Thursday, November 6, 2008

numero cinco or, no more bikinis for me

well, today i sat in a recliner from 10:30 to 3:30 while toxic drugs were pumped into my system. this scenario is getting old for me and i've only had to do it five times, so far. it went smoothly so i shouldn't complain, but i will because i'm learning that my mounting mental resistance to accepting chemical crap is just as difficult as the physical side effects to it.

my oncologist came by while i was doing this intravenous tango and it looks like there will probably be a hysterectomy in my future. january. after ej and i return from a holiday excursion to the west coast. (january. the month i turn 43. perhaps he can do a little liposuction while he's in there as a birthday present to me. or will the lack of all those potentially problematic innards automatically flatten my belly?)

if i have a hysterectomy, it sounds like he's leaning toward performing the surgery old school style, one big vertical incision in the middle of my abdomen as opposed to the less invasive laparoscopic surgery. he says that the big cut would enable him to manually feel what's going on inside and he'll have a better view of my inner world. he'll also be able to use his hands to help remove the undesirable bits, instead of depending on only the tools of laparoscopic surgery, and through a small incision no less. if the surgery reveals even one tiny cell of cancer, i will return to the exact same course of chemo that i'm doing right now. ack. if no cancer is found, then i will probably have "maintenance" chemo, less drugs, less often (once a month, but for a year). hmm.

laparoscopic hysterectomy recovery time = approx 2 weeks.
old school hysterectomy recovery time = approx 6-8 weeks.
hmm, again.

another option is to do nothing and simply keep tabs on what's going on in my body. meh. i'm not so into waiting around hoping nothing appears.

at any rate, nothing has been decided yet. and i still have a full body scan to look forward to at the beginning of december. i'm eager to see what effect the current chemo has had on those nasty cancer nodules that they found in my lungs.

on the lighter side,
we have a fabulous president-elect who
has foresight and can put together an intelligent sentence,
ej and i are going to take another cooking class a week from sunday,
wonderful friends and family will be visiting during thanksgiving week,
and i took a chi gong class at gilda's club that i absolutely love.

there. life is good.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hmmmmm is right girlfriend! When you are here in CA we can talk vertical scars, the whys and why nots, and recovery, 'cuz I've been there and done that . . . and it's all very do-able. The scar does present interesting notions for tatooing - stripper poles, candy canes, roads, you get the drift. Ha! Hang in there because you're doing so much better than I think you even know! xo

Anonymous said...

Hi Sunny!
Cheryl here, your old pal from the CTG ( Donna's friend ). I just wanted to send you all good thoughts and tell you that I have a zipper scar from the top of my secret garden to just 4 inches above my belly button. I like to think of it as the path to my secret garden, hee hee. Keep up the fantastic work and maybe you'll stop by the CTG when you come out for a visit so we can hug the stuffing out of you.
xxooxo,
Cheryl

Anonymous said...

sandra,
will your west coast holiday bring you to the bay? we would love to shower you with mucho hugs and kisses! if not, maybe we could fly down to so cal to see you. let us know your plans.
love to you!!!
rachel, bry, and jdog

Anonymous said...

Qigong!! It's fantastic. I have a book and DVD that you're welcome to borrow anytime.