Tag Archives: thinkpink

March 13, 2016 · 8:14 am

25:Surgery Date Set!

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I took the picture above last week end while enjoying some much needed beach chair therapy. The picture speaks for itself…..I love it.

Since my last appointment in Oahu, I have been busy working and getting settled into our condo that we are renting. Every day I feel better and better, my hair is starting to grow, Jacquelyn says a have “peach fuzz”! When working I get to talk to patients, a lot of patients remember me from doing their mammogram last year. I had one patient literally tear up when she saw me. I told her not to cry for me that I would be fine. She was so sweet, we hugged after the exam, and she said she would look forward to her next mammogram so she can see how I am doing! (that’s a first, “look forward to a mammogram”!)

March 9th:

I Had a consultation with the Radiation Oncologist here at The Pacific Cancer Institute on Maui. I will  be having radiation treatment. The Oncologist was very thorough in explaining the process and how it is done post-mastectomy. I will be having treatment Monday thru Friday for 6 weeks. Basically, Radiation treatment is the “clean up crew”. It will annihilate any residual cancer cells left behind. That’s what I want, NO CANCER CELLS LEFT BEHIND. I will be able to work thru this, just like I have been working thru my chemo treatments. Compared to chemo, this should be a breeze!

March 11th:

My appointment with my Medical Oncologist went well. Dr. Chong is really happy with my progress and how I am progressing. After he examined me, I was back in the chair for my Herceptin infusion. We flew out of Maui on the first flight which meant getting up at 4am. So of coarse I managed a little siesta during the infusion! Since it is only one bag it only takes about 1 hour, so it was a short nap!

After my appointment with Dr. Chong, I was off to see Dr. Nakashizuka. Again she examined me, the original tumor can no longer be palpated, however the lymph nodes still feel irregular. We talked about “the Plan”, she wanted to make sure that I was ok with the recommendation of delayed reconstruction vs. immediate. Here is what will happen:

  • Left Breast Modified Radical Mastectomy with skin sparring for delayed reconstruction, on Oahu, at Queens Medical Center. Will be required to stay on Oahu for 1 month post surgery…..the hunt is on for a place to stay post surgery!
  • Radiation Treatment to begin once healed from surgery. Treatment will be for 6 weeks Monday thru Friday, here on Maui at the Pacific Cancer Institute.
  • Herceptin infusions will continue every three weeks till September.
  • Appointment with the Pulmonary doctor on April 21st regarding the nodule on my right lower lobe. Lets pray that a lung resection is not necessary!
  • After my last Herceptin infusion, the prophylactic  mastectomy  on the contra lateral side will be done (Right Breast) with immediate reconstruction. Well it won’t be “immediate”…..its a process! That’s another blog.

Surgery date……………….March 28th …..On Good Friday March 25, I will be 53 years old, Birthdays after a cancer diagnosis will be special!

Aloha, everyone much Mahalo for taking the time to read my blog!

 

 

 

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February 14, 2016 · 8:07 am

24:Good News and Not so Good News

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Thursday February 11, 2016

One quick flight in the early morning and we are on Oahu. We arrived with plenty of time and I was early in checking into my 830am appt., by an hour. The CT of the lungs went fine. I was done with and without contrast. The Breast MRI was also done with and without contrast. For Breast MRI you are laying down, face down arms above your head with your face resting in donut (like a massage table). I was given button to hold in my hand to call for help if I needed it during  the exam. If this button is pressed after the contrast has been administered and the technologist has to stop the exam, then the exam would have to be rescheduled.

Minutes after the contrast was pushed through my I.V. my throat started to itch! I didn’t want to push the button and cancel this important test. My nose was stuffy, I was on the tail end of a head cold. My nose was just dripping, couldn’t do nothing about that. My eyes started to water and my throat was really itchy. I had to clear my throat a couple of times. I was trying really hard not to move. I was literally talking to myself, saying “I can do this, I can do this”! My throat didn’t close up, I was having to breathe through my mouth, because my nose was so stuffed up. I managed to complete the exam.

The technologist called over a radiologists, Dr. Kristen Nagata to examine me. A first responder nurse also came. I was told that normally they would take me over to the emergency department for observation, after a reaction to contrast. However, because I had an 11 am appointment with Dr. Nakashizuka (breast surgeon) they opted to keep me there and observe me. The nurse was honest in telling me that if they sent me to the ED, that I would not be discharged in time for my 11:00 appointment.

Dr.  Mari Nakashizuka; 11 am appointment:

Dr. Mari already had both the MRI and CT reports in her hand for this appointment. The “Good News” is that the original tumor in the left breast is gone!!!! Also, that area near the chest wall is also no longer there! The lymph nodes were a different story. Some lymph nodes appear slightly more prominent. Instead of doing a sentinel node biopsy during surgery she is now going to do lymph node dissection.

The CT, (sigh) as previously on the first blogs (blog #12) I mentioned a nodule on my lung, small little burger, only 5mm in size. Well today it measured 7mm, could be a difference in equipment, could be human error. This can not be ignored.

Surgery discussion:

The original plan was to do a bilateral Mastectomy with reconstruction. I have made the decision to have both my breast removed, this will still happen, just not as I had planned. Because of the Lymph nodes Radiation Treatment might be necessary. And because of the Lung nodule, it’s just another wrench in the bucket!! What Dr. Nakashizuka is recommending is a Left Mastectomy first, deal with the Lung nodule, get through the remainder of my Herceptin treatments, and have radiation treatment if necessary. Then do the Prophylactic Mastectomy on the right side with bilateral reconstruction. Dr. Mari feels I would opening myself up for the possibility of infection with my immune system being compromised with my continued treatment……………..I just want this over with!

Friday February 12, 2016

My appointment with my medical oncologist was at 1030 am. Dr. Chong went over the test results again with me. He made me feel better, by stressing that the main tumor in the left breast is gone! He wants to proceed with the breast surgery as soon as possible. He feels that I am strong enough for a bilateral mastectomy, however he is going to have me talk to a Radiation Oncologist. If radiation treatment is needed then putting off the reconstruction might be the best course.

So whats next?

Dr. Chong will contact the Thoracic doctor and have them look at my PET CT from 8-2015 and my CT from 2-2016 to determine if a Lung Dissection is needed. The office the Dr. Baker, Radiation Oncology will be calling me to set up an appointment. All of this should happen before my next appoint with Dr. Chong and Dr. Nakashizuka which is set for  Friday March 11th.

Not exactly the news I was hoping to blog about, but it is what it is. I need to stay on course and stay positive that all will be okay. This is just another bump in the road, or lung!

Mahalo for reading, and my apologies to family that I didn’t get a chance to talk to prior to posting this. (you know who you are) Thank you for the well wishes and prayers.

Much Aloha Pina

 

 

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January 17, 2016 · 9:56 pm

23: Chemo #6

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January 17, 2016

Chemo#6 was on January 8th. I not only had Jacquelyn and my husband with me, my daughter Monique was also there. The picture above was taken just before the treatment began. Monique got to talking to the other patients in the infusion room and before I knew it they were ordering pizza for everyone, party in the infusion room!!!! No pizza for me however, soon after my infusion starts I get sleepy and I take my chemo siesta!

Today is January 17th, I am nine days post chemo and still not feeling well. I did work half a day on Wednesday with full days on Thursday and Friday. The saving grace was that MDI scheduled me a lite schedule. In case your wondering, these patients were scheduled with my knowledge. Previously I felt better after days 3 and 4 post chemo. So, I did not want to call off and have them rescheduled. I know that all I had to do was tell my manager that I couldn’t work and she would have had the schedulers start rescheduling patients, no questions asked. Maui Diagnostic Imaging is a great company to work for.

Whats next?

On February 11 and 12 I will be back on Oahu. I will have my Breast MRI, CT and my second meeting with the surgeon, Dr. Mari Nakashizuka. Those appointments will be on the 11th. On Friday I will have my Herceptin infusion. My chemo therapy has consisted on of Taxotere, Carboplatin, Herceptin and Perjeta. I am done with TC and P however the Herceptin will continue every three weeks for a year! What I am not clear on is if it one year from now, or one year from when I started the treatment? Either way I will know more about the timeline for my surgery soon!

Since I moved to Maui, we have been renting a beautiful home here on Laumaewa Loop. The owner has had the house on the market since October of 2015. He felt really bad the day he told us they had to sell the house, especially because I had just started my treatment. I completely understand their decision to sell. Fortunately for us we were able to be in this home thru the holiday season. The house has not sold yet, I told the owner that after the New Year we would actively try and find a place to live. And we did, we found a condo to rent and will be moving in February. Jacquelyn and her boyfriend Sean found a condo in the same complex as well. Excited to have my own little place with no stairs! The stairs in this home have been challenging, especially on my bad days. The goal was to move before my surgery!

My husband just left to the airport to pick up two very special people. My two cousins Mary and Carmen dahling just landed (11:40am)!! Super excited to have them here with me this week!!!!

Going to sign off now, I hope everyone is well. Hug and love each other, life is short never take it for granted! Much Mahalo for the love and support!

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October 4, 2015 · 7:21 am

16: Breast Cancer Awareness

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On Saturday September 26th, the effects of my first Chemo treatment hit me like a ton of bricks. Words can not describe on how sick I was feeling. The vomiting and diarrhea was like NOTHING  I have EVER experienced. Your body is so weak, your bones ache, you have no desire to eat, drink, or talk. You know you have to eat, but it takes energy to eat, and you just do not have an ounce of energy to spare. I have a new appreciation to all the patients that have passed my path in my Mammography career, they are true survivors, I too will soon be a survivor!

On Monday morning (Sept. 28), my primary doctor took the dressing off of my Portacath. She reached out to my Medical Oncologist to discuss medications to ease the effects. The medications made a huge difference, but I still felt awful. I don’t know what I was thinking when I thought I could go into work on Tuesday!…….I only lasted three hours!!! On Wednesday, my day was going to be split between our Triangle Square clinic (11 miles away) and our Kihei clinic  (.2 miles away) from my home. Was fortunate that MDI was okay with me only working the afternoon in Kihei. I worked on result letters, waited for the Hologic service engineer as our power supply on the unit was going to be replaced. The part was scheduled to arrive on Thursday, so he bypassed the issue so I can do the QC and patients till Thursday. Because of this issue patients were taken off the schedule, I only had two patients to do, even then, when I was done, I was so exhausted. Lee, the front desk receptionist was super helpful. She was going out of her way to help me in any way possible……………….truly blessed to have amazing staff at MDI!

With the new month being October, it brings us the annual “Breast Cancer Awareness” month. The picture above is made from only some of the t-shirts I have accumulated from doing Breast Cancer walks. If there is a walk near you, please consider participating.

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September 20, 2015 · 12:05 am

14: Tsunami Watch

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Great! My first overnight stay on Oahu, and there is a Tsunami watch! In spite of the Tsunami watch everything went well, however I did not start my chemo yet…..getting a little anxious. One of the four drugs that will be used still needs to get authorized! I have to patient. My husband got to meet the Medical Oncologist, Dr. Chong. Dr. Chong went over the treatment plan with my husband, and at one point looked at me and told me that this treatment was going to kick my ass! I believe that was his way of telling me to be prepared! I am fully aware of what is yet to come, #igotthis! Doctor looked at  my veins and said that these latina veins were not going to cut it, I will need a portacath. There is a certain “calmness” about Dr. Chong, I really like him.

I also got to meet the breast surgeon Dr. Nakashizuka. She comes highly recommended and I really liked our first visit, she was very thorough, I will discuss my surgery option in a future blog.

We went to Waikiki Beach, as our hotel was in Waikiki. We only did this because the Tsunami watch was lifted. We walked around The Royal Hawaiian Hotel, which is a PINK hotel! Loved it! The doctor’s office called me and asked if I had time for lab work? Well of course we had time, this was not a pleasure trip! Jacquelyn and I quickly got in the ocean and took some photos, then we went back to Queens Medical Center.

My portacath will be placed early on September 24th, with my first Chemo treatment on that same day……It is going to be a long day at Queens. I’m sure one of many.

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