Sunday, August 12, 2012

Life is good......

We can’t always choose the music life plays for us, but we can choose how we dance to it.  – Unknown.

I’m BAAAAAACK!!  Yup, it’s me.  Been awhile, eh?!!  I took a mighty long hiatus from blogging.  Sorry ‘bout that.  Truth be known – there hasn’t been much to write about, which is a GOOD thing.  Well, I could find plenty to write about, but this blog is really about “No More Bras” and my journey with breast cancer, and I’m so happy to say that there hasn’t been much at all to write about along those lines.  I like to consider “that” a thing of the past.  I have moved on and really don’t focus much at all on it anymore, which is a wonderful feeling.  However, every once in awhile, something brings back the reality of it all or, rather, I’m somehow once again immersed in the medical throes of it all, which is what has happened this past week.  Don’t panic……nothing major……

We returned from our fabulous 3 months in St. Augustine on August 1st.  Nice to get back to Merritt Island but hated to leave that beautiful area.  I had scheduled several necessary appointments shortly after our return.  The first (and probably most important!) appointment was with my wonderful hairstylist, Lisa, who did a great job of fixing the hair that I have hated for the last 4 months.  She colored it, highlighted it, cut it, and styled it……and I am SO much happier.  It’s still hard for me to get used to how curly and short it is, but I really like how easy it is to “maintain” when it’s short. 

The next appointment was on Monday, August 6th, with Dr. Sprawls for a followup visit and blood work.  My appointment was for 9:00, they put me in the room at 8:58, and Dr. Sprawls walked in at 9:05!  Amazing, eh?!  AND…..he spent about 45 minutes with me!!  And I’m not even sick.  I felt sorry for the poor people he kept waiting on my behalf, but I felt honored that he spent so much time with me.  We talked about various things, with most of the talk centering on the DVT (blood clot) still present in my leg.  I told him about my upcoming road trip (combined with several airplane flights), which he said was fine as long as I did Lovenox injections prophylactically each morning before a long day in the car or in the air.  Not Lovenox injections!!  UGH!!  Okay, I agreed to it because I don’t want ANYTHING to jeopardize this trip (which I’ll tell you more about in a minute).  He did an exam, and said everything is fine.  He said he wants to follow me more closely than most patients; i.e., he wants to see me in 4 months instead of the usual 6 – I think because of the DVT and because of the staging of my breast cancer.  SO, my next appointment is for blood work 12/14 and a followup visit 12/21. 

On Tuesday, I had a dentist appointment to discuss the tooth I broke while in St. Augustine and to finalize plans for the other 3 problem teeth.  Unfortunately, the tooth I broke was separate from the others – sure would have been nice if it was one of the ones that was already a problem.  But, no, we had to add a fourth tooth to the mix.  Of course, it will need a crown with buildup (cha ching).  And we concluded that I would have teeth numbers 1 (a wisdom tooth) and 15 (a molar) pulled (I had already had a consultation with an oral surgeon in July); once #1 was out of the way, he could fill the cavity in #2. 

On Wednesday, I called Space Coast Cancer Center and requested a copy of the results of Monday’s blood work be faxed to me.  I read through it and noticed the D-Dimer test was elevated at 1.2 (range is less than 0.5).  That kinda freaked me out because that’s the test that has to do with my DVT, although I’m not real knowledgeable about what exactly it all means, etc.  I just knew it was not good news.  And I was especially concerned because I was scheduled to have my 2 teeth pulled on Thursday morning, and I didn’t know if this would affect that.  I called SCCC back and asked them about it.  The nurse said she would call Dr. Sprawls and get back to me.  He said it was fine to go ahead with the oral surgery and that he would call me and discuss the D-Dimer results.

On Thursday, Dr. Sprawls called me just before I was leaving to go have the teeth yanked.  Yes, the D-Dimer is positive, and he wants me to go back on Lovenox injections (higher dose than the prophylactic ones for the trip) and Coumadin!  Eeeh gads!!  That really shook me up.  I asked him if it was possible that it was a false positive, and he said we could do another test if I want.  I WANT!!  Please keep all your fingers and toes crossed for me that it was a false positive!  I need low numbers on the next test!  I DO NOT want to go back on Lovenox (belly injections) OR Coumadin.  Not to mention that the Lovenox costs about $700 for a one week supply!  Is that outrageous or what??!! 

Had the teeth pulled on Thursday -- $450 for half an hour’s work!  I could have paid another $500 and been knocked out, but I opted for the novocaine or whatever they use (local anesthesia).  It all went fine; he had to work pretty hard on one of the teeth -- a lot of yanking and pulling.  Still have a little residual soreness but nothing much.  I go back to the oral surgeon on Monday for a checkup.  The following week I start the crown work.

Once all the dental work is out of the way, I can start the Zometa infusions, which will hopefully be in mid-September. 

Okay, that gets us all caught up on the “medical stuff”…..I think…..  I’ll keep you posted on the next D-Dimer test, which will be sometime this coming week.

Now let me backtrack just a tad.  St. Augustine was absolutely wonderful.  We spent 3 months as campground hosts at Anastasia State Park.  We were responsible for 2 loops of campsites and for the bathhouse in between those 2 loops – cleaning the sites after campers left and before the next campers arrived, and cleaning the bathhouse/restroom once a day. We worked 3 days on/3 days off and received a free campsite in exchange for our services.  We had some great neighbors, – fellow volunteers.  We also reconnected with our dear friends, Brenda and Paul, and spent lots of time with them.  Paul and Ken used to sail together on tugboats before they went “deep sea” and worked on ships.  Brenda and Paul just recently moved back to Florida and live about half an hour south of St. Augustine.  They also hosted an “old salts” convention at their condo, and Judy and Bobby (Bobby also sailed with Ken and Paul on the tugboats) came over from Orlando for the festivities.  Fun weekend! 

Janice and Fred (Ken’s brother) spent a week with us in St. Augustine, which was great fun.  They stayed in the guest house (a.k.a. pop-up camper), which worked out very well, except that it was brutally hot (as Florida tends to be in the summer!) when they were down.  We had a grand ol’ time anyway! 

In mid-June, Mom asked me if I had checked the mail lately.  I hadn’t.  Because we weren’t expecting any mail in St. Augustine.  She told me she had sent something, so I needed to check it.  For the life of me, I could NOT imagine what she had sent because we do most of our communications by email and phone.  Doesn’t everybody?!  Well…….I went and got the mail.  OH MY LORD!!  She had sent me another check for $1000 from anonymous donors!  I’m telling you, this makes me so emotional.  I’m crying as I write this.  I am just so grateful for the outpouring of love and generosity, and you just have no idea how much it means to us.  I deposited the check in the “love fund” account, as Nancy so appropriately named it.  At one point in time, Ken and I had talked about taking a vacation to the Virgin Islands with the money that was left after my deductible was met.  However, we have come to our senses and have decided to be much more realistic and practical.  I’m using the money for my dental work (I have no dental insurance, and it’s going to cost $1843), with the extra going towards next year’s deductible.  And possibly some for Lovenox (if I have to have it) because I have no drug coverage either.  So, again, thank you so much to my loving and generous family and friends of the family for providing me with the means to pay these medical bills.  We appreciate it more than we can ever begin to tell you. 

Kenny, being the funny guy that he is, said to me yesterday, “Open your mouth wide.”  He looked in and said, “So THAT’S what St. John looks like!”  What a jokester.  It’s the right decision.  And I do believe we will get to the Virgin Islands (St. John in particular) one day down the road.  The timing just isn’t right at the moment.

But I DO have a very fun and exciting trip planned!  My sweet, loving, and amazingly wonderful sister has invited me on a road trip!  I'm going to help her drive her son, Jimmy’s, truck from North Carolina to California.  As most of you know, Jimmy recently became a Green Beret (way to go, Jimmy!!) and is now stationed overseas, but his truck is in NC.  SO, Nancy and I will drive it to CA with a stop in Tucson for a week, where Mom and Freeland will fly in for a rendezvous – which we’re really looking forward to!!  These rendezvous (how do you make that plural?) just don’t come often enough!  And we’re hoping to see Uncle John and Karen while in Tucson, too, which will be great fun!  We’ll drive the truck to Carlsbad, CA, spend a few days there, and then fly to Portland, OR for a fun weekend with Jeff and Wendy.  Really looking forward to that, too, because we haven’t spent time with them since the fabulous party in Maine last January!  Then I will fly from Portland to Jacksonville because Kenny will be back in St. Augustine at that point.  We’ll be doing another 6 weeks of campground hosting (from mid-October until the end of November).  Hopefully none of the road trip/flight plans will get nixed by Dr. Sprawls after the next D-Dimer test (prolonged sitting is not a good thing).  When I discussed the plans for the trip with him during our visit last Monday, it was BEFORE the positive D-Dimer test.  I’m trying not to get too worried about things until after the next test……WHICH IS GOING TO BE NEGATIVE!!! 

Unfortunately, I will have to continue to work during the trip, especially since I think I will be losing my job in the not-too-distant future.  But, Nancy, being the wonderful sister that she is, said that we can plan our heavy travel days around my work schedule; i.e., do most of our traveling when I don’t have much work and stay put when I have a lot of work.  I think it will all work out just fine, and I am so looking forward to it!!  Of course, we will take plenty of time to “stop and smell the roses” and get the legs moving/blood circulating. 

Well, once again, I have rambled on way more than I had intended.  It is now time to get outside and go for a walk.  My chiropractor and good friend, Bill, told me that I need to amp up my exercise regimen and try to avoid the prolonged sitting as much as possible.  And he’s right!  I rode my bike to the Pioneer Trail yesterday and today and walked the trail both days – roughly half an hour of biking and 35 minutes of walking.  Gotta keep it up.

Love you all so much!  Sending hugs to every corner of the country!!

Here is a picture of Dr. Sprawls that I took with my phone at Monday's appointment.  Kenny and my Mom both said I need a picture of him so when I'm 87 years old I can thank him for saving my life.  Of course, my Mom said I need a picture of him with me, but I don't like to be in pictures (did I get that from you, Mom?!)






4 comments:

Jean said...

Another interesting and wonderful blog entry, Suzy. The only thing missing is a picture of you with your new hairdo! Will we have to wait until we get to Tucson to see what you look like now? We are SO looking forward to that trip and the long-awaited reunion with you and Nancy! We love you!!!!!!!!!!
Mom

Jean said...

In the middle of the night, I thought of all the other things I meant to say in my comment.
For example: You are such an inspiration, Suzy, to so many people! Your positive, upbeat attitude has helped ME when I am feeling a bit down in the dumps. This all comes through in your blog entries. I think of you, and all you have had to go through, and my troubles seem minimal in comparison. Every time we talk you say you're "feeling great," and that is always so good to hear.
Lots more on my mind but that's enough for now!
I love you!
Mom

Jean said...

Dear Suzy--
I loved reading your latest blog update! It means so much, seeing all of the details of the latest happenings in your life. The only thing that is better is when we're together (can't wait for September!)
I LOVE YOU--
Free

Anonymous said...

I loved your blog post, Suz'....and what an amazing writer you are!! Really....I know exactly what you are going to do when your medical transcription work ends (hopefully it never will!!)....write a book!!!! No doubt about it, sista.....you have a wonderful gift. Anyway, I am happy to see you on the blog again but sad that you are having to deal with all this DVT stuff once again. Hopefully it was a false positive last week and tomorrow's test will be perfect. Mom is right, you are such an inspiration to all of us....always looking at the bright side of things and remaining so positive and upbeat during the biggest battle of your life....of course that you have already conquered!! I am so lucky to have to you in my life...I love you, Suz'.
Nancy