Either daytime television is boring and tiresome, or a massive, invisible weight has been affixed to my eyelids. Certianly I cannot blame all this sleep on a few little white powdery pills, or small incisions. Had great hopes to finally finish reading several wonderful books I started this summer, including the Yorkshire Detective, recommended by my Dad, which is in sore need of my attention, but unfortunately it and several other potentially riviting paperbacks have lain abandoned on the pillow where Eric normally sleeps.
Hopefully I'll be able to divert my attention from the awful daytime TV somtime soon, because otherwise I feel my brain will turn into a pile of mush similar to the applesauce, which has been my favorite meal for the last few days.
Thanks to all of you who haven't been too scared to call me, and to the rest of you, please don't feel that you can't call. If I am asleep, I won't hear the phone and you won't bother me in the slightest.
Extra special thanks to my in-laws for taking care of the children today so I didn't have to deal with them, and also to their aunt Kathy, for providing endless amusement, even though Cavanaugh seemed to scream a lot today. Love my kids, but it sure was nice to hear them scream and know I didn't have to get up today.
------- (change of author)
On another topic, Trela's wounds from round 1 have been healing nicely. Ironically, the two places that have hurt her the most are the busted lower lip (it really looks like someone punched her in the mouth... it wasn't me, I swear!) and the base of her heel on her right foot... Don't ask me how that happened either.
Anyway, as the title implies, she HAS been sleeping a lot, but that's good, and I've noticed a great deal of improvement over the last several days, her actual wounds have been healing nicely, and it looks like we'll have to go back to get the drain out early if things continue as they are now.
While we are in the mood to be thanking in-laws, I have to give special thanks to Trela's dad, Terry. He's made so many trips to Iowa, Rochester, Chicago, Moo Roo (mmMMMmmMMM, Ice Cream) and been at every appointment, amd her mom, Fran, who has been here whenever she's not in the air. We can't forget to mention her other in-laws, my dad, who was also in Rochester, but made it home in time to mow our lawn, and put a window and door on our new porch/room, (with some prior help from Tom, Fritz, and of course John.
With all the flowers, food, and support, it is a bit overwhelming at times. About the only time superwoman here gets a bit misty is when she thinks of how great all the support has been... Thanks.
Friday, July 21, 2006
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Round One to Trela
Things continue to progress nicely. Trela is feeling better this morning, she has gotten up and walked around, though that did make her dizzy. The staff has informed us that we can go whenever she is ready, and the discharge has been ordered. Oddly, morphine did not help much with the pain, but she took some percocet and that helped a lot.
We have a couple scrips for the pain waiting for us in the pharmacy and unless something unforseen happens in the next few hours, we'll be heading home this afternoon. Hopefully the trip home will not be too difficult for her.
We know this is going to be a long battle, but at this point we are very optimistic and appreciative of everyone's support to this point. I'll post again when we get home.
We have a couple scrips for the pain waiting for us in the pharmacy and unless something unforseen happens in the next few hours, we'll be heading home this afternoon. Hopefully the trip home will not be too difficult for her.
We know this is going to be a long battle, but at this point we are very optimistic and appreciative of everyone's support to this point. I'll post again when we get home.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Back from surgery
Well, she's finally back. Sounds like everything went well, and though Trela is still very tired and a bit groggy from the meds, she is doing very well.
The reconstruction went well, and though she'll continue to need weekly follow up over the next couple months, all that needs to happen now on that front is for healing and streching to occur, in that order.
Sounds like the'll continue to poke, prod, and move her around for the next couple days, but they'll either release he tomorrow or Friday.
Thanks for all the great comments we've recieved both in this blog and the notes, cards, calls, and e-mails we've gotten. Every time we get one it's like opening a little Christmas present and we really appreciate all of them, even if we haven't responded yet, keep 'em coming!
The reconstruction went well, and though she'll continue to need weekly follow up over the next couple months, all that needs to happen now on that front is for healing and streching to occur, in that order.
Sounds like the'll continue to poke, prod, and move her around for the next couple days, but they'll either release he tomorrow or Friday.
Thanks for all the great comments we've recieved both in this blog and the notes, cards, calls, and e-mails we've gotten. Every time we get one it's like opening a little Christmas present and we really appreciate all of them, even if we haven't responded yet, keep 'em coming!
Early good news
I just finished talking to the surgeon. The first procedure is complete. Dr. Degnim removed the tumor and three lymph nodes. Everything wentsmoothly and Trela is doing fine. In order to make sure that they removed all the cancer, they do pathology tests on the removed tissue immediately. The 3 lymph nodes were all cancer free according to the early tests, and she was able to remove the entire tumor and achive clear tumor free margins.
The tumor had not spread to the underlying muscle, also good news, though it was close to the skin, so they had to take a little more skin than they had planned on.
By now I'm sure that reconstruction (the placement of the expander under the skin has begun, and it is about a 90 minute procedure, then 1-2 hours of recovery time.
More to come...
The tumor had not spread to the underlying muscle, also good news, though it was close to the skin, so they had to take a little more skin than they had planned on.
By now I'm sure that reconstruction (the placement of the expander under the skin has begun, and it is about a 90 minute procedure, then 1-2 hours of recovery time.
More to come...
And So We Wait
Another long day is on tap. The plastic surgeon has vacation scheduled starting this afternoon, so as he was kind enough to squeeze us in, we got to be the first ones on the surgical slate today. Our report time was 5:45AM. Registration and surgical prep took until a little after 8, and the procedures should take until around 12:15 or so. (Hopefully the plastic surgeon won't be in too big a hurry to get to his vacation.)
As a side note, I love modern technology as I'm sitting here in the waiting room on laptop blogging. It sure makes information dissemination easier.
I'll post some more later once we get an update.
As a side note, I love modern technology as I'm sitting here in the waiting room on laptop blogging. It sure makes information dissemination easier.
I'll post some more later once we get an update.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
The Journey
They say life is a journey, not a destination, so instead of a daily summary, I'm going to post a blow by blow account of the day's activities, so we can all walk this road together.
6:00 AM Trela, Eric, and Terry slowly drag themselves out of bed, after a flurry of suds begin the relatively easy drive to Rochester. Trela takes this opportunity to snuggle with Cavanaugh's Pink Puppy and Kile's blankey, and take a nap. (I wish I had a picture.)
9:00 AM We arrived for the appointments. First on the list was Nurse Practitioner, Lori. As with all of the practitioners here at Mayo, Lori had an outstanding couch side manner. She answered almost all of our questions, and put out an APB on answers to questions she didn't know.
(Imagine the voice of Jack Bauer)
The following takes place between the hours of 10 AM and 11 AM
Time for the surgeon and her entourage. Dr. Degnim, a nurse, a student, and her resident stopped by for a group recon mission. After a brief exam and a succinct conversation, we decided on a simple mastectomy with a sentinel node biopsy. The belief is that it is unlikely that there is nodal involvement, but thoroughness is the mantra at this clinic.
The following takes place between the hours of 11 AM and 4 PM
Next up is the oncology crew. Dr. Okuno is preceded by his fellowship student, who does yet another exam. This is probably the best appointment of the day because we got so many answers. Trela was immediately comfortable with Dr. Okuno as he had lived in Chicago and knew the location of Super Dawg. (I can think of other reasons to trust a physician, but I try to steer clear of Trela's logic.) During this eventful appointment, we charted our course for the next several months. More or less.
First as many of you already know, the surgery is the main intervention, however Dr. Okuno recommended a preventive course of chemo, which we also expected. The chemo will likely be administered as a combination 2 different drug regimens 5x weekly for 3 weeks with one week off. That 4 week cycle will be repeated 4x with each drug as I understand. We're not certain of these timetables, our brains have somewhat filled up by this point.
Also, while we expected the mastectomy, we weren't quite prepared for the next 2 hours. After a phone consultation with the radiation oncologist (at some point radiation may be part of the treatment, that is still unclear) we learned it would be advisable to begin reconstruction at the same time as the mastectomy.
After a quick meeting with Dr. Williams who we had consulted with 2 weeks ago, we were shuttled over to the plastic surgeon, weighed, measured, and photographed for posterity. No lunch for us today!
That sentinel node scan to find the location for biopsy took up the next 90 minutes and after the 5th gown of the day was changed back to street clothes, we went directly to pre-admission at the business office, followed by an Anne Rice experience to count some white blood cells before surgery.
4PM and we are ready for a nap!
On the bright side, after a phone call to the Hotel de Grammie, we were informed that potty training efforts are showing signs of success. (Signs of success in potty training are pretty visible) **authors note: Trela strongly objects to the imagery of the previous statement, as well as any grammietical or punktuation arrors kontaied with in.
6:00 AM Trela, Eric, and Terry slowly drag themselves out of bed, after a flurry of suds begin the relatively easy drive to Rochester. Trela takes this opportunity to snuggle with Cavanaugh's Pink Puppy and Kile's blankey, and take a nap. (I wish I had a picture.)
9:00 AM We arrived for the appointments. First on the list was Nurse Practitioner, Lori. As with all of the practitioners here at Mayo, Lori had an outstanding couch side manner. She answered almost all of our questions, and put out an APB on answers to questions she didn't know.
(Imagine the voice of Jack Bauer)
The following takes place between the hours of 10 AM and 11 AM
Time for the surgeon and her entourage. Dr. Degnim, a nurse, a student, and her resident stopped by for a group recon mission. After a brief exam and a succinct conversation, we decided on a simple mastectomy with a sentinel node biopsy. The belief is that it is unlikely that there is nodal involvement, but thoroughness is the mantra at this clinic.
The following takes place between the hours of 11 AM and 4 PM
Next up is the oncology crew. Dr. Okuno is preceded by his fellowship student, who does yet another exam. This is probably the best appointment of the day because we got so many answers. Trela was immediately comfortable with Dr. Okuno as he had lived in Chicago and knew the location of Super Dawg. (I can think of other reasons to trust a physician, but I try to steer clear of Trela's logic.) During this eventful appointment, we charted our course for the next several months. More or less.
First as many of you already know, the surgery is the main intervention, however Dr. Okuno recommended a preventive course of chemo, which we also expected. The chemo will likely be administered as a combination 2 different drug regimens 5x weekly for 3 weeks with one week off. That 4 week cycle will be repeated 4x with each drug as I understand. We're not certain of these timetables, our brains have somewhat filled up by this point.
Also, while we expected the mastectomy, we weren't quite prepared for the next 2 hours. After a phone consultation with the radiation oncologist (at some point radiation may be part of the treatment, that is still unclear) we learned it would be advisable to begin reconstruction at the same time as the mastectomy.
After a quick meeting with Dr. Williams who we had consulted with 2 weeks ago, we were shuttled over to the plastic surgeon, weighed, measured, and photographed for posterity. No lunch for us today!
That sentinel node scan to find the location for biopsy took up the next 90 minutes and after the 5th gown of the day was changed back to street clothes, we went directly to pre-admission at the business office, followed by an Anne Rice experience to count some white blood cells before surgery.
4PM and we are ready for a nap!
On the bright side, after a phone call to the Hotel de Grammie, we were informed that potty training efforts are showing signs of success. (Signs of success in potty training are pretty visible) **authors note: Trela strongly objects to the imagery of the previous statement, as well as any grammietical or punktuation arrors kontaied with in.
Monday, July 17, 2006
115 degrees. Fortunately the technical genius waited until late in the 8th inning to show us the temperature on the field... fortunately our seats remained feet, then inches away from sunlight for nearly the entire game. Seeing Pujols homer in an otherwise relatively uneventful game didn't hurt either. (I know, I know, I'm a complete traitor to my Northwest side Chicago roots. If it helps I still can't stand to watch the Cards play the Cubs...)
We're getting ready to leave for Rochester early tomorrow morning for my series of appointments beginning at 9am. I feel as if perhaps I should be more nervous, but I've been so overwhelmed by support recently it's really carrying me through. I wanted to make sure to tell you how much I appreciate all of the comments left on this blog -- especially by people who don't really know me at all (ok, my sister's friends rock, that much is clear). Fewer of my friends have posted anything but I know that's because they're too busy calling me to see what I need, to remind me they are there practically at my beck and call. It's been hard for me to ask for help, but I'm getting better!
My co-workers and I spent a great evening making 12 gourmet meals through Everyone's a Chef -- such a great gesture that we'll continue to reap the benefits of! (everyonesachef.com, by the way... they're in Cedar Falls). Your thoughtfulness humbles me.
On that note, I'm off to finish packing and get some sleep before tomorrow. Eric will post sometime Wednesday I'd imagine. I'm going to be too busy concentrating on kicking this thing in it's ugly little tail. Carpe diem. - Trela
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