|
Quick Links
Diagnosis
Stage II A breast cancer.
Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) with microinvasion in left breast. Tumor is <1 mm and 2 sentinel lymph nodes show micrometastatic disease (<2 mm). Tumor is estrogen positive and HER2/neu negative. Treatment Plan
Lumpectomy
Chemotheraphy (six cyles of TAC every three weeks) Radiation (six weeks daily) Hormone therapy (five years of tamoxifen) Milestones
12/12/02
First biopsy of left breast 12/16/02 1/17/03 2/14/03 - 5/50/03 7/2/03 1/5/04 1/15/04 Scheduled Monitoring
Categories
Archives
XML/RSS Feed
Breast Cancer News
Statistics
Total entries in this blog:
Total entries in this category: Published On: Jun 08, 2004 05:26 PM |
Last Radiation Therapy DoneI am very pleased to tell you that today is Ann's
last radiation therapy!
At this point Ann is still tired but otherwise
doing well. Radiation therapy hasn't been anywhere nearly as bad as
chemotherapy was. She is still working part-time but suffers some fatigue so
she tries to get some nap time in the
afternoon.
Unfortunately, lymphedema (swelling) in her arm continues to be a problem and we are treating it aggressively in several ways. First, she has physical therapy several afternoons a week. Second, she does massage and stretching exercises by herself daily. Third, for several weeks now her arm has been wrapped in compression bandages which she wears all day and night and which we re-wrap daily. The bandages consist of strips of white gauze wrapped around her fingers and hand. This is in turn wrapped with beige elastic bandages which look like Ace bandages used for immobilizing sprained ankles. These bandages run up to her elbow and on bad days all the way up her arm to her shoulder. The completed bandages looks something like a cross between a cast for a broken arm and a scene from an old Mummy movie. The swelling has gone down a great deal and is under control. But the time involved with the physical therapy, exercises, and bandaging is substantial...several hours a day! We are hoping that the swelling will go down further now that she is finished with radiation therapy which creates some inflammation and adds to the problem. In any event, Ann is on track to join her chorus, The Melodeers, as they sing for their fourth consecutive victory in the international Sweet Adelines competition in Phoenix, AZ on September 18. It took her a week to recover from her all-weekend practice session at the beginning of August but it was a wonderful boost for her spirits. This Saturday, August 16th The Melodeers present a "preview" show...a dress rehearsal for the chorus and a chance for family and friends who can not join them in Phoenix to see them perform. http://www.melodeers.com/ http://www.sweetadelineintl.org/intl-chorus-oaa-2003.cfm Our last bit of news is that Ann's hair is growing back! There is bit over one quarter of an inch of hair on her head now and the short hair makes her look like a new recruit at a military boot camp. The first time that Nello referred to her as Demi Moore she was flattered...until she found out that the movie he was thinking of was G.I. Jane. http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/9990/gijane.html Later this week Ann will begin the next and last phase of her treatment plan, hormone therapy...just a pill (tamoxifen) every day for five years. We are seeing the end of the invasive treatments. If only her arm didn't require bandaging every day we could start to forget this ever happened. Maybe it will be better in cooler weather. Tonight we celebrate the end of radiation therapy. We hope you are well. Thank you for your support. Love Ann and Nello Posted: Thu - August 14, 2003 at 04:52 PM |