I know I haven't really posted here in quite awhile. Things have been insane in the family and not in a good way. You'd better buckle in and get comfy. This is going to be a long story.
On a Tuesday at the end of February, Mom had her annual mammogram. Two days later on Thursday, she got a registered letter from the hospital where she had the mammogram telling her to call them immediately. Of course, the letter arrived while they were closed for lunch so Mom got to freak out for an hour waiting until they were answering the phones again. They scheduled her to come in the next day for another mammogram and a sonogram on her right breast. This confirmed their original finding of a 8mm round hard lump behind the nipple.
The following week she saw her GYN who referred her to an oncologist who did a biopsy in his office. During the appointment, he assured her that it was probably nothing. You can guess where this might be going. On March 1st, we got the biopsy results back. She has breast cancer. You can understand that life blew up into a mind-boggling mass of insanity. Hell, I've been coping with everything for months and am still tearing up as I write this.
The oncologist (who specialized in surgery) and his assistant (who I'm going to refer to as the twit because she insensitive bit of fluff who couldn't return a phone call in under 3 days) had Mom come in for another consult. The twit had been talking up lumpectomies and how easy it was so Mom thought that's what the appointment would be about. First words out of the doctor's mouth were can't save the nipple so you're having a mastectomy. Mom then missed a good chunk of the appointment because she was trying not to pass out. She was also needed to have an MRI done. The sis flew down for a previously scheduled visit and was the one to drive Mom to the MRI at Winnie Palmer on (another) Thursday. While there Mom told the twit that she didn't want a call on Friday (the next day) because it was her anniversary and my sister was here. Well, the twit called Mom's cell while she and Dad were out to dinner and told her the MRI had found a lump on the other breast (actually a mirror image of where it was in the right). Mom asked if anything could be done immediately and the twit told her not until Monday.
In the midst of this part, we found out the tumors were estrogen/progesterone reactive. This necessitated a speedy call to the GYN to remove Mom's Mirena (progesterone IUD). Mom called them at 10:43 am on a Friday and they gave her an appointment at 11:35 am that day. I managed to get her to the office which is about an hour away in 41 minutes in the pouring rain. I'm both proud and appalled by that fact.
None of us were happy with the care she was getting there or the bedside manner. Sis and I, with the help of a family friend who is like a sister to us, did some research and found Moffitt Cancer Center. Mom scheduled an appointment there. I must say, the staff at Moffitt is fantastic. They are kind and helpful and can return a phone call in under 2 hours. Her surgeon at Moffitt biopsied the other lump and it was cancer as well. Everyone thought they'd be able to do a double lumpectomy and save both nipples. Her surgery was scheduled for March 30th. This, of course, required time off for both Dad and I and several days over in Tampa. The hotel we stayed at (a Hampton Inn) has special rates for Moffitt patients and a shuttle over to the center. There's also a Starbucks two buildings over. This was a lifesaver.
I think we were at the hospital by 8 am on the day of the surgery even though it wasn't scheduled until 1:45 pm. Mom had multiple appointments before hand. After she was all set up to go back, Dad and I (in what probably seemed like an uncaring move) went to lunch but neither of us had eaten since breakfast at the hotel. The cafeteria there is pretty good, by the way, a bitch to find, but good. During the surgery, he wandered about the waiting room some, worked on a puzzle, and read a Reader's Digest. I finished off Frankenstein's Monster and watched The Losers, which was real sanity saver for me. I desperately needed the distraction from worrying. (I also now own both books of the comic too). Everything went fine. The sentinel node biopsies were negative. She was out of surgery around 5 pm and we all headed home a little after 7 pm. Yes, it was outpatient. The next day she was a little grumpy and had some swelling.
Two weeks later, (while she was still milking the lifting restrictions) she had palpitations and had Dad come home from work to drive her to the emergency room. It was diagnosed as atrial fibrillation which they think was brought on from low potassium levels. This earned her a Wednesday night stay at the hospital where her RN was one of the girls Dad had coached in soccer. (This is a smallish town and I swear Dad knows everybody.) Two days later on Friday, she came down with a fever of 103 and I drove her to the walk-in clinic since our doctor's office had closed for the day. They did blood work and ended up calling in some antibiotics for her later that night. Dad drove her back on that Sunday because she still had the fever and they ended up scheduling an appointment for her with the surgeon she saw at Moffitt. The surgeon diagnosed it as celluitis and had Mom finish up the antibiotics she had before starting another round. Since it started two weeks after the surgery they don't think that was the cause. They think it might have been from Mom trying to shave under her arms and knicking herself. Yes, Mom got yelled at for shaving her pits.
The genetic results on the tumors came back early in May and gave Mom a low chance at occurrence. Moffitt set her up with appointments with a radiation oncologist and a regular oncologist. Because of Mom's age and the genetic results, she's not going to be doing chemo (which Mom is thrilled over), instead she'll go on an estrogen blocker this summer. The radiation oncologist gave Mom two options for treatment: a 3 week course once a day, or a 1 week course twice a day. Apparently, for those who fit a strict criteria (which Mom does), the 5 year success rate is the same for both.
Mom chose the 1 week plan and went through it last week. This week she is feeling a little sore but is doing pretty well.
That's the story minus a little yelling and tears. Everyone is doing okay but I think I may have missed a few things with all of this going on.
