It’s really hard to plan things any time in advance right now. I feel like our lives have been up in the air since my diagnosis in September. I’m such a planner. This is really hard for me! Any little get-a-way we’ve done since then, has been last minute. Thursday and Friday were no exception.
Friday, I was scheduled to have an appointment to meet with the oncologist to find out what the next steps are in this journey I’m on with cancer. We had planned to take the kids out of school on Thursday since Mom is here and I’m feeling good, and head over to Leavenworth, Cashmere and Wenatchee and do a marathon day there.
When we woke up on Thursday, Tom said he had found a family room that slept 6 at a hotel in Leavenworth and asked if we wanted to spend the night. He suggested that just he and I drive back and forth from Leavenworth on Friday morning for my appointment. So we packed really fast and headed out for two days. Crazy!!
Rockin’ our hair nets during our tour of the Aplets and Cotlets factory in Cashmere
In the car, I called the Dr. and was able to get my appointment rescheduled for Monday morning at 9. I knew I would need to be up at the Doctors on Monday anyways, since drain #1 is still draining too much fluid to be removed. Boohoo! (That’s me crying. I’ve come to accept the drain as part of my body and while I hate it, I’m glad it’s draining stuff out. Last week, I had swelling the size of an egg in my armpit that wasn’t draining and had to have that aspirated with a needle, which surprisingly didn’t hurt.) So we were all able to stay both days!
It was such a nice time together as a family I was pretty tired by the end of the day on Friday, but after a good night sleep, feel rested.
So now I wait two days to meet with the oncologist and find out what the next steps are. I have made an appointment for Friday with the Radiation Oncologist, although I’m not sure if I need it or not. When I talked to the surgeon on Wed., she said my oncologist didn’t want to rush into surgery, so we’ll see what he says on Monday. I really, really, really don’t want to deal with lymphedema (swelling of the arm) which is very common after having a bunch of lymph nodes removed. Radiation can also cause it. So we’ll see what the plan is.
The muscle relaxers the surgeon gave me are helping with tight muscles in the evening and are helping me sleep. I’m very thankful for that!
That’s about it for now. We have two more days with Mom here, so we are planning to have tea to celebrate an early Mother’s Day with her today. Yay!
Having a Mother’s Day tea a week early.
Your role is to plan for you family so it must be hard, but God loves to remind us that He is in control, and that He has our best in His plan ♥ I hope you are finding this during this journey of yours ♥ I was faced with similar concerns regarding lymphedema, and even though my sentinel nodes were negative, they never found the clip, so there was conversation whether to do surgery or just radiation. Finally the radiation oncologist suggested that they could irradiate the area where the nodes were (in case there was a positive node still lurking about) and though this didn’t ease my concern over lymphedema from radiation, I knew that the Lord had again provided the direction to my team and realized that even if I were to end up with lymphedema, the Lord would provide the healing and/or grace to live with it/through it. All things to consider and bring up with the oncologist and radiation oncologist…but, especially, the Lord. As of today, I don’t have lymphedema (though they say it can come on many months later). Hope my “story” helps you 🙂 We are all different and our bodies are each uniquely made by God, so I will pray for clear direction for your doctors ♥ and rest for you as you trust Him for this next step as well….
So glad for your quickly planned time away…I hope that when your girls look back on this year, that these mini-vacays away with you and Tom will be a notable memory ♥
I will definitely be asking both Doctors about the lymphedema. Thanks again for the cream! I will keep you posted and might have some questions. 🙂
sounds great…happy to answer if it will help 🙂
I am so glad that you had time away, and also thankful that Toms mom could spend time with you. I continue to pray for guidance and direction for the many decsions to be made. Oh, I like Tom’s face in the mirror too. You are doing great cousin.
Thanks Wendy. 🙂