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My Spiderman is going to start getting some serious action because we have officially entered the next phase of treatment. Radiation oncologist appointment this morning...BRING ON THE SUPERPOWERS.
Anyway, good news and bad news. Bad news first to get that shit out of the way. I got a scrape on my left hand a few weeks ago, following which my arm started to feel heavy and tingly, and then in the last few days there's been tightening and pain at the shoulder, elbow, and wrist especially when I extend the arm. Official diagnosis as of this morning. Lymphedema, which I was really hoping to avoid. Basically when you remove a big honking chunk of the lymph nodes in the axillary, the body can lose the ability to process lymph fluid through the arm. It builds up causing swelling and pain, and can be a breeding ground for infection. Any cuts, pressure etc on the arm can kickstart it. Consider mine kickstarted. I will have to wear a compression sleeve, and do physical therapy to treat it. And...unfortunately once you do have it, it is chronic and lifelong. If I am lucky and physical therapy goes well, I will only have to wear the compression sleeve sometimes during flare ups and plane rides. If I am unlucky, I'll have to make it a permanent fashion statement. Perhaps I will bedazzle mine. Whatever...
Good news! My radiation oncologist ROCKS SO HARD YOU GUYS. I liked her immediately, and not only was she incredibly thorough in her exam and in explaining stuff, she is right on the same page as me about being super aggressive. There is some controversy over how aggressive to be with two affected nodes, however the size of mine, plus the triple negative, plus my age puts me in a precarious position...and I was concerned I'd have to push. Heh, no worries, since she immediately started quoting the studies I had read about and was going to bring up to convince me to go aggressive. She is of the 'blast the shit out of that motherfucker anywhere it might rear it's head' school of thought. \o/ \o/ So we are doing the chest wall, the clavicle nodes, and the skin. Back to the bad news, all this frying is almost certainly going to make my lymphedema worse. She thinks it's worth the trade off. So do I.
My favorite moment of the consult, however, is when she was talking about how they take the initial measurements and do all sorts of physics and computer modeling to plan the path of the radiation properly...and her face just lit up and she went into lala geekhappyland about fighting cancer with math, and in this really excited voice goes "This is the REALLY COOL..." and then kind of trailed off when she remembered she was talking to a patient and finished "...um, part...for doctors" apologetically. I'm sure there are patients for which this would not be awesome. I wanted to HUG HER. That was the face of a woman who loves getting up in the morning to play with her shiny toys that kill cancer with math. I WANT HER ON MY SIDE.
So, and...next week the set up appointment. Week after that we start irradiation the shit out of yours truly. Six weeks, five days a week.
Anyway, good news and bad news. Bad news first to get that shit out of the way. I got a scrape on my left hand a few weeks ago, following which my arm started to feel heavy and tingly, and then in the last few days there's been tightening and pain at the shoulder, elbow, and wrist especially when I extend the arm. Official diagnosis as of this morning. Lymphedema, which I was really hoping to avoid. Basically when you remove a big honking chunk of the lymph nodes in the axillary, the body can lose the ability to process lymph fluid through the arm. It builds up causing swelling and pain, and can be a breeding ground for infection. Any cuts, pressure etc on the arm can kickstart it. Consider mine kickstarted. I will have to wear a compression sleeve, and do physical therapy to treat it. And...unfortunately once you do have it, it is chronic and lifelong. If I am lucky and physical therapy goes well, I will only have to wear the compression sleeve sometimes during flare ups and plane rides. If I am unlucky, I'll have to make it a permanent fashion statement. Perhaps I will bedazzle mine. Whatever...
Good news! My radiation oncologist ROCKS SO HARD YOU GUYS. I liked her immediately, and not only was she incredibly thorough in her exam and in explaining stuff, she is right on the same page as me about being super aggressive. There is some controversy over how aggressive to be with two affected nodes, however the size of mine, plus the triple negative, plus my age puts me in a precarious position...and I was concerned I'd have to push. Heh, no worries, since she immediately started quoting the studies I had read about and was going to bring up to convince me to go aggressive. She is of the 'blast the shit out of that motherfucker anywhere it might rear it's head' school of thought. \o/ \o/ So we are doing the chest wall, the clavicle nodes, and the skin. Back to the bad news, all this frying is almost certainly going to make my lymphedema worse. She thinks it's worth the trade off. So do I.
My favorite moment of the consult, however, is when she was talking about how they take the initial measurements and do all sorts of physics and computer modeling to plan the path of the radiation properly...and her face just lit up and she went into lala geekhappyland about fighting cancer with math, and in this really excited voice goes "This is the REALLY COOL..." and then kind of trailed off when she remembered she was talking to a patient and finished "...um, part...for doctors" apologetically. I'm sure there are patients for which this would not be awesome. I wanted to HUG HER. That was the face of a woman who loves getting up in the morning to play with her shiny toys that kill cancer with math. I WANT HER ON MY SIDE.
So, and...next week the set up appointment. Week after that we start irradiation the shit out of yours truly. Six weeks, five days a week.