left), who is Stephanie's husband. He and Rob will make a contest out of just about anything.

So happy Sunday to everyone. It's 11:30 and I'm still in my pajamas... and it feels amazing. First day in the new job tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Feliz Cumpleaños a ti

I'm not going to sugar coat it; yesterday sucked. We left the house for Alexandria around 7:30 and got home twelve hours later. But with Chipotle in hand, so it wasn't all bad.

We started with Chemo Class, where we learned more about white blood cells than either of us ever cared to know. But had to leave early to meet with the surgical oncologist. So we missed all the cool stuff in chemo class like about when your hair starts to release. Anyway, meeting with the surgical oncologist went well. She explained that chemo-before-surgery vs. surgery-before-chemo yields the same survival rates, and there are pro and cons with both methods. Team Cancer Sucks decided that chemo-before-surgery is going to be the best plan of attack, because it will make me a better candidate for a skin-sparing mastectomy.

I can deal with loosing my hair. I can handle loosing my boobs. But having skin grafted from another part of my body in order to make fake nipples, and then having those fake nipples tattooed so that they look like nipples....well, that's just where I draw the line.

Anyway... after all this nipple talk, it was back to Alexandria Hospital (which looked awfully familiar since we'd just spent the prior day there) to get my mediport. But not without a quick trip to the UPS in Springfield first....

This just flew in from Washington state... and boy are its arms tired.

So we picked up Rob's birthday present and then went to Alexandria Hospital. After a quick nap (i.e. twilight sedation), I woke up with a cool new chest port.

I'll add actual pictures later, mine's still bandaged up.  Until then, I"ll be figuring out how to mainline vodka through this thing.

Life was grand until the sedation wore off (sitting on 95 for 90 minutes has that effect)... and then it started to suck with a capital "S". But it was less sucky this morning. It's still very sore, but what ev. 

Now we're off to (as Alyssa calls it) a pity party with a lot of booze... a no pity. Actually, it's a "Happy Birthday Rob / Congratulations Alyssa & Chris / Cancer Sucks" kind of celebration.

Birthday boy!

So happy Cinco de Mayo everyone! Have an extra glass of sangria for me. And thanks for all the comments...I am soooooo feelin' the love!

Metronome

Actual conversation between me and Rob today.

Me: That's the last time you're going to mention cadaver nipples.

Rob: No, this is NOT the last time I'm going to talk about cadaver nipples...'cause that's the name of my new band.

Maybe you had to be there.

Today was another marathon 'o appointments. Starting with a chest CT scan. Good news! It was all clear. Then a quick trip over to nuclear medicine to get injected with the dye for a bone density scan. Next up was the medical oncologist. And that's where things got wacky.

Stay with me on this one. So you remember the goods news from the other day that my cancer cells are estrogen, progesterone, and HER2 positive? Well, the medical oncologist really liked that. Going so far as to say that if she had breast cancer, that's the kind of cancer she would want to have. Kind of a strange thing to say, but okay. Anyway, she really liked my positive cells because there are some really good chemo drugs that will kick their asses. Her recommendation: chemo before surgery.

Six treatments of chemo, with three weeks in between each treatment, for a total of about four and a half months. I'll have to post the details of the specific types of chemo later, as I'm trusting my memory right now and my notes are elsewhere. But they're supposed to be fairly mild, as chemo drugs go. The typical side effects are still to be expected. Fatigue, hair loss, nausea... a few others I'm forgetting. I can expect my hair to release just before the second treatment. The goods news? I get to keep my eye lashes and eye brows. Good thing, I just had them waxed.

So the medical oncologist moves pretty fast and furious. I finished up my bone density scan and got s'more blood work. Tomorrow Rob and I are scheduled for a two-hour chemo class and I'm supposed to have my mediport... installed? That can't be the right word. You get my point. But not without first meeting with the surgical oncologist again to make sure everyone on Team Cancer Sucks is on the same page.

Umm...what else? Oh, yeah. And I have to go for an echocardiogram sometime in the next week or so. I think that's it.

Anyway, these new appointments tomorrow are putting a major cramp in our road tripping plans. And I'm thinking we may have to make our celebratory plans locally. So who's up for some Cinco de Rob-o birthday celebrating on Saturday?

And now... your joke of the day:

Q: What do you call a short guy with a manicure? 

A: A metronome.

Rob had me laughing inappropriately loudly in the hospital at that one today. Enjoy!  

In The Middle

Today is a little bittersweet, as it's my last day as the IB FRO. One of the things I'll miss most here is the thought-provoking conservation. Like about white people peanut butter. Or today's discussion about theme songs. 

I walked in on the middle of the conversation, but for some reason everyone in the S-1 was YouTubing theme songs for each other. So I decided today my theme song would be The Middle.

It just takes some time but everything, everything will be alright, alright.

Off to the oncologist this afternoon. More updates later. Have a great day!

All roads lead to home

If you're ever given a choice between a core needle biopsy and a fine needle aspiration (FNA), go for the FNA! Or, if a FNA isn't an option for you, be prepared for the very special kind of suck that is about to be bestowed upon you.

I had a core needle biopsy almost three weeks ago. And was entirely unprepared for just how unpleasant a procedure that was going to be. Fortunately, the two very kind and very caring medical professionals showed me great compassion as they sliced, poked, and prodded.

So I had my game face on yesterday when going for another biopsy. This was to check out my left axillary lymph nodes. The bad news is, there are cancer cells in the lymph nodes under my left arm. The good news? The docs were able to figure that out using a very tiny, painless needle.

Yesterday was also the meeting with the reconstructive plastic surgeon. According to the surgical oncologist, I'm probably not a very good candidate for breast conservation therapy (lumpectomy + radation) due to the size and location of the mass. Yes, even with breast cancer, I'm an over achiever. So it looks like mastectomy is the way to go. Unilateral or bilateral....decisions, decisions. What's the good news there you ask? The plastic surgeon can start reconstruction in the same surgery as the mastectomy.

So there are two roads to reconstruction. One involves submuscular saline or silicone implants. These supposedly look, feel, and move like OEM. But should be replaced every 10 years or so. The other option involves a bonus tummy tuck. Why? you ask. Because they transplant tissue from your abdomen to your boobs. I did not at all mind being told that I'm not a good candidate for this surgery because I don't have enough tissue to transplant.

It's really hard to get upset about all of these doctor's appointments when they all tell you how young, fit and intelligent you are. Okay, so maybe I made up that last part. But they all do say I'm young and in good shape. Well, except for the whole cancer thing.

And now I've got two appointment-free days. Tonight is the last night of the Spring semester for both me and Rob. He has a final exam and I have an asset-based community analysis presentation to give. We're both signed up for two Summer classes each, but that will most likely be scaled back, depending on what my surgery and chemo schedule will be.

Speaking of chemo, Thursday we meet with the medical oncologist for a consultation on chemo and hormone therapies. My cancer cells are both hormone receptor postive and HER2 postive. Again with the over achieving. The good thing about cells that are hormone receptor positive is that you can essentially starve them by taking an anti-estrogen medication. But being HER2 positive means that chemo is pretty much unavoidable.

Thursday's doc (who is a CUA alumn, can I get a hell yeah) will be able to suggest whether we can shrink the mass with chemo prior to surgery - making me a better candidate for nipple conservation (sorry coudn't find a cool link for that one. Also, I'm starting to feel like a national park with of all this conservation talk.) She'll also talk with us about hormone therapy.

I think the upside of having chemo will be that my hair will be too busy falling out (actually, it's called releasing) for me to grow a mustache from all the anti-estrogen stuff.

Thursday also means a CT scan and bone density scan. <insert something witty here for me>

And then... Friday is the grand finale of appointments with the surgical oncologist. From that appointment, we should have a game plan and know what the summer is going to look like. But that's not the good news. The good new is... we also leave for Myrtle Beach on Friday for a most excellent birthday celebration.



Happy Birthdays Monica and Rob!
Bring on the fiesta!