Quite a week

Monday was a perfect example of a day when I should have stayed in bed with the covers pulled over my head. It began with pouring rain and wind gusts up to 50 mph, making my trek from the bus to the clinic at Memorial Sloan-Kettering on 53rd Street an adventure. When I arrived and finally got up to the lab, I was informed that the paperwork for my bloodwork wasn't available yet so I would have to come back. The tech told me to have the nurse leave my IV in from my CT scans (for the contrast injection) and a nurse in the chemo suite would be able to draw my blood when I returned. (We weren't using my port because I thought they needed to test my clotting factor. When they test that, they can't draw blood from the port.)

I couldn't wait for the MSKCC shuttle up to the new Breast Cancer Center because it would be leaving at 7:50 and my arrival time for my CT scan was 7:40. After standing in the rain for five minutes, I managed to grab a taxi and made my way uptown. I checked in and was given the solution I had to drink. Normally, you drink it over 45-60 minutes and then you get scanned. Hence, my arrival was scheduled for 7:40 with scans scheduled for 8:40. By 9 a.m., I was wondering what the heck was going on. I was finally called in at 9:25, and the nurse couldn't find a vein in my elbow, so she placed the IV in the back of my hand. That was okay as it didn't hurt -- then. When I finally got in for my scans (turns out one of the machines wasn't working that day) and they started injecting the contrast material into my vein, I started yelling. I have never felt any pain when the contrast was injected, but according to the technician, because the nurse used such a small vein, the contrast material was pushing against the wall of the vein and causing the pain, which went on for about three minutes. Doesn't sound like a long time unless you are waiting for the pain to end.

I finally finished my scans and left with the IV still in place. I had to walk a block and a half to the main hospital to pick up the shuttle, and was soaked from the waist down by the time I reached it. After 20 minutes of being stuck in traffic, I finally returned to 53rd Street and made my way to the chemo suite to have my blood drawn. Guess what? The nurse couldn't get a blood return from the IV. She said that often when contrast material is given (especially in such a small vein), it is so thick it prevents blood return. She checked the paperwork and discovered that my clotting factor wasn't being tested, so she drew blood from my port -- which I could have used for the scans as well, preventing getting stuck twice and eliminating the pain portion of the scan. At least I know that from now on, I can have my port accessed for the scans.

I hadn't eaten because I thought they were testing my cholesterol again (they weren't), so I finally got something to eat at 11 a.m. I headed for the bus back home, walked in the door, and got hit immediately with the diarrhea problem that the drink sometimes causes. At least it didn't hit me on the bus!!

Of course, it all turned out to be worth it. The large tumor in my right lung is stable as are most of the other lung mets. A mass in my chest, near but not in the lung, decreased the most. Two small possible metastases in my liver, seen for the first time on the November scans, are gone. The tumor in my pelvic bone that was radiated in November 2008 is stable. Yay! My rib fractures continue to heal, and the only one still bothering me is the one on the right side. That feels slightly better than when it started up almost three weeks ago, but there isn't significant improvement.

All in all, I'm very pleased. Apparently that large tumor is not going to shrink without a fight, so we'll be concentrating our "death to evildoers" thoughts toward that one for the next six weeks. This cycle will end on March 2, and I expect my scans will be scheduled for March 8.

Thanks to all for your e-mails and comments. I was truly touched by all the responses. You really do follow this blog, don't you??!!!