When I had my surgery back in September the doctor had to remove two lymph nodes to determine if my cancer had spread. Thankfully, my lymph nodes were completely clean!
What I never realized was that removing two lymph nodes would leave me with a reason for a medical alert bracelet!
Let me start with a brief description of what the lymph nodes are. All throughout your body you have these bean-shaped nodes. They are part of the immune system and act as a filter. The lymphatic system also contains white blood cells that help your body fight infection. Everyone has a different number of lymph nodes under their arm. The breast empties fluids through what is know as a gateway. One fluids pass this gateway they enter the lymphatic system and circulate through the body. Just like bad cells in the lymphatic system there are white blood cells that circulate through the body to fight infection. The lymphatic system is critical to immune health! It is why when you are sick you might have swelling in your neck, under your arm, or anywhere else that infection is present.
I recently learned that my cancer had spread to within the lymphatic system of my breast, but never made it to the “gateway”. The cancer was in route to the exit and has it gotten through the “gate” could have quickly spread through my entire body. This is one of the reasons my oncology team has been so aggressive in my treatment. They want to make completely sure nothing got through.
With the removal of the two lymph nodes under my right arm, I am at a greater risk of lymphedema or swelling associated with a blockage is the lymphatic system. This can be painful and cause circulation issues. Due to this risk, I cannot have any type of tourniquet on my right arm. They cannot use that arm to draw blood, give shots, or check mu blood pressure. I am able to tell doctors this, but if something were to happen, medical staff would need to be aware. For this reason I ordered a fun medical alert bracelet.
Before my surgery I had no idea this was a thing for breast cancer patients., cancer patients in general. I am not a medical professional and Googled info to write this blog. This is my layman’s understanding!
Did you know this was a thing or did you learn something new? What else would you like me to talk about in future blogs. Comment below and let me know!
This week has been one of the best in many months. I have a lot to share and a bad habit of rambling so I will try to make this a comfortable length to prevent reader fatigue Ha!
A little back story, I have gone back to work. A few weeks ago I went back to my comfort zone and started doing transcription again. It wasn’t something I ever intended to go back to, but it worked for my schedule, chemo side effects, and childcare purposes. It’s been going okay, just slow at the start which is to be expected. I am only working part-time as to know get burned out again!
Then an opportunity arose that I was not expecting. I became aware of a position at our church and decided to step out of my comfort zone and show interest in the position. Taking a position that I consider a stepping stone to my dreams. I accepted a part-time position working alongside a lady I dearly love and who is easily in the “my person category”. I have no doubt that this job will be incredible as the team I get to work with is beyond good at what they do. I am blessed to be able to be a part of growing the Kingdom and pouring love and truth into the children at our church. I am officially the assistant to our children’s pastor! To the person leaving the position and giving me this opportunity, I am so sad to see you go and I pray I can do this job as well as you have for nearly a decade!
As if this wasn’t exciting enough, today was MY LAST CHEMO. When I started back at the first of October, March seemed so far away. There were times I didn’t think I would make it. I felt horrible. I got depressed. I was on a rollercoaster ride with no end in sight. But God and many people got me to today.
The day started as always, with blood work. I had been so tired from working the past two days I crashed hard last night and completely forgot to take my night before steroids. Woke up this morning late and ran out the door without taking it…realized on the way to the clinic. Thankfully I was scheduled to see my medical oncologist after my labs were drawn so I informed her and she wasn’t concerned. Whew! I hadn’t messed up to the point of having to reschedule! I was also concerned that mu extreme fatigue might indicate low blood counts…Please no! I wanted to get this treatment over with!
My lab work came back as well as can be expected after 15 total rounds of chemo. I was given the green light to proceed with the last infusion! We discussed how I was doing. The neuropathy has increased the last few weeks and I pray it resolves quickly once treatment is complete. I have been dealing with allergy issues and drainage (Who in Texas hasn’t). Out of an abundance of caution and to make sure I am healthy before radiation begins, the doctor called in a prescription to clear up the sinus issues. With that, I was wished good luck and sent to the infusion waiting area. Below is a picture of me in the doctor’s office showing off my last day of chemo outfit. The shirt was made by a friend, Nikki. Thank you! I got so many compliments. The tiara was an amazon find. Chris questioned why I needed a tiara and I said because I do. That was the end of the discussion! Ha!
Of course the shirt needed bling! Glitter is my second favorite color. (Pink is tops!)The tiara…and hair!
There was a slight hiccup once in the infusion room. When you are using a port for treatment they like to see a slight blood return before they start infusion. This shows them the port is operating and in the vein properly. For the last few weeks my port has been giving us problems and not showing any blood return. Because I could taste the saline as it was being ran through to flush the port, we proceeded. Today, my nurse was not comfortable doing that so After trying several different positions with no luck, we had to resort to a medication they call TPA. It sits in the port for at least 30 minutes in an effort to break up any clots or blockages and to open the port up. He said sometimes it can take up to two hours. I was already planning to be there for two and a half hours. I was not looking forward to adding two more hours. If unsuccessful after two hours, my treatment would need to be postponed while images were scheduled to check the function of my port. So not cool on the day of my last treatment! Thankfully, after 30 minutes he came back to check on me and the port operated perfectly! we were ready to begin!
Before anything was started, the nurse came out with a sign to hang on my IV to show it was my last day!
Everyone who saw it commented and congratulated me. It was fun!
We then went through the normal process of a bag of fluids, two pre-meds, and the chemo. I attempted to watch Hulu during this time but the Wifi just would not cooperate. I took a nap instead.
Before I knew it, the nurse was bringing out a bell and unhooking me from the IV. I got emotional realizing it was done! 16 rounds of chemo over 6 months….DONE!
The bell and my T-Shirt (A gift from Texas Oncology)
Everyone in the room cheered. Everyone in the room knew the joy I was feeling and shared that moment with me. It was such an incredible feeling!
I gathered my things and headed out to celebrate with Chris and Eli who were outside in the car eager to pick me up. When Isaac got home from school I got a famous Isaac hug and we celebrated together. That boy sure is sweet! He may have been more excited than I was!
As if my day/week hadn’t been fantastic enough, we had dinner plans….with my brother and sister-in-law. I really hate that title. Let me fix that. We had dinner plans with my brother and sister! It has been February of 2020 since we’d seen each other and I was beyond excited to get to visit! They picked up dinner and met us at one of our favorite parks. We got lost in conversation and before we knew it the sun had set and the mosquitos were biting. It was time to say our farewells. We hugged (Sorry not sorry. I needed hugs!). And got in our cars to head spectate directions. It was then I realized I had not taken a single picture! My mother would be sad! So I jumped out and ran to their car. They agreed we had to digitally document the evening so we took a few pics. Thanks so much Jon and Gina for coming to celebrate with us today. It meant so much!!!
I will end this post with those pictures. Stay tuned for the next steps of my treatment plan and some other posts along the way.
And never forget that God >……Than Any Battle!
Pics in the headlights….sunglasses still on my face….so happy! Why didn’t someone (Chris) tell me about the sunglasses?!?😎
I just got home from my next to last chemo. It’s hard to believe next Thursday is the last one!!
Infusion went flawless today. I am going to take a nap and sleep off the Benadryl and then probably be up for at least 24 hours. It’s really not so bad. I have a lot I want to do before the down days come this weekend so I plan to make good use of my time!
Here are a few pics from today.
Waiting to get my lab work done and feeling good! My blood counts were low but high enough I could still receive my treatment. The chemo bag while being infused. My view. The weather in North Texas is perfect!