SSD

Just spent 2 hours filling out Social Security Disability forms online (trying vainly to remember dates of old jobs, old school, old medical tests) only to get to the end where they say, "and then print half of this stuff out and take them by your local Social Security office." Um, then why did we do them online? Does that mean they don't trust the internet?

Chemo, week 2

We have a friend, Tina, who is steadily inching out of amateur status with her photography. She took pictures of our hard-to-photograph kitties last year, and we loved them. So when I realized that I might lose my hair soon (and it might be gone for a long time), we asked if she'd be willing to take a more-or-less formal picture of us. She showed up with her fancy lights and filters and reflection umbrellas and stuff, and we had a pretty good time. Towards the end I got tired, and the last hundred pictures will just be me, lying on the couch, laughing at her and Brie. We'll post a couple here if any of them turn out.

We're…fairly happy with our care at Group Health. But there are strange holes in their coverage or procedures or something. Nutrition, for one thing, never seems to be mentioned. So we're spending our own money to see a cancer-focused naturopathic doc at Seattle Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center. Nice people, and it's great to get a second opinion on things. But when we saw them in 2006, they were literally across the street from Group Health, and now they're in RENTON. Argh. Long drive at 8:30am. Basically we're asking for stuff to make chemo less onerous, and ideas on how to support my immune system to make my body's efforts more effective. And as usual with a naturopath, they've prescribed about a million pills a day. Argh, again.

End of radiation, first week of chemo

Okay, healthwise, this week was horrible -- I had high doses of radiation on my gut up until Thursday, and then the first dose of chemo was Friday -- so my gut misery and the chemo combined into one big wretchedness.

But my family really came through. Mom, Mindy, Allison and Julia did the Relay for Life; Shelly and Lissa sent us a care package: boxes of Alaskan goodies; Mindy made me the coolest lap quilt ever -- soft, and just the right weight; Mom dispatched Collin to acquire us a new lounger, once I started spending most of my waking hours horizontal; Viv took it upon herself to make sure that my candy Fridays (cancer likes sugar -- so you're not supposed to eat it; except on chemo days, where you *want* the cancer to be active so the chemo can swat at it) were well supplied…and then Mom and Viv came by Saturday and did yeoman's work in our sadly neglected garden.

I have a good famdamly.

The last week before chemo

The last time we were at Snoqualmie Falls was during chemo back in 2006 (there are lovely hairless pictures of me further down in the blog). Before we'd known a thing about the cancer returning, we'd planned a bike weekend getaway -- working hard biking up there, rewarding ourselves spending the night and having an indulgent breakfast, and then biking home.

By the time of our reservation, the bad news had hit, and I was actually so sick we almost canceled…but hell, they're going to charge us anyway, so we figured we might as well go. Of course we didn't get to bike (grrr), but even though I occasionally felt horrible, it turned out to be a wonderful night in a luxurious room, followed by a beautiful walk along the falls.

Biopsy and MRI updates

A couple of weeks ago, we looked at the tests they'd requested, and thought: huh. They'd ordered a biopsy (yay), but it was a fine-needle aspiration, so they were able to tell it was breast cancer, (i.e.,not tuberculosis), but they weren't able to tell for sure what kind of breast cancer. And they'd ordered a bone scan, but not a brain scan.

So we pushed back, and today was results day. The biopsy was a farce; they choose my adrenal glade, which had a 4 in (10 cm.) tumor: plenty of room for clean cells, right? Nope. After three hours of my hospital time and a couple more days waiting, what they found was a lot of dead cells in my adrenal. (Ick!) And then they had nothing more to say about that, like, "but we'll keep a watch on a big tumor full of dead cells" or "don't you worry about a tumor full of dead cells -- we have a plan for them." Nothing. auck.

So, we still don't know for sure that we have triple negative -- we still don't know for sure that we're making chemo decisions based on the right information.

Also, it turns out I do have a tumor in my brain -- how cool is that. For now, it doesn't change much -- but apparently we may need to take a chemo break and try a "cyber knife" on it if the chemo doesn't shrink it.

Honestly, all of this bad news would be easier except that I've pretty much been miserable since the steroids wore off Saturday morning. Thankfully, we're seeing the oncologist tomorrow, so hopefully they'll have some ideas about how to make me feel better (before my whining leads B to terrible things).