Recap - A Way In

One of the hardest parts of this process (and granted it is still early) was the waiting to start. Because of the discrepancy between the ultrasound and the MRI, I ended up getting a second MRI done and then (which I think is protocol for any diagnosis) a cat scan to check if there was any evidence that the tumor had spread. Getting blood tests done has always been somewhat of an issue for me - I need to let the phlebotomist know my blood pressure is low and the needle seems to roll out after it seems like it is in. This was a positive aspect of being exposed to British beef in the 1980s - being disqualified from giving blood meant I didn't have to think about voluntarily going through the process due to the importance of donating blood. This hasn't been much of an issue with my blood tests at Lombardi - thank you Mohan, but any of the diagnostic tests that required contrast being injected has been a bit of an ordeal.

In the public service part of this blog - IF YOU ARE HAVING PEOPLE ACCESS YOUR VEINS DRINK PLENTY OF WATER !!! I thought most people know this and I am obsessive about it but according to my mom this was news to her. So being hydrated helps a lot. My problems are usually caused by the fact that often - you aren't allowed to drink (or eat) for a certain number of hours before tests. Apparently I do not store water and 2-4 hours (for the cat scan) was enough to make getting the contrast in a problem. That and drinking enough water when one is swigging banana barium smoothies doesn't always work. (Barium wasn't so terrible, use a straw and I did think the vanilla was better than the banana.)

The technicians couldn't get a line in for the cat scan - after the very patient technician couldn't get a line in she called over another person. Usually this involves the vein wrangler or the person who has the touch - well in the case of my cat scan it involved someone who just didn't take no for an answer - the new person just bullied her way in. That night my vein was tender, which turned into a huge bruise and after checking that it wasn't an allergic reaction and I could wait to check in with my doctor the next day I was on-line looking for possible home remedies to make vein accessing easier. Alas, there really isn't any suggestion of upping ones blood pressure through salty junk food eating but they did talk about mediports - or more permanent lines that were surgically put in under the skin to make access easier.

Of course, on line the examples were for people's aged diabetic parents who had vein issues. I was ready to conclude that there must be some karmic mistake - after all if I am not physiologically built to handle chemo - I can't have cancer right? I figured it was worth bringing up options and questions with the doctor. The next day I met with my breast surgeon who confirmed that the tumor was large, reconfirmed they were pretty sure about the pathology and weren't nervous about the delay in surgery and that she and the oncologist confirmed I was a good candidate to do chemo first. She reviewed my blood and test results and confirmed there didn't seem to be evidence of it spreading and then we talked about treatment.

I asked if there was anything to be done about my uncooporeative veins and she brought up the mediport. In the last few years she said that most of her patients who had chemo ended up having the port inserted. It is out-patient surgery and we scheduled her to do it the week after Thanksgiving. It is sad how giddy I was about this news. Not only could I get the port - I didn't have to be the equivalent of an 80 year old to justify it. My friend who accompanies me, BoSoxFox, thought it was a little funny that I seemed happier about the mediport than about the positive test results.

In the end my breast doctor didn't do the surgery due to timing issues and my getting it done earlier in the week. And the surgery was slightly more traumatic due to the irony that they couldn't get an iv into my hands or arm to do the mediport surgery. 10 hours no liquid - good luck finding a vein. But they did the surgery after accessing a big vein directly - I have the mediport and while it does bulge out a little I am so excited to have it. It made having my first chemo easier than I expected. And set me on my path to recovery.

Next time I'll talk chemo and introduce Jackie and Kiki - the two (styrofoam) heads that hold my wigs for when I need them.