My Breast Cancer Blog

Note: Since my web program is very basic, if you want to write me, just e-mail meor use my facebook ok. Thanks for checking in on this page....it means a lot to me.

To my friends and family....thank you for your love and support!!!

7/26/2011 - Mammogram

8/1/2011 - Second mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy.

8/3/2011 - Receive call from Dr. Maria Pia Altavilla, "Sorry Tina, I do not have good news for you today. We found cancer in your right breast. It is early, and most likely, it will be removed and you will receive radiation therapy. Dr. Poliakin will be calling you". This was completely unexpected, since I have had ultrasounds before and they were all fine.

8/4/2011 - Received referral from G&B / Dr. Leo Gordon, Chief of Surgery at Cedars to see Dr. Allan Silberman at Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute. Scheduled appointment with Dr. Silberman for Fri., 8/26/2011. Received call from Dr. Poliakin, advised already have a referral.

8/6/2011 - Received call from Dr. Poliakin pap ok (good news!).

8/4-8/26/2011 - Nervous about the appointment.

8/26/2011 - Meeting with Dr. Silberman...super nice, very nice facility, treat you like a queen. Feel much better after meeting today. He said I will be ok.

Result of exam and appointment:

Option 1 - Mastectomy of the right breast. Cons are cosmetic, will have to have chemo and radiation, reconstructive surgery can be done at the same time as the mastectomy using fat from my tummy (whooo hooo that would be nice...Rick jokes I have plenty of that and can have some really big boobs after that....and, that comment deserved a smack). If I were to have a mastectomy, they would not be able to match the breasts and the left side would have to have a reduction. Not a bad thing! Radiation would be every day (Mon - Fri) for six days as well as chemo.

Option 2 - Lumpectomy (probably doctor's choice, as he does not like to burn his bridges). If he did a lumpectomy and found out he would have to go in later and do a mastectomy, well, that would be one thing, but if he did a mastectomy right off the bat, there would be no turning back. Radiation would be every day (Mon - Fri) for six days.

With both options - blue dye would be inserted into the area of the cancerous tissue and that would go through my blood to a nearby lymph node, which would turn blue and would be removed, then that lymph node would be tested. If lymph node had cancerous cells, then chemo would be in order. Radiation is to treat the cancer they know of and chemo is to treat the cancer you may get later in life, because most likely, you would get cancer later in life if it was found in the lymph node.

Chances of cancer occurrence - If 100 women were pulled off the street, 10 would get breast cancer in their lifetime. If 100 women who have had previous incidents of breast cancer and were treated were pulled off the street, 25 of them would have breast cancer again. Scary statistics.

My Homework: Get the original pathology slides from TOPA and the original films and reports for the left breast at Burbank Breast Center so Dr. Silberman can review them. Get in touch with Dr. John Harold (my longtime cardiologist) and Dr. Bruce Miller (my G.P. and lifesaver) and let them know what is going on. Find out about stopping my heart meds for four days. (pic: Dr. Harold, the tallest doctor in the picture, and Dr. Berman, whom I have seen many, many times for all kinds of radiological work...hmmm...although helpful, maybe why I am writing this blog.

Sun. 8/28 - Have MRI of both breasts at Mark Taper Imaging at 7:30 a.m. with contrast. Yikes! You have to lay on a table and have your breasts hang through these holes for 45 minutes while the machine bangs, taps and knocks loudly. There is a narrow metal platform that goes between your breasts with about a 1/2" pad on top of that. That is not enough padding, especially when you have had your chest bone cracked open like a clam shell. I was so achy when it was over and now I have a headache from either all the banging or being up at 3:30 a.m. Literally feels like you have been in a washing machine on the spin cycle for 45 minutes. Who the heck thought of this, and who was the first person that ever tried it out?

Fri. 9/2 9:40 a.m. Have lab work done, chest x-ray, nurse meeting, meet with Dr. Silberman....Update. Had the lab work, the chest x-ray, the nurse meeting ended up really being an EKG. Everything is fine. After reviewing my left breast films and the breast MRI, Dr. Silberman said there was nothing in my left breast, and nothing more in my right breast than what they saw on the films before. He will still have his people review the biopsy slides, and does not expect to disagree with their findings. Surgery is scheduled for 9/13. Dye will be inserted at the surgical site, and then if I need to have the lymph node removed or more surgery, that will be done later. The radiation will be very specific, and I will not have a "cage" inserted. I am not to take care of Delilah for two weeks following the surgery as they do not want to risk any hemorrhage or infection from my sweet little germ carrier :). I asked if I could still have my red wine, and he said the rule of thumb is not to drink more than your doctor...and his nurse was behind him shaking her head and mouthing, "he does not drink." When I left, he said see you on the 13th, and, "don't start without me." A sense of humor is so important in his line of work, and I am so happy he has one. So, that is it, probably more more blogs until after the surgery or after I see my cardiologist, Dr. Harold before the surgery to get the green light to go ahead.

My sweet and kind friend, Barbara Shaw went with me today. Her company was so appreciated, and came home and received the most touching card from Janine and Jason Jones. You guys brought tears to all our eyes. Thank you so very much. This is a great evening. Both my kids and my grandbaby girl are sleeping under my roof tonight, and I will go to sleep knowing, "all is well in my world."

Tue. 9/6 1:30 p.m. CT Angio - do not eat from midnight on....they forgot to tell me not to have caffeine, but they did it anyway. So.....for those of you who have never had a CT Angiogram (this was my third), they do an EKG, insert an I.V., take you into a room with a thing that looks like half of a MRI machine, lay you down with your arms over your head, and tell you they will be inserting the dye (contrast, and some people do not need this), and then they warn you ahead of time they are putting the contrast in. It feels very, very warm, like someone just heated your blood and pumped it back into your body, and then it goes down to your pelvis area and you feel like you just wet your pants, but you did not. So, 15 mnutes of this crazy magnetic machine that sounds like you are in a space ship. Doctor will have the results by the time I go in and see him at 2:15 p.m. today....so it's antoher trip back to Cedars today (the gas is going to kill me), and then hopefully the green light to get the cancer out. Seems like forever since I was told it was there, 'cas all you say to yourself is, "Get it out, hurry, get it out." Another than you to Julie Garcia for the Essentia water 'cas it encouraged me to drink tons so I could flush out my kidneys.

Wed. 9/7 2:15 p.m. Dr. Harold. Cholesterol high, increase in statins or adjust diet and ordered a thalium stress treadmill test for Thur. 9/8.

Thur. 9/8 9:00 a.m. Thalium stress treadmill....best treadmill test I have ever had, talking with the two nurses performing the test made it go by so fast and made it so much easier. Reached the stress level they wanted me at, so that was good and should know results by this evening and then will have the okay from Dr. Harold for the surgery.

Wed. 9/12 Spent the day with Shane doing odds and ends at Blue Velvet before he goes to Costa Rica tomorrow. Talked to Dr. Silberman about a few questions I had I had not asked before, i.e., the cancer is ductal near the upper outer quadrant near the right armpit; the portion removed will fill in naturally with my own tissue; the pathologist will look at everything removed under the microscope; the chance of a systemic spread in my case is very small; the two items that were in my favor on the oroginal pathology report were that my cancer is estrogen positive and the Ki67 (will have to look that up later); because my cancer is estrogen positive, I will probably have to take an anti-estrogen pill after radiation therapy; I will have the needle localization at 8:30, surgery at 9:30 or 10:00, and probably be leaving Cedars tomorrow at around 1:00 p.m. No drinking or eating after midnight and just take my meds as usual. It will be a good outcome and I WILL heal quickly.

Tue. 9/13 a.m. Lumpectomy at Mark Taper Imaging at Cedars. Will be home that day if all goes as planned.

Update: Surgery went well. Was not out of recovery and on the way home until 4:30 p.m. Just going to rest this evening. It was much more painful than I thought, but not bad right now. Rick on his way to get some pain meds. The cancer was removed and the lymph node was removed. Not sure when I will know the results. Thanks again for all your love and support, and I will write more about it tomorrow or the following day. XOXO

Thurs. 9/15 Haven't taken the pain medicine again, only took it evening of surgery and morning. Just regular Tylenol now. Took a bath, changed clothes, put on makeup....feeling human again and pretty darn good today. Spoke to Dr. Silberman since the surgery, and I can remove bandages on Friday and then see him on Monday and he should have some news by then. Please keep praying and keep your fingers crossed that this cancer is completely gone and I will not have to have chemo. Not sure if these replacement arteries could take that poison, and that really worries me. Again, thank you all for your prayers, phone calls, e-mails, texts and most of all your love. XOXO Super special thanks to Rick, Shane, Katrina, Kent and baby girl for making sure I had everything I needed when I came home. News flash...Rick did some grocery shopping last night, got us a turkey dinner to share and brought me some beautiful yellow mums, and we watched a movie. It was a nice evening.

Sat. 9/18 Had a nice evening with Barb and Art. Rick grilled some steaks and a turkey burger for md, 'cas I have given up red meat (except for the rare special occasion), and we enjoyed hanging out. Tomorrow, we need to do something relaxing today, a picnic or a street fair nearby. This is the last day of anxiety before finding out the results from my surgery. I will be glad for the waiting to be over. How different life would have been if I could roll back to clock before both our major surgeries/health problems and they could never have happened. We would be financially better off with less stress in our lives, but, it is what it is. and we have to be grateful for what we have.

Mon. 9/19 Great news! The cancer did not go into the lymph node. It was Stage I cancer. I go back to Dr. Silberman in one week for him to look at the incisions and to remove the small bandages. One week from then, i will go back and have surgery again to remove more of the area where the cancer was. After the pathologists looked at the part he took under the microscope, they advised him how many centimeters from a "clear margin," he removed. He would like to have a clearer margin than what he got. So, at least the surgery won't be as bad, because they won't have to remove another lymph node. I will probably start the radiation in about a month, but will not be needing chemotherapy (again, great news!). This has been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, and instead of doing cartwheels, I've been crying...go figure. As for changing my diet, the nurse said the time to have changed my diet would have been 30 years ago. They do not want me eating a bunch of high anti-oxidant foods right now, because they could interefere with the radiation therapy...something about free radicals. Anyway. bottom line, it is good news, and I pray that I am never diagnosed with the "c" word again in my lifetime. For those of you women I love and am close to, please, please, please get your mammograms and pap tests. Waiting too long in between can mean you could die. Even if you think the doctors are all in it for the money, please think again, you have the power in you to save your own life if you will just get the tests done in a timely fashion. Thank you all for your prayers, because your prayers worked. XOXO

Mon. 9/26 New surgery date is scheduled for this Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. I will update this blog when I get home if I'm feeling up to it, otherwise, I will have Rick make phone calls. Please feel free to call Rick at 310-869-5027, Katrina at 310-689-5547, or the shop at 818-766-8867. Betty will be taking me and most likely staying there through my surgery, but she does not answer cell on a regular basis, so you'd be better off trying to contact Katrina or Rick. Wish me luck. Hope I don't lose my voice again.

Wed. 9/27 Came through this surgery better than the last one. Feeling pretty good today. My sister had major surgery today, so my mind, heart and thoughts have been with her today. Kind of makes my situation pale in comparison, and I thank God she came through her surgery ok, and am anxious to hear what her prognosis is. Weill update more after I see Dr. Silberman a week from tomorrow and find out when radiation therapy will begin.

Mon. 10/10 My wound opened a little yesterday and was bleeding, went to Dr. Silberman again today and he closed it up. I had dressed it, he said I did a good job, then why does it feel so much better after he dressed it. It is a mystery. Got some antibiotics and have another appointment this Friday and then again on the 24th. Have an appointment with Philomena McAndrews, who I am told is the absolute best Medical Oncologist in the Country. She has an amazing reputation and credentials. I meet with her on 10/31, and although Dr. Silberman and I discussed the fact that I would be having radiation following my surgeries, he said it is still going to be her recommendation with regard to chemo vs. radiation and then also the medication I am to take for five years. So...here is Dr. McAndrews: http://www.toweroncology.com/your-team/our-physicians/philomena-mcandrew-md/

11/2011 - Met with Dr. McAndrews. Super sweet, very reassuring. Gave me so much information though, I was afraid my eyes were glazing over. Dr. McAndrews is not inclined to refer me for chemotherapy because of my previous heart condition and the condition my arteries are in after my surgeries. Sounds like my changes are just as good with the lumpectomy and the radiation as they would have been with the chemotherapy. She may want me to have some further testing as I found out today that my Aunt Betty's cancer was pre-menopausal, which is so sad. She had cancer when she was in her early forties. Referred me to a Radiation Oncologist, and I met with her today. She was also extremely nice, and explained more about the radiation. I will have 33 sessions, doubling up on some days because of Thanksgiving and in between Christmas and New Years. A small portion of my lung will be radiated, which is concerning to me, but she said I will most likely not experience a problem. That cannot be helped. Also might have problems with my skin being irritated and possibly my right breast shrinking in size. That is of great concern to me as well. If cancer were to come back, i guess a mastectomy would be the way to go, but I'm going to hope that never happens. The radiation will have a cumulative effect, and most likely two to three weeks into it, I will start to feel very tired, like i have no energy at night. She did not tell me to adjust my diet other than not taking any Vitamin E or excessive amounts of vitamins in general. The only thing she would want me to take is a multi vitamin. I will have to find out more information about that I suppose, but I'm not too big on taking vitamins anyway. I will be glad when this is all behind me. I pray I don't have too much in the way of scarring or other problems. I will have four dots permanentely tatooed on my breast, which can be removed by laser, and I doubt I will end up doing that. The scar from the surgery still looks pretty bad to me, but Dr. Silberman said it is doing well. ....just want ti to be over now.

11/10/2011 - Had the CT scan of my breast today. It went better than expected. They put four tatoo's on you as markers, which are permanent, but really look like small freckles. Then, you go under the CT scan. They were very pleased. Apparently, I have a larger than normal chest cavity and it is literally shaped like an upside down heart. They said it was wonderful, because only a very small portion of my lung will be affected by the radiation, and it is much less than normal. That's really good news. I go back next Wednesday for the dry run and have the first radiation on Thursday...then 32 more sessions after that.