Sunday, November 23, 2008

Weekend Update

Well, it is 6:30 Sunday evening and I'm not in bed yet, which my sister pointed out to me is a big improvement! I know I'm feeling better because I want to tell everyone I see, "I don't wear my hair this way usually, really!" I can already tell this disease is going to remove any sense of vanity I had.

Actually, yesterday and today were very good days. I was exhausted yesterday evening, probably because I hadn't slept for more than an hour or two at a time since I got my diagnosis. I finally gave in and took an Ativan the doctor gave me, convinced Joe to take one, too, and we both got some real sleep for the first time in a while.

We went yesterday for my PET CT scan. This was an easy test. They just inject (I'm getting really good at needles!) some kind of glucose stuff (poor word choice my students would be quick to point out to me!), make you wait an hour, and then take x-ray films. This test will tell us if the cancer cells have spread to any organs other than my breast. The technician was really nice and explained the whole thing in lots of detail. When we told him Joe was leaving Tuesday morning to go back to NJ for Thanksgiving, he made it a stat order and we should have the results tomorrow afternoon. Tomorrow, I go for a bone scan to make sure it hasn't spread to my bones. If the cancer has stayed localized to my breast and local lymph nodes, I'm considered stage IIIB. If it has spread anywhere beyond that, it is stage IV. I've read of people who have survived years after being diagnosed with stage IV, but Joe and I are really hoping the tests come back negative.

Pam and I took Janaya to a repo. car sale today because she had seen a Nissan 350Z on the lot yesterday and she wanted to have a closer look. She took it for a test drive and we haggled around with the salesman for a while, but she's not quite ready to make the commitment to a regular car payment. Plus, it was the wrong color!

Then, I met my good friend, Liesl from school, at the dog park. It was good to just talk and be normal for a bit.

I love everyone's wonderful comments. Thank you!

Till next time,
Martha

2 comments:

Carol Dunton said...

Hi Martha! Umm...you did a lot more than me this weekend!! I'm so glad that you were able to meet up with Liesl and enjoy this gorgeous weather!! I am really curious about this 'repo' car lot...Mags needs a car but I'm not having much luck in finding a good used one for a good price, so do fill me in on the details next time! I'm glad you and Joe were able to get some rest...that is so important for anyone, but not always easy to come by. Tell the family 'hi' for me and I'll be touching base with you soon! xoxox
Carol

The SAB team said...

The whole SAB team has you in our thoughts and prayers. We are all pulling together so Joe can concentrate on being there for you and not having to worry about things here. He's always said that he wanted to create a work environment that resembled a family and truly your family is here for both of you right now.
Thanks for opening your blog to us so Joe doesn't have to individually keep answering all of our questions! We hope you both know how much we care and are their for you in any way you need.
Sending big Hugs your way!