Lots to do!

Yesterday I procrastinated. (What? Who me?) I did run around and do all the things I needed to - out for coffee, laundry and more laundry, Costco, etc. I ended up a tiny bit tired but did make it through the bulk of the day. Today I am going to brunch with friends. But first I have to plan all my questions for my appointment with my medical oncologist tomorrow. It is my first appointment since chemo ended and I will need to start hormone therapy soon (another topic I know nothing about but will be on for five years. Perhaps today is a good day to do some research.) He did recommend another clinical trial to me so this involves more homework. Do I want to take part in the trial? He gave me a file of information to read which I swear is around here someplace.

Also, I want to find out when I can get my port out. I heard an evil rumor that my oncologist likes patients to keep their port in for a YEAR! Not happening! I want it out! I guess the argument is what if you need to use it again? Well, if we lived on lives on 'what if', nothing would ever get done. Apparently, they can also be used for other medical procedures to avoid an IV. Well, when I had my MRI they said they had heard of a port being used once for an MRI and when I had my surgery they told me they never use ports. They need a better story than that. Besides when you have a port in you need to go in once per month to make an appointment to get it flushed out - another trip to Lahey!

My radiation starts Wednesday. I have to learn more about that too. I did learn how radiation works to which I found very educational. Therefore I need to share it with you. This is taken straight from www.breastcancer.org:

"Radiation therapy's high-energy beams are focused on the area that needs to be treated. This might include the breast area, lymph nodes, or another part of the body. Over time, this focused radiation damages cells that are in the path of its beam—normal cells as well as cancer cells. But radiation affects cancer cells more than normal cells. Cancer cells are very busy growing and making new cells—two activities that are very vulnerable to radiation damage. And because cancer cells are less organized than healthy cells, it's harder for them to repair the damage and recover. So cancer cells are more easily destroyed by radiation, while healthy, normal cells are better able to repair themselves and survive."

I know nothing about this stuff but am learning. I do know I won't be radioactive during treatment and the radiation is generated in a linear accelerator instead of using a tube or radioisotope. I also know that as your body works to recreate the healthy cells you get tired (read that as fatigue) and radiation hits your skin first so it gets affected (read sunburn). More on that later, I need to educate myself on this hormone therapy stuff today now that I have procrastinated down to the last minute.

Now where am I on my little trip across country... I think I have been to the beach and it sucked and now I am already packing the car and rushing around, to start heading back which is going to take a really long time as we haven't figured out what route to take yet and the car is acting funny.

PS Yesterday at Costco I did get tape refills so my new frog tape dispenser is now useful as well as decorative.