Well, I just spent 30 minutes writing a blog entry, only to have hit the wrong button and lost everything. Oh, well, I'll give it another shot. So frustrating.
I'm officially on my final leg of this journey -- at least what I hope will be the final leg. Radiation treatments begin Monday morning at 9:00 a.m. I met with my radiation oncologist, Dr. Susan Salter, on Tuesday. She's young but seems to know what she's doing. Just like with Drs. Bondly and Winchester, I felt an immediate connection with her. I feel so blessed to have good, compassionate doctors who are easy to talk to, who spend time answering all my silly questions and who I have confidence in their skills, opinions and treatments.
I will be having a total of 36 radiation treatments -- 26 whole breast treatments and 8 "booster" treatments to just the lumpectomy site. Treatments will be five days a week. Barring any delays or missed days, I should finish around the 20th of March, give or take a day or two.
Yesterday I had my preliminary markings done, along with a CAT scan. A hard plastic mold was also made while I was laying on my back with my arms above my head. This was done so that I will be laying in the exact same position for every treatment. The first treatment on Monday will take about an hour, but after that I will be in and out in probably 15 or 20 minutes. It will take longer to drive to the hospital for treatments than actually getting them. LOL.
This week has been a painful reminder of last April's tornado destruction; however, this time the areas hit were close by. Houses less than two miles away were totally destroyed. Seeing the pictures are heartbreaking. It's a wonder more people did not lose their lives. I'm thankful for the wonderful weathermen in our area who warned of impending bad weather and also for the tornado sirens that woke us up -- albeit a little early.
Ken and I are in Jenn's "doghouse" this week. When the initial siren went off Monday morning at 3:00 a.m., Bo got up and started pacing, apparently knowing something was wrong. We watched the local weather on TV for awhile, but since the storm was just entering Jefferson County, it was not time to "seek shelter", as James Spann (our local TV weather guru) likes to say. By the time the storm was getting close to our side of town, our power had gone off. When the second siren went off and it was time to go to the basement, Bo had run upstairs (unbeknownst to us) and hidden under Erin's bed. We called her and tried to find her, but, of course, she would not come. So, we went to the basement without her. Luckily we were spared, and nothing came from our negligent doggie grandparenting that night. LOL
Jenn is coming home tomorrow for the weekend. Hopefully she and I will be helping to feed storm survivors and relief workers in my friend Judy's neighborhood on Saturday. Ken is leaving for Phoenix on Saturday morning for a business conference and will be gone until Wednesday night.
We need to all count our blessings and do what we can to help those in need. Love you all.
Rachel
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