Appointments Galore!

What do they say about roads being paved with good intentions?!?  Boy, the days just fly by and I haven't written and haven't written ... sorry!!

Not only was my weekend filled with company, it was filled with a horrid cold.  Yes, I have my first cold in over a year.  Somehow, I managed to stay healthy all the way through chemo when my immune system was taking a hit every two weeks, but throw me back into a classroom full of kids and -- WHAM!!  My annual September cold is in full swing.

The past week held a momentous occasion for me -- and I'm not referring to my 55th birthday on Friday -- I went for my first hair cut since I had my head buzzed in Victoria.  Well, it's a bit of a stretch to call it an actual hair "cut".  It was more like, "A little off around the ears and clean up my neck with the razor, please." But, it felt monumental to me!  That appointment meant that my hair is actually growing -- not rapidly, but growing!  I still have to do lots of convincing every morning with mounds of product to keep it from sproinging straight up all over my head, but it's progress, nonetheless.

The upcoming week holds the first of a new round of medical appointments for me.  On Thursday, I have surgery to remove my port.  Apparently, lots of cancer patients with ports keep them in for a year or two, "just in case" it is needed.  Thinking optimistically, I will NEVER need this port again and I'll be glad to be done with the monthly-flush regime.  The finicky nature of my port (remember all those contortions in Victoria??) renders it unusable anyway, so out it comes!  It should be extremely simple surgery.  Open up the initial incision, slide out the port with tube attached, and sew me up again.  I'm sure I'll only be in the OR for 10 minutes.

More excitement arrives on October 8th when I go for my first one-breast mammogram.  I don't fully understand the reasoning behind this appointment as several oncologists have stated that it is far more likely for me to get cancer somewhere else in my body than it is to get it in the other breast. However, I won't look a gift horse breast-squishing in the mouth, I will simply endure the breast-pancake look and enjoy the reassurance that my remaining breast is still cancer free (thinking optimistically, again!!).

Later in November, I have my final liver CT to look, once again, at the lesion they found during my post-diagnosis abdominal CT.  If the lesion still has the same appearance it did back in November 2012, overly-cautious Dr. Proctor will be satisfied that it is, in fact, a harmless lesion as first suspected.

On December 6, one day short of the one-year anniversary of my mastectomy, I have my first official post-treatment check-up with Dr. Proctor. I truly do feel great, and hope this continues over the next few months so I can give him a good report on how I'm doing.  It IS true that every time I feel a little twinge or pain, my brain wants to immediately jump to the question, "Could this be ..??.", but I quickly revert to my optimistic, positive attitude and get on with life.