I'm tired - it's been a long (and emotional) day, so not sure how many details I'll feel up to trying to remember and post here. But whatever I don't get to tonight, I"ll get to tomorrow.
The day began with another long-ish walk with my dog, Jessie, in the park. A lovely walk - the great blue heron who seems to have moved in to this park chose the moment we walked by to lift from the little float on which he (or she) spends most of his (or her) time, and floated across the pond toward us and alighted on those long legs only a few feet away from us. So ... a nice beginning to the day.
Okay, down to brass tacks. David and I met with the oncologist. In a nutshell, here's the scoop. Apparently 80% of uterine cancers are cancers affecting the uterine lining. My tumor - I had my own tumor, how about that? sounds so personal, so private, proprietary, even possessive, doesn't it? -- MY tumor was (key word there - WAS - no more tumor, bye bye tumor and good riddance) - my tumor was in a different layer of the uterus, I can't remember what it's called, but it is more rare - I think he said 5% of uterine cancers are this type. Also there is some sort of "rate" associated with different tumors, like a slower and a faster rate or something like that, and "my" tumor was determined to be of the "faster" type. Okay, but now for some good news. The good news includes the fact that they feel they removed all of the tumor when they did the hysterectomy, that the lymph nodes did not show signs of being affected. Also the CT scan that was done before my surgery didn't show any other "lit up" organs or whatever. The not as good news is that the tumor itself had grown through the uterine wall or actually, I think the doctor said just right to the outside of the uterine wall. That fact causes them to "stage" -- a whole new meaning in that use of the term "stage" -- my (former) tumor as stage 3a. I guess if it was still INside the uterus completely it would be stage 2. Oh well...
Treatment - some time this week I will meet with the medical oncologist who will actually carry out the treatment. Also I will be assigned and meet an oncology nurse who will be assigned to my case throughout the treatment. The first thing is chemo - 3 chemo sessions, 3 weeks apart. Those will be followed by 5 weeks of radiation (Monday through Friday, weekends off - I assume I will need the days off to rest. He said the radiation is cumulatively very tiring) Then after the 5 weeks of radiation, 3 more chemo sessions, once again 3 weeks between them. The whole thing to take about 4 months. I asked if I could possibly start next week, and that seems possible, but I guess the actual date will have to wait until I meet the medical oncologist.
So, I actually felt much better after the meeting. (By the way, I met the woman who blurted out the treatment news to me and she apologized sincerely, as did the doctor, again.) There is something about knowing what's up vs. imagining the worst and then thinking, oh, even that's not as bad as it could be, it's likely worse that the worst. I guess that's the human brain. Now it just seems like facts to be dealt with. Let's go kill any stray cancer cells that think they still have squatters' rights.
So for all of you who bore through reading all of the foregoing, I am including a little reward for you. A photo of my beautiful grandson on his 3rd birthday, Saturday - October 31st.
And thanks and love from me to each of you.
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