Saturday, March 14th, 2009 - It's RAINING outside!

Hiya Bloggy!

Long time no write in! :) It's going on 1am at the moment and it's absolutely pouring outside. I mention this only because the rain is coming down so hard I can hear it pounding on the pavement even with the TV on. This heavy rain is a little different for us since, for the past week or so we've had COLD temps outside but clear days and nights. But sometime late this afternoon the clouds rolled in and voila! Tonight, it is pouring out :)

Hehehe... well, a few of you have mentioned that there hasn't been a blog entry for awhile (oops, my bad) so I figure I just better sit here and do one because no matter how good the intentions, it seems that days and weeks go by before I actually get around to it.

There's not too much new to report in my life. No major complaints... just the ongoing ones that I've had for awhile. My feet and my legs both continue to be my only real problems. Unfortunately, to do all the things that I would like to do, requires me having use of both my legs and feet... go figure, eh??

Oh, I think I mentioned awhile back that we have Mr. Coyote who has made the area in Stanley Park that surrounds the TUTS office (and the theatre) his territory. This coyote is a wild coyote (well, one doesn't usually have tame coyotes in the wilderness) but he has no fear. He is also a well-fed coyote, so you know his winter he has obviously had no problem with squirrels, rodents and rabbits. According to the information on coyotes in the park, they even eat bugs!! Well, Mr. Coyote has made his presence known on more than one occasion, which is why I have to be very careful when taking Bridget from the car to the TUTS office... always on the lookout for Mr. Coyote. He has gotten two small dogs this winter that the Parks Board is aware of.

Last week, in the morning, he was out by the TUTS office again. One of the fellows from the Ecological Society who has their office upstairs from the TUTS office was coming to work and had his camera when he got to the office... and there was Mr. Coyote. Is he not a good looking animal??



If it wasn't that he is partial to small dogs for lunch, I would really like this animal... but I know he and I would disagree big time if he took a liking to Bridget ;) As it was... some weeks back he obviously smelled the scent of Bridget having walked down the walkway and into the office because he came to our office window and was staring inside. Bridget, meanwhile, was totally oblivious to the danger outside the office window and was sound asleep in her little pink basket on her chair ;)



Ok, the picture is a little dark but you can see where Miss B. is perfectly content to sleep in her little Box Office bed when Mom volunteers down at the office in the Park.

Speaking of the TUTS office... it was only last week that Vancouver got snow again!! In the West End, where I live, we only got a dusting... but other parts of Vancouver got a good couple of inches. Hello?? This is March people!! We are now on Daylight Savings time for heaven's sake!

So here are two pictures to compare... the TUTS office in the winter:



and the TUTS office in the summer:



Hahaha... they don't look like the same place, do they??

Ok... and here's a picture where I was trying to get a little artsy... the combination of Spring (crocuses) and Winter (snow)...



Ok... and I did have the help of this nifty little program where I can turn a digital photo into B&W and then add just a bit of the original colour back into the picture.

Oooooh... and I know something new since the last blog entry! I decided to bite the bullet and I got my hair all cut off... so now I'm sporting a sassy little short do...



In the morning... ok, around noon, today, I am actually going back to see Brent who cut and highlighted my hair and have him trim a little more at the back, just behind the ears. It's amazing how, the highlights are the same that I've gotten all along, even when my hair was long... but now that it's short, it appears to be so much lighter!

So, that's about it for current news. I've, once again, got to go to see my GP regarding getting some insurance forms filled out and getting copies of all my progress reports, lung ablation reports, cat scans, etc. to submit for the Long Term Disability Insurance. You know, the wording on these forms is still one of my biggest pet peeves! I remember when I first had to get these forms filled out, I was so upset because I was in the hospital with the fight of a lifetime and here I had to get these forms filled out proving that I was legitimately off work. It really did a number on my psyche... because I had the feeling the insurance people didn't think I was sick enough to be off... and it's just because of the way the forms are worded. So the gal who is my insurance claims person apologized and said that the forms were written by the legal department and had to use that lingo... well, here we are, 2 years later and the wording still upsets me and makes me anxious. It's like I feel I have to prove that my having Stage IV cancer is worthy of being off work. Especially now that we are coming up to the 2 year anniversary of being on Long Term Disability, they word it as "We are now beginning an extensive review of your claim to determine whether benefits will be payable beyond May 12, 2009". I had only, last week, talked to Linda, the gal in charge of my claims and she was so friendly and helpful... and then these forms come in. It makes one wonder if the friendliness is just put on trying to trap me into saying something... or if they really are all ok, it's just the way the forms are written... and why CAN'T they write them with words that aren't quite so accusatory??

Oh well, I will take these forms to my GP, get copies of the reports, send them in and hopefully that will be that for another year.

Meanwhile... next appts. come up at the end of March. I have a CAT scan and followup appt with Dr. Halkier (the radiologist who did the lung ablation at Royal Columbian Hospital) on March 27th. I'm not looking forward to that appt., although it's just a followup appt to make sure the lung is doing what it's suppose to. I just didn't care for his attitude which was doom and gloom ... but after that scan and followup appt., my friend Nancie who lives out by the hospital and I are going to have a dinner/movie night :) On the same day that I get the CAT scan at Royal Columbian and see Dr. Halkier, I'm also suppose to be getting a blood test to measure my CEA levels. Those results will get sent to Dr. Sharlene Gill, my oncologist at the BC Cancer Agency... and I have an appt. with her on Apr 3. So we keep our fingers crossed that the spots in the lungs have not grown significantly... and the CEA levels are low. If that's the case, then we can hold off going back on chemo :)

Ok... it is now after 1am, so time for me to crawl into bed!

Ciao for now!! Happy Spring Break, everyone!!

Hugggggs,

Cheryl

Sunday, March 1, 2009 - March is here!

Hiya Bloggy!

It's true.... March is here and true to form, they are forecasting strong winds tomorrow. Isn't there a cliche saying... something about March winds??? Or am I just making that up?? (grin)

Ok... let's see... where did we last leave off? Oh yes... I was up to my eyeballs in coming and going from TUTS auditions. Unbelievable turnout this year... we had 305 people in total come out to audition for both summer shows -- Annie and Thoroughly Modern Millie. Last year, we thought we had a good turnout for Annie Get Your Gun and Jesus Christ Superstar with a total of 226. It just goes to show there is no shortage of musical theatre talent in our fair city. Mind you, that shouldn't come as any surprise when you think of two of the best Musical Theatre programs this city has to offer... Capilano University's 3 year Musical Theatre program (soon to be a 4 year program) and Langara's Studio 58. But, I digress... the turnout and talent was great and I have no idea how either production team is going to pick their casts... but the one thing that is certain, both casts should be incredibly strong. Heck, with the talent that came out, I think they could have probably easily have cast both shows two or three times over!

Anywho... it will be nice to have my evenings back for awhile... to do normal social type things. There are a lot of shows that are opening in the near future and I'd like to get out to see them all -- Cap U's "Threepenny Opera"; Patrick Street Productions "The Full Monty", a workshop reading of a new Canadian musical called "Technical Difficulties" and a fundraiser Cabaret "St. Paddy's Candlelight Cabaret" at the Carousel large Studio space. Hahaha... all of the above are in the next week or so. And I sure wouldn't mind taking in a movie or two since it's been absolute ages since I last saw a movie.

Hehehe... well, this weekend marked our "Girl's Night" where 4 of us gal pals got together downtown and stayed the night in a hotel and didn't worry about having to drive anywhere. Marilyn and her hubby, Doug came over from the island, Peggy from Langley, Audrey from Maple Ridge and moi, from the West End :) Doug joined us later when he got back from Langley... by then, he was taking his life in his hands (grin). Peggy introduced us all to "Chocolate Martinis". Now despite the fact they must have been close to 6000 calories per martini glass, these little gems were extremely tasty!! I'm not sure exactly how she made them but they consisted of Vodka, Godiva's White Chocolate liqueur, Bailey's and ice... shaken and then poured into martini glasses that have been artistically decorated with chocolate sauce ;) Did I mention that they are somewhat potent??? Here are a few pictures after a couple of these delicious beverages:

Audrey (L) and Marilyn (R)... enjoying!!

Audrey (behind) and moi (sitting)... something was said that was particularly funny at that moment ;)

Hahaha... ok, I'm not exactly sure what Peggy is doing here (dancing??) or where I was to get this angle (on the floor??), but the night starts getting a little fuzzy at this point :)

I'm not sure what I may have said... but it could have been funny :D (Peggy, Audrey, Marilyn)

Ok, I do remember this... there was a great song on the iPod/speakers and Peggy started dancing!

Poor Doug!! He had been out in Langley all day helping Chris put together an office and he came back, knowing he was taking his life in his own hands! The girls' party was in his and Marilyn's room, so he had no escape! :) Needless to say, we loved having him there!

Now... I did take more pictures but, for some reason they are all very fuzzy or blurry. Was this the camera or operator error???

I'm not sure what time we eventually went to bed... I think it was around 2:30am or ... at least that's when we headed to our room which was next door to Marilyn and Doug's room. But then Peggy wasn't tired ... so she started banging on the wall between us and Doug/Marilyn. Hahaha... if Peggy isn't going to sleep, then NO ONE is going to... and all we could do was laugh!! I'm only hoping there was no one else on our floor :)

We all did finally fall asleep... and up at around 8am. Then we went for a lovely breakfast down at the restaurant in the hotel... and then it was time for us all to go our separate ways. What a fun night with great friends!!

I have to admit... I did cheat! When I got home, I had a long afternoon nap with Bridget who did just fine without me coming home last night. She had her Auntie Toby from across the hall who took her out on her walks, both the late afternoon and the late evening ... plus she fed her and checked in on her. Bridget was fine. She is used to coming with me or being left at home... so she can pretty much handle anything. She is not used to me NOT coming home, but when I got home, she was out on her morning walk with Toby... and when they got home, I was there so her routine wasn't really all that different :)

Ok... it is after midnight, so time for me to crawl into bed. It sure is nice to have this mild weather we are having this weekend. I have both the living room window and my bedroom window open and I love having the fresh air in the apartment with out being freezing :)

Sooooo... hope all is going well in everyone else's world! I have no new complaints and I'm feeling great!!!

Hugggggs,

Cheryl

Wednesday, February 18, 2009 - Catch Up

Hiya Bloggy!

Yep... time for another catch up blog entry. So much seems to be happening these days, with much more than I still want to do, want to plan... but still have the same old problem. Not enough time, not enough days in the week.

I do think my energy level has improved... although, it is not consistent. It's now like I go through these power energy surges where some days I can go for hours and hours... and other days, half a day is about the limit. For example, yesterday I went down to the TUTS office at 11am and Jill/I worked our butts off with no break straight through until 5:30pm when I HAD to leave to drop Bridget off at home and then get out to the Langara campus to do the registrations for the Modern Millie call back auditions. Lucky for me, Toby met me at the back of the apartment building and she took Bridget... was going to take her out for her LATE afternoon walk, bring her home and feed her... so I could go straight to the college. I left there just after 11pm and didn't get home until just after 11:30pm So that was a 12 1/2 hour day which I did survive... but just barely. I was in big pain... every joint in my body. So much so that I had to put my foot down and say I'm staying home today (Wed). Hahaha... but, I didn't really have a vegging out day... I worked for about 5 hours on getting the audition stuff together for tomorrow night (Thurs) because I'm not in the office today or tomorrow... and Greg is going to handle the auditions tomorrow night. Jill picked the stuff up from me tonight on her way home. Hahaha... so, as you can probably figure out... right now my time is being taken up with administrative type stuff down at the TUTS office and AUDITIONS for this summer's productions of "Annie" and "Thoroughly Modern Millie".

Here are a couple of pictures taken at our various audition venues...

Children, children everywhere! (Children's auditions for Annie)

More children, more auditions... and yes, there was 1 - 2 parents for each child :)

This doesn't really show the venue too well, but this was taken at the adult auditions for both shows.

This shows our computer set up... 2 Mac iBooks, with a portable web cam that takes stills so we can take a picture of everyone when they register and that picture is then pasted onto the audition form. I don't have an example, but you can sort of see one in Rose's hand.

Not the best picture of me, but at least I'm still energetic and ready to process the masses ;)

And no, Bridget does not come to the auditions with me. There are just too many people in a small space. She comes with me to the TUTS office and has her own little bed there, but the actual auditions, she stays home where it's quiet and not so chaotic.

Mind you, the other day I was trying desperately to get caught up with my laundry. Again, because of the auditions and what not, I have not been home to do the laundry... and on weekends, I do try to leave the laundry room for those who work during the week. But this past weekend, I decided I was one of those people who work during the week , so I did four loads of laundry on Sunday. HA!! And I thought the auditions were tiring!! Going up and down the stairs on my goofy, painful legs was quite the accomplishment getting all that laundry done, one load at a time! And back up in the apartment, I had my helper... little Miss Bridget, the Laundress:

Now, when I empty a basket of clean, dry laundry on the bed to be folded, hung and put away... she has to sit right in the middle of things and guard the laundry. She doesn't like me putting it away! It's warm, and she'd like to sleep in the middle of it all :D

Now... as much as I try not to think about it too much... time for a little update on the medical front. I did see my oncologist, Dr. Sharlene Gill, the other week. We went over the ablation procedure and I talked about hoping that we can ablate the other lung tumours, although they really are too small at this point to do anything about. She agrees with me that chemo is not the way to go right now, the main reason being that when the tumours are as small as they are and as slow growing as they are... slow growing cancer tends to be chemo resistent, so there really is no point bombarding me with chemo right now if it's not going to do anything. If they start growing and/or others start up and are faster growing, then we will look at the chemo treatment. If only one or two of the tumours start growing, then we will look at ablating them. I did very well with the ablation I did have, but ablation may not be the answer if more new tumours show up.. then we will look at doing chemo. But hey, we are not about to hurry this process along. If the tumours remains slow or not growing at all at this point, then that's a good thing.

Meanwhile, I told her my only complaint is the pain in my legs... specifically the knees, feet and lower back. Now, I know I had osteoarthritis in both knees before this cancer diagnosis, so arthritis is not a surprise to me... but it does seem in the last 2 years, since we started the chemo and had 8 months of it, the pain has gotten considerably worse. Definitely the use of my legs is very limited and my knees are very stiff... as are my feet.. So Sharlene ordered a bone scan at VGH. Now, I managed to convince myself we were doing the scan to see how much arthritis damage there was to my bones... but in all fairness, Sharlene is an oncologist and she is more concerned about whether the cancer has spread, in this case, to my bones.

Well, I had the bone scan last Thursday and on Tuesday Sharlene sent me an email to tell me that there was absolutely no sign of cancer having spread to the bones (yayayayaya!) and that my bones are actually in remarkable shape, other than the osteoarthritis in both knees, both feet and lower back. The back is consistent with normal wear and tear, the knees and feet are considerably more severe. Well, that certainly answers the pain in both feet/knees which would affect the whole leg.

But I am thrilled that the bones are in remarkable shape and that there is no spread of cancer to the bones. I think I have enough to work on and didn't need to hear the bones were affected as well :) I will now be following up with my GP as far as what more we can do for pain management, whether physio is warrented or a change in meds, etc.

I just know there's tons more to yak about since it has been awhile since I've posted here, but my mind is going into sleep mode. Oh, I know... I've been searching old theatre photos that I've taken. For as long as I can remember, I've always had a camera with me and was always taking pictures at rehearsals, backstage, parties, etc. I posted a bunch of pictures from 1982 when we did the show "The Spirit of Malkin Bowl". That summer we couldn't use the TUTS outdoor theatre at Malkin Bowl (in Stanley Park) because it had had a big fire that winter. So we did the show out front of the stage on a temporary stage. I posted these pictures in an album on Facebook and it was wonderful to see old friends surface... everyone had a great time remembering the memories of that show. I've now got a bunch from when we did "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" at the Arts Club here in Vancouver. So I just have to find the time to scan them, organize and post them on Facebook. Hahaha... then (good intentions), one of these days I'll be going downstairs to the Storage Locker, with a flashlight, to find boxes of old photos... and will have to scan up a storm with them as well. There are a lot of memories in those old photos!!

Ok, it's 11pm so I better post this blog. The next thing I must do over the next week is find time in between auditions and what not, to do up the March 1st Community Theatre eNewsletter. I am thrilled that my energy is coming back slowly but surely. I can't for the life of me figure out how I worked a full time job and then did the theatre stuff in my free time... that just doesn't compute with me yet. Here I think I'm getting my energy back, but realize I have a long ways to go before I could ever work at something 5 days/week PLUS have all the extra curricular activities going on the side. BUT, I'm not going to get upset about that... as long as I can get out and do the things that keep my mind active (and that I enjoy) and be able to recognize when I've pushed it too far, so can step back and rest... then I'm a happy camper :)

Soooo... I hope all is going well with all you Bloggy readers!! Even though it is March, I just know spring is around the corner... I can feel it in my arthritic bones . When I parked the car at the TUTS office the other day, I was thrilled to see the little snowdrop flower starting to sprout up ...



Ciao for now!!!

Huggggggs,

Cheryl

Saturday, Feb 7, 2009 - the shortest blog entry!

Hiya Bloggy,

This is the all time shortest blog entry I will have done. The reason being, I don't remember when my last entry was, which means I'm long overdue for one... at the same time, I am one knackered camper since we did have all day auditions today for TUTS. Soooo, since I don't remember what I wrote about in my last entry, I don't want to duplicate and sound like a broken record. On the other hand, if there is any new information since the last one, I don't want to leave it out :D So, you can see the quandry I'm in.

BUT, I definitely need some zzzzz's because I have to be up at 6am again tomorrow to get down to Granville Island by 8am to set up the computer equipment before the first auditionees get there. Then we will be busy, busy, busy until 6pm'ish. Tonight, I got home about 6pm and was sooo knackered, I had to lie down for a few minutes... which turned into a 3 hour deep sleep nap . So how I think I'm going to fall asleep now ... well, it's going to be interesting but it is almost midnight so I do need to get some beauty rest and re-energize before tomorrow morning ;)

We shall see what time I get home tomorrow and whether I end up snoozing the evening away, or if I'll be up to do a weekend round-up for the blog :)

Huggggggs,

Cheryl

Monday, Jan 26, 2009 - Oncologist Appt.

Hiya Bloggy!

Geez, I can't believe I was waiting until I went to the appt. with Sharlene Gill today before I entered a new blog entry... but I was going to talk about the weekend as well as the appt. Like getting dressed up and going to the Ovation Awards (celebrating Musical Theatre in Vancouver), but darn it all anyways... I didn't write down the winners and I don't want to miss anyone, and I didn't take any pictures! So I have nothing to report other than it sure was fun seeing all sorts of musical theatre folk in one hall (they were held at the Academy of Music). Of course, I didn't get to talk to as many people as I would have liked to ... but a good time was had by all!!

Today, I went to my oncology appt and because I'm being incredibly lazy and want to go to bed early tonight because I'm sleepy... I'm going to copy and paste a the relevant part of an email I sent to my family tonight. It goes into fairly lengthy detail, so I'm just going to put it here... and will hopefully be up to having a chatty, just for fun, blog entry one of these days real soon... complete with pictures!! LOL!!

Here goes...

Ok... have I mentioned how much I adore my oncologist recently?? I know I've told you all this in the past, but I tell you, she is the most wonderful, compassionate, confident, person a gal can have as the head of her team. The difference I feel after a visit with her, compared to the consultation appt. and, even the lung ablation procedure, with Dr. Brad Halkier, the radiologist who did the lung procedure... is like night and day. Don't get me wrong... the fact that he blasted away the largest of the spots/tumours and a couple of hours later I was walking out of the hospital with my two girlfriends and having a nice visit over tea with them, just goes to show he is skilled at what he does... and I have no qualms about his skill and I am very grateful for him having ablated the tumour that he did. BUT, his bedside manner and overall attitude... well, let's just say he and I were never on the same page. And I felt it was important that I tell Sharlene (oncologist) this because it did set me back (attitude/depression) for about 4 days after the consultation appt. with him, even though I left it with him saying he would do the ablation. I also said to her that, in hindsight, after thinking about all he had said prior to doing the ablation.. and that he even admitted that he was trying to talk me out of it because he didn't see just how much benefit I'd get out of the procedure when he thought the better treatment would be for me to go on chemo.. I understood what he said, but I still thought that if we could ablate the spots/tumours that lit up the PET scan, indicating they were cancer, that this WAS a benefit to get rid of them. He was of the mind that these are only 2 of probably many more to come, so it would be better to go directly to chemo, than pick them off one at a time.

Sharlene listened and said that she could certainly understand my frustration and that sometimes she even has a hard time following how some doctors/specialists come to their opinions, which is not to say they are wrong, but that they are not her way of going about it. So then she explained how she sees where we are at with my situation and what we should be looking for and doing over the next while:

1) the spots on my lungs are still considered extremely sloooooow growing... and they are still too small to even light up a PET scan at this stage. Normally, when colon cancer spreads anywhere in the body, outside of the intestine, it grows very quickly. The spots on my lungs should be quite huge by now, and they are still considered extremely small... and so slow growing. Two of the spots have not changed at all since we found them in March so they still could be scar tissue. So really, we are keeping an eye on 4 spots.

2) She does not agree that we should bombard the whole body with chemo, which is hard on everything, for 4 spots that have not gotten big enough to light up a PET scan.

3) She suggests we do the following:

- keep monitoring my CEA levels. I had that blood test taken yesterday but the result wasn't in yet so she will have that tomorrow (Tues) and because of the lung ablation, she is not going to get too excited if it is up a couple of points... surgery can do that to the CEA levels. But we will continue monitoring it on a regular basis to see if it stays low or starts rising. If it starts rising, then we will decide to go for a PET scan to see if we can figure out why it's rising... but she is not going to get excited until we know the lung has totally recovered from it's recent ablation.

- in 8 weeks, we will do a CAT scan as part of the monitoring of the spots on the lungs. I told her that Dr. Halkier wants me to come back to Royal Columbian in 6 weeks for a followup CAT scan and that his office will be in touch with me to set up that appt. I told her I'm not overly confident with the communication from the hospital so it might mean I will have to followup with them and keep hounding. She told me not to worry about it. She will order a CAT scan here at VGH and IF Royal Columbian calls me and has one organized for 6 weeks from now, then I can go to that one and she will cancel the VGH... but we'll have it as a backup in case RC screws up again with their booking ;)

- we will continue to do ongoing CAT scans every 2 months and regular CEA monitoring. IF one or two of the spots starts growing, but the rest remain dormant and there are no others that show up, then she will re-visit us doing the Ablation procedure. She has heard of this other fellow who has moved up here from California and he does lung ablations... but he has not been set up to do them in BC yet. But if he is able to do them and we might need another one done, then she will pursue seeing if we can get a referral to him... if not, she can refer me back to Dr. H. with proof we are only talking one or two on the same lung are needed doing. But it sure would be convenient if it could be done out of VGH!! :)

- if the spots were to start growing faster and/or others were to start appearing or the CEA levels were rising indicating activity somewhere in the body, well we could always revisit using chemo. She just doesn't want us to use chemo and bombard the body if, in fact, there is no reason to do that at this point. We want to save that until we have to use it.

So, I'm feeling a lot more confident ... because I really do trust her and her logic. We definitely are on the same page... and she's very understanding about the frustrations I went through. She says that she can tell when I'm doing well, it's when I have eliminated stress from my life. So the last thing she wants to see me going through is a stress caused by a doctor, even though we both are sure that he did not mean to intentionally cause that. I tell you, it's a full time job eliminating stress from one's life!! :)

Hugggggs,

Cheryl

Wednesday, January 21, 2009 -- I'm home!!

Hiya Bloggy,

Ok, so all plans for doing up a few entries over the last week or so have been shot to pieces. I didn't get an entry/pictures about the fog we've been having (totally clear at the moment), the surprise 40th Birthday Party for Sanjay on the weekend (was that ever fun!) or anything else that I've been up to that has been keeping me busy and out of trouble :)

So, here I am... and I'm going to put in an entry right now because I can't keep up with the email and Facebook messages asking how I'm doing. I'm doing really well! For those who don't know, or have forgotten or thought it was next week, or whatever... I had my Lung Ablation (RFA) procedure done yesterday at Royal Columbian Hospital.

Ok... so it was one of those things that was a Good News/Misunderstood News scenerio. I'm not so sure there was a misunderstanding or it wasn't explained properly or something changed between the consultation appt. and the actual procedure.

The Good News... I had to be put under a General Anesthesia because of the location of the largest tumour, the procedure apparently would have been very painful. So, along with being knocked out, it meant that I would have a breathing tube doing the breathing for me and rather than a blood pressure machine with the cuff around the arm, they put a catheter directly into an artery to monitor the blood pressure. Because of this, I was told that I would have to stay overnight in the hospital, to be monitored because of the GA.

Prior to starting the procedure, Dr. Halkier explained to me that he felt zapping the two tumours we had discussed would be too risky. The reason being that the two tumours were not on the same lung... one on each lung. One of the risks with this procedure is that with sticking a needle into the lung, the lung could "leak" or partially collapse, or even collapse totally. So to do this to both lungs at the same time, it was taking too much of a risk that I might end up with two collapsed lungs. Ok, I'm not sure why this risk would come up now .. I don't recall us talking about not doing the two tumours during our consultation appt. But my friend, Nancie, who was at the consultation appt. with me did remind me that he did say it was risky to do both and that he would TRY to do both, not that he WOULD do both. Ok, so I'll put that one down to maybe my misunderstanding.. or else how he worded it didn't sink in with me.

He also said that he wasn't sure I'd be getting any benefit from this particular procedure. He says that he will only do it if 1) there was a possibility of a "cure" which there isn't in my case. A cure would be possible if there were under 5 tumours and it was a primary lung cancer. I have 7 spots and it is a spread of colon cancer, not a primary lung cancer. 2) If, by having the procedure done, would ease any discomfort from, or symptoms a person was having. I don't have any symptoms. So he said that he was actually discouraging me from having the procedure since I was putting my lung at risk of collapse but with none of the above benefits.

I told him that I still wanted to get rid of preferably the two tumours but if he could only do one, then the largest one (19mm or approx. .73 inch). So, that's what we did. The team came back in and prepped me for the General Anesthetic... and next thing I knew, Dr. Olfray, the anestheologist(sp?) was saying, "Cheryl, are you awake?" It literally seemed like seconds, but apparently it was an hour or so.

Dr. Halkier did manage to zap the largest tumour... and so far (knock on wood), no complications. I was wide awake and back to my usual self, much to the surprise of the recovery room staff... and my colour was back to normal. Hehehe.. the various doctors/techs/nurses were amazed to find out that I had been under GA and was so back to normal... so much so that when they took me down to have a chest xray and Dr. Halkier saw how wide awake I was, he signed the order that I could be discharged after the xray :)

My good friend, Nancie, came to the hospital at 5pm with my toiletries, assuming that I would be staying overnight... only to find out I was being discharged and could go home with her. Also, my dear friend, Colleen Winton, showed up for a visit, again assuming that I would be in overnight. But since I was free to go, I got dressed and the three of us escaped the hospital and went, in the fog, back to Nancie's place for tea and a chat :)

Next on the agenda for this week, I have to go to one of the blood labs and have some blood taken so they can do the CEA test, which my oncologist has ordered. I will be seeing her Monday afternoon and by then she will have the results to the test. The last two times we've run the tests, my CEA has been low... 1.7 and 1.5. Anything below 5.0 is considered normal... and I want to be soooo normal :)

I have to admit, I didn't sleep very well Monday... being that I wasn't at home and knew I was facing the procedure in the morning. We thought I'd sleep well last night with the remains of the GA, but I woke up almost every hour. It's now 5pm on Wednesday and I have to admit I think I may be tired. I've been really cold all day and here I'm ready to go to bed for the night... but I don't dare go to sleep now, otherwise I really will be up at 1am for the night :) Hahaha... then again, maybe that's not a bad thing. If I go to bed now, I can always get up in 8 hours and try to tackle some of the things I could always do on the computer :D

Ok... no pictures in this entry, not even any of the little diva :)

Huggggs,

Cheryl

Sunday, January 11, 2009 - It's been awhile!

Hiya Bloggy!

I know, I know... it's been awhile since the last blog entry. Not a good way to start the New Year, is it??? How many times do I say I'm going to be more regular with my entries and then a week, sometimes 2 go by and once again I'm apologizing for not keeping regular entries? That is sooo not me, since I love to babble and I love to write!

Anywho... not too much exciting to report, but I have been busy! I have to learn to manage my time better, though. You see, I dabble in a bit of this, and then a bit of that, and then add something else, then set reminders for myself to do this, that and the other thing and next thing you know I have 4 or 5 things on the go, trying to get them all done at the same time.

There's got to be a better way! LOL! But hey, last week was my birthday (Jan 7). I had a lovely day/evening... well, during the day I went downtown and got my drivers license renewed. Nothing like leaving it until the last minute, eh?? I found out that I could, actually, have renewed it any time the 6 months before it expired!! Hahahah!! And here I was renewing it on the date it expired... too funny!

Then, in the evening, Jill, Naveen and I went out for dinner at Maurya, a lovely Indian restaurant. I think I could get to really like Indian food... when done properly like it was at this lovely restaurant.

Well, we are starting another week and here it is, already 1:30am... so I must get myself off to bed. I can't believe how I am a night owl, and then surprised why I'm tired in the day. Duh!!

Off to the TUTS office tomorrow and then various appts. and things during the week... which I want to get done before next week when I will once again be going in for the lung ablation surgery (Jan 20). Again, same plan... Bridget and I will meet up with my friend, Nancie, on Jan 19th. We'll stay at her place over night and then it's off to the hospital for 8am. I may or may not be staying overnight at the hospital, if not at the hospital, then I will be staying at Nancie's... then sometime on the 21st, I should be fine to come home and rest for couple of days at my own home :)

Soooo... I'll be back to do more entries later :)

Hugggggs,

Cheryl