Tuesday on Saturday

That IS a strange title for a post but... The alpaca female, Breezy Tuesday... The one I thought might have slipped her pregnancy... She delivered a gorgeous white male cria at about 5 am this morning. She gestated for 368 days (342 is more typical for alpacas) and whadda know, she WAS pregnant. :)

Meeting with Dr. Kubba

We met with Dr. Kubba to talk one more time before my surgery. He said my blood work looks excellent and was not able to find any abnormal nodes upon palpation. That's all good... He previously has told me that it's not really significant that I feel WELL or that my blood work is normal but the further away we get from the scan the more significant he seems to think it is because I would probably be experiencing some "B" symptoms by now. (night sweats, fevers, weight loss - I wish, etc.). I have to admit, I'm encouraged. I keep reminding myself that most hodgkin's patients are actually cured with the first line chemo. I SO want to be one of them. We also discussed what will happen if my biopsy is unfavorable. Just as I have read - what they call "salvage" chemotherapy (that just sounds awful, doesn't it?) to get me back into remission will come first and is preparation for the transplant. I would then be given other strong chemo agents to stimulate the release of stem cells in my marrow to be released into my peripheral blood. Those stem cells will be harvested and stored. Then follows the fun, high-dose chemo and total body irradiation to kill any lingering cancerous cells and to destroy my marrow. After this, my previously harvested stem cells would be returned to me by IV. With any luck the new stem cells would engraft in my bones and begin production of WBCs, RBCs and platelets beginning 10 - 21 days after the transplant. This I would like to avoid. Still no crias. Just in case you don't know me and have just happened to stumble upon my blog you should know, my husband (Brad) and I raise alpacas. We currently own about 30 of them and we are expecting approx. 9 crias between now and the end of May.

Weekend away

We returned home a few hours ago from a very fun weekend "away." We have girls due so we didn't want to go too far away. The compromise was to go to Anaheim where we stayed at a nice Marriott. We did some shopping at South Coast Plaza and spent two half days at Disneyland. It was wonderful! Still waiting on those crias.

Lock and load

I just LOVE it when Denny Crane says that...

Had a chest X-ray today and yesterday blood pulled to run all of the pre-op testing. I registered at the hopsital for my surgery so we just have to check in on the "big day." When I registered with admitting the gal gave me a bottle of very creepy antibacterial body wash to use when I shower before going to the hospital. Oh boy. LET'S GET THIS OVER WITH!

We are waiting for crias right now. Roberta's girl Tuesday is past due (did she slip her pregnancy??) and our beautiful Foxy is just due with a Snow Hawke cria. I am SO hoping the girls behave and have their crias when we can be here to help.

Tests, tests and more tests!

I met with Dr. Mehta yesterday afternoon. It was nice to see him, it had been awhile. We talked about whether or or I was making a good decision in having this surgery and we both think I am. This is not to says that I'm not extremely anxious about it. I expressed the concern that Dr. Rau wouldn't find anything when he got in there. Dr. Mehta thinks he will and said Dr. Rau told him he planned to sample a variety of tissues during the surgery to obtain a good sample. Ick! Would someone please wake me when this is over? Apparently it will take from 1 - 2 weeks to get the pathology results back. I'll just be barely getting back to work by then. While I was there they ran an EKG and the results were good. I need to get blood pulled and have a chest X-ray this week too. I also met with a new optometrist today. She was very nice and gave an impressive exam. I'll be trying a new brand of contact lenses that are designed for folks like me who sleep in their lenses. I also ordered a nifty pair of new glasses. Tomorrow I am off to the dentist to start the last "project" in my mouth - replacing an old crown. Chemo was awful on my teeth. So far I've replaced a major bridge, had major work in my front teeth and replaced 2 crowns. Even with our great insurance this has been a big investment.

Pre-op meeting

I have an appointment on Monday with Dr. Mehta to take care of all of my pre-op testing for my upcoming surgery. They will do blood work, an EKG and I think arrange for me to have a chest X-ray. I have an eye exam that morning too and a dental appointment on Wednesday. I'm trying to take care of everything possible before surgery. Sounds like fun. I am just beginning Spring break. 10 days off, what a great concept!

State of mind

Just thought I would say a little about where my head is right now. The first thing I have to say is how much I love my husband Brad and how much I appreciate all he does for me. Brad is always there when I need him. He is by my side at all of my doctor appointments and he is my strength. Since learning of the suspicious nodes late last December I have been pretty freaked out. Pretty much curled up in a ball and "not accepting new information" scared. Recently... I feel better. I've worked thru a lot of the "issues" in my mind and we have begun putting a plan into action. With any luck this will be a false alarm and we will get back to our lives. Fingers are crossed.

Meeting with Dr. Rau

We met with Dr. Rau yesterday. My surgery is scheduled for April 5, 2012. I was hoping this surgery wouldn't be as invasive as the original biopsy but no such luck. I will be in the hospital for 4 - 5 days then 2 weeks at home to recover. It will probably be 2 - 3 weeks before we have biopsy results. As you may know about me - patience is not my best virtue. :)

And it begins again

I find myself having to come to terms with likely fighting round two of "Lisa versus Cancer." I had a CT scan late in December 2011 that showed some enlarged lymph nodes in my groin. This led to my oncologist ordering a PET scan which took place in January and showed some new, active lymph nodes next to my iliac artery - pretty much the same area as my original cancer. While the nodes in my groin were enlarged they weren't "hot" on the PET scan. Maybe the cancer is limited to the one area. Here's the rub... Because of the location of the suspicious nodes the only way to get at them for a biopsy is excisional surgery. Oh joy! I meet with the surgeon, Dr. Richard Rau this Monday, March 12, 2012 at noon. We will schedule my surgery then and find out how much this is going to disrupt our lives and my classes. This will be surgery number six. I wonder how many of my former students I'll see this time at the hospital? :)