In Sickness and in Health

 Today Jason and I celebrate our 19th Anniversary!



We started the "celebration" with a 1:55AM wake up call to take Nolan to school for his trip to Washington, D.C.!  An update on his day: first flight out of Des Moines was delayed 2 hours so they missed their Dallas connection.  After eating lunch they were bused to a different Dallas airport, where he will fly to St. Louis and arrive in DC 12 hours late, at about 9PM.  Hopefully.  He did have to check his carry-on luggage, so it will be interesting to see where that ends up.  I think he's having fun with friends!  I am proud of my "it's out of my circle of control" attitude.

Jason and I fell back asleep between 4-5, the birds and sun wake up early in the summer.  Then Jason worked for a bit and we went to my Radiation Oncology appointment with Dr. Bodine.  We found out that he also has a 7th grade boy who goes to Nolan's school.  They were in choir and show choir together- he thought we looked familiar.  Hooray! Now he's seen my boobs!  Alas, last summer I read The Radium Girls and became a little obsessed with that story.  I even made Jason and Nolan go out of their way to see where one of the plants once stood in Illinois on the way to Chicago.  Dr. Bodine assured me my radiation treatment will have none of those effects.  

I was able to have a CAT scan today as well as the marking and mapping needed, to start radiation.  Last summer I received my first "tats" (microbladed eyebrows), this summer 4 dots.  One on each side of my body and 2 on my sternum.  Think of the Friends episode when Phoebe gets the "whole world" tattooed on her body.  That's me now!  Times 4!  I will start radiation the day after we get back from our trip.  July 8!  I will have 3 weeks, 5 days a week of radiation on my whole right breast and 1 week targeted where the tumor was.  So perhaps, if all goes as planned, August 2 will be the last radiation.


Jason had a call for work and I took a short nap, then had a consult with a counselor.  I've been on anxiety medication for about 7 years (2017, what was going on that year...!!?? Rhetorical.) and saying "I need to find a therapist/counselor," for at least that long.  This diagnosis finally made me actually do it.  The consult was pretty low key.  My first real appointment will be 6/26.

While we're at it, yesterday I had an appointment with my Medical Oncologist Dr. Schultheis.  My Oncotype score was 15!  That means no chemo!  I was VERY nervous about that appointment as my last post discussed.  Because of my dad's pulmonary embolism a few years ago, I had some blood drawn and am waiting results of a genetic test to see if I am a blood clot risk.  If I am not (this is the hope), I will be on Tamoxifen, starting after radiation, for 10 years!  This and the radiation decrease the likelihood of recurrence.  

As I type this and continuously reflect, I know how lucky I am.  No one ever wants to hear that they have cancer.  It's scary!  We hear more about the bad stories than the good, survival stories.  The people I know who have died stay top of mind more than the people who have survived and are thriving.  And my how many survivors there are!  The tests since my diagnosis have been positive.  I know not all cases are like this, and I felt guilt grumbling about my concern about chemo.  For many that isn't even a discussion, nor is a lumpectomy vs mastectomy.  I am lucky.  I KNOW I am lucky.  But also, I still grumble and have a pity party from time to time, and I'm going to keep writing about it.  Everybody has something.  Also.  GET YOUR PHYSICALS AND MAMMOGRAMS!  I am a poster child for early screening.

Jason.  Happy 19th Anniversary!  Jason and I started dating the summer before our senior year of high school.  June 20, 1999.  We have been together longer than we were apart.  Jason is swamped at work, he is the Assistant Scout Master and in charge of summer camp for Nolan's Boy Scout Troop, he is also the assistant coach for Nolan's baseball team (he even "gets" to coach a game while Nolan is in DC).  He has insisted on coming to all of my appointments, even though I know that buries him farther.  He would have it no other way.  I cannot imagine a better partner to have by my side through all of this and everything.  I'm hoping, aside from residual random appointments, my cancer "journey" will be about four months from diagnosis to end of radiation.  I am hoping we never have another hurdle like this.  The "in Health" part is a lot more fun than the "in Sickness" part of the wedding vows, though we'll make the best of whatever we're thrown.

                                                          

   Ally thinks today is very confusing.

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