Time for a boost

Sorry I've been so lax about updating - but I'm going to blame it on the busted computer. The last couple of weeks have been a little hectic and I just got back from a trip to San Francisco which was great and totally neccessary after a week of too many medical appointments.

First off - I'm done with the main set of radiation treatments and on to the 5 days of boosts. That means they are irradiating a smaller area closer to the surface to try and make sure there are no cancer cells lurking in the scar or skin. I am just happy that it means that my underarm will be out of the field of treatment as it was kind of a mess last week. I will be done with radiation (and treatment :)) next Wednesday. Though I do get to start taking Tamoxifen soon.

San Francisco was great - I got to see a bunch of folks, eat a lot of good food and have 4 whole days without lasers irradiating my body. I've decided that there is nowhere better to recuperate and recover one's sanity than Ellen and Rob's and have already told them to be on call for my (next?) breakdown. Of course, knowing one can run a sanitarium in one's home might give them more career options.

The week before I left was another story. It is never good when you end up sobbing in a catholic school parking lot - especially when you are jewish.

On Monday my underarm really started to hurt. The skin was tired of being irradiated and after meeting with the physical therapist, I had been doing some exercises that involved scooping out that area. (Yes, I do in fact have lymphedema which required buying a compression sleeve and glove for flying.) The skin was raw and red and in a couple of places looked like it was totally scraped away. I talked to folks at Radiation about it at Wednesday's appointment and they were very sympathetic and gave me more creams and lotions and tried reassuring me that it looked way better than what other people had at this point in treatment. They did suggest I take some narcotics at night for the pain and to help me sleep - something I hadn't been doing very much of because it hurt so much.

Later that day, I also met with the orthopedist, who confirmed I had a break in my elbow - he thought the wrist was okay but might have had torn ligaments. It was healing and he thought the fact that I had stopped wearing the sling was a good thing. He signed off on the trips to CA and Europe and sent me on my way, with the pronouncement that I am a tough cookie - I think that is a medical diagnosis. Wednesday evening I took a percocet which helped with the pain but didn't really lead to my sleeping.

Which takes us to Thursday - a day where I had radiation at 9:00, an appointment with my oncologist at 10:30, followed by bloodwork and mediport cleaning. Then I had a lunch reservation at 1:15(Kinkaed's which was delicious) and physical therapy at 4:00. Well the percocet didn't help me sleep (3rd night with little sleep) but did make me kind of spacy and weepy to be driving around.

I went to Radiation and then headed over to G-town. Well traffic was horrible but I had plenty of time. I turned from Wisconsin onto Reservoir Rd and then had to turn left because the street was closed. What followed was 30 minutes of circling and trying to get to the hospital only to be faced with yet another blocked street. No sleep, narcotics and it hurt everytime I turned the steering wheel. I ended up at the other side of G-town and asked about what roads were open only to be told things that weren't true. None of the dozens of folks blocking the streets or tearing up the roads could tell me what streets were open and how I could get to the hospital.
15 minutes in I was sobbing as I drove. 30 minutes in I turned into what I thought was a side entrance to the University but was a Catholic High School. The parking guard and a passing nun took pity on me and tried calming me down. They suggested I just leave my car parked somewhere and walk - and then said I could leave my car in their parking lot. I'm hoping I would have realized I could have just stopped and parked my car on my own if I was a little less spacy or in less pain. In any case - the car was parked and on my way out of their campus the parking guard asked for my name and phone number so the sister could pray for me and handed me a rosary. It was great to have people be nice. I made it to the hospital, and to my other appointments and it all went okay if it was a little hectic.


Can someone explain to me why DC decided to repave the streets in September. Couldn't they have done it while all the schools along Reservoir were closed and no one was around in August? Also, shouldn't there be signs posted as to how to detour to the hospital? It's a hospital for god's sake - what if someone was actually hurt?

That night I met some friends for dinner and drinks and have to admit a couple of strawberry-lychee champagne drinks at Founding Farmers worked much better at getting me to sleep. I took off the next day to California - thanks to Lek, Peggy and Tammy for making my airport time so easy in each direction - and I managed to do it without breaking into tears at all.

United let me check my bag onto an earlier connecting flight, let me go on that flight (we won't ask why I was booked with a 3 hour layover in the first place when my physical airplane was the one going from San Diego to SF) and a gate agent on the red-eye back changed my seat to an economy plus bulkhead window seat. (We won't talk about the fact that if you by the economy plus up-grade in advance and then change your flight you are supposed to lose the up-grade.)

Now, I'm back and feel like I probably can handle the last few days of radiation. My arm and skin look okay and I will be happy for this to be over and to move on to my year of beautification. (How we will be referring to the plastic surgery.)