Chemo After All?

November 24, 2009

Dr. Weary’s office is crowded and a bit shabby. His nurse weighs me, takes my blood pressure and draws several vials of blood. The work area is cramped and cluttered. Staff bumps into each other as they reach for needles, gauze, and other paraphernalia. I walk towards my meeting with Dr. Weary himself  through a [...]

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Annoying People in Oncologist’s Waiting Room

November 21, 2009

In Dr. Weary’s waiting room, I begin to fill in endless health questions on a clumsy electronic gadget. It allows him to transfer everything directly to a computer without errors, I suppose. But the design of the gadget is decidedly more  Soviet era style  than a modern American invention.
The waiting room is empty except for [...]

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Onward to the Oncologist(s)

November 15, 2009

The Breast Consultants at Vanderbilt University confirm the previous findings in my pathology report. And Dr. Guru assures me that “he would not do a re-excision on his own wife.”  That does it for me. I cancel the appointment  with the second surgeon, the one set by my sister-in-law.
After all, the second surgeon has not [...]

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A Joke From the Breast “Care” Center?

November 14, 2009

“As part of a regular ongoing effort to provide quality patient care,” reads the letter from the Breast “Care” Center. “We encourage annual follow up care.” It then goes on to say that they would greatly appreciate receiving information concerning my health status since last treated there.
Really?
This is the Breast Care Center where I had  [...]

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Re-Excision Me, Re-Excision Me Not….

November 7, 2009

“Sometimes when I consider the tremendous consequences that come from little things, I am tempted to think there are no little things.” – Bruce Barton
-When will you have your re-excision? my sister-in-law wants to know.
I tell her that I believe Dr. Guru when he says my margins are clear. He says that I don’t need [...]

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OncoDX Test Results

November 1, 2009

Although no cancer cells may have been found in a patient’s lymph nodes during surgery, 20 percent of these “node negative” patients still have cancer cells somewhere outside the breast area. Not surprising perhaps, since once a tumor reaches  1 cm, you have one billion cancer cells, like this one below, in your body.

In the [...]

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The Pink O’Mania Month Is Here

October 24, 2009

In case you somehow missed it: October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.   Basically, it means you are supposed to spend money to help find a cure. But why do we need to buy fluffy pink socks and eat pink cup cakes to raise money for much needed research? After all, breast cancer is a hideous [...]

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Totally in a Funk

October 22, 2009

My husband and I are both stuck in the glue of our gloom, unable to reach out to each other.
I am restless, crabby, scarred, impatient, and distracted both at home and at work. I cannot concentrate on anything. All I do is obsess about a second surgery. It is not the surgery that scares me, [...]

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All Other Edges Free of Carcinoma. Meaning?

October 10, 2009

Three weeks after after my lumpectomy, and after some prodding and probing,  my pathology report arrives in the mail. I polish my bifocals. — the better to see you my dear –  and sink down in my favorite reading chair.
On page one, I immediately zero in on these worrisome phrases:
“All other surgical resection edges free [...]

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Does an Apple a Day Have Too Many Carcinogens?

October 3, 2009

Does an apple a day keeps the doctor away, or? I understand all about the benefits of antioxidants interacting with  free radicals. Sort of. But I still want to know how fruits and vegetables are encouraged by health professionals and nutrition experts without any mention of pesticides and carcinogens. It needs to get as much [...]

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