Dr Givens appointment went well too. He was able to show us my PET Scan on the computer, which was very nice to see. It showed 3 highlighted areas. One on my right side, my left breast area (topical skin) & the possibility of lymph nodes in my left armpit. This was of no surprise to us. We had known about these areas before that is why we were doing this round of chemo. He said we would be able to radiate those 3 areas since they had not been radiated the first time around. I guess they can only radiate a specific spot once? I wasn't aware of that. So he scheduled me for my radiation simulation on Monday February 10th.
I went in for my radiation simulation this morning, 9am. The nurse told me to expect to be there an hour maybe less. Ha! Two hours later I walked out the door. Seriously they should just say expect to be in the office all day & when you aren't there all day you can be happy! I am not sure how the elderly do it;) So I climb up on the table & they fit me into my new bean bag contraption. I lay on my back with my arms above my head, head facing the right side & they mold the bean bag to fit snuggly around my shoulder & up area. I have to lay there for about 20 minutes while they do all the markings, I look like a purple sharpie exploded on my chest area. I have all kinds of dots, lines & stickers on me. Of course they say to try & keep these on until they see me next, which I am not for sure when I will be back. I hope they stay:) I am in out of the scanner in about 10-15 minutes. And we are all done. Dr Givens says that we will be stopping Chemo for the time being. He & Dr Manges think it is best if I just concentrate on Radiation right now & pick up with Chemo after Radiation. He thinks that I will do approximately 4 weeks of daily Radiation. He wants to get me done quickly so I can get back to Chemo. These aren't exact yet Dr Givens is going to go over my tests, simulations etc. before making his final plan for me. The nurse said that they would call me with my exact timeline as soon as Dr Givens gets it finished. I am hoping to either start by the end of this week or early next. I will still be meeting with Dr Manges on Monday February 17th but no chemo that day. SO that means I will get to feel better for quite a while now!!! YIPPEE!
I am still seeing my wound care nurses for the open wounds that I have on both sides of my chest. I will continue to see her once or twice a week until I have my skin graft surgery with Dr Hsiao. The nurse said today that things are looking better it is just going to take some time. Of course it is. I guess all I have is time right now.
Much Love,
Megan
