I'm a mom too!

After many many years of cutting I had my first skin cancer biopsy and it is on my nose. I am not happy about where it is located but I am happy that it is basal cell carcinoma and not Melanoma. I had Moh's surgery and I am not worried about the scar. I was VERY LUCKY THAT I ONLY NEEDED ONE CUT! It will be temporary but in the name of the best case recovery I do plan on taking it easy just because of it being located on my nose.  How Mohs Surgery Works: Excision of the Tumor: The surgeon removes the visible part of the tumor along with a thin layer of surrounding tissue. Tissue Examination: Immediately after removal, the excised tissue is processed and examined under a microscope. The surgeon looks for cancerous cells at the edges (margins) of the tissue. Further Removal if Needed: If any cancerous cells are found at the edges, the surgeon removes another thin layer of tissue only from the area where the cancer cells remain, and the process is repeated. This step-by-step approac...

So today was my 6 month radiation oncologist check-up (except it was 7 months). It was a little emotional walking back into the radiation clinic for the first time since being there every day. My last check up was in Nov. and it was via telehealth because Covid19 was CrAzY at the time (Nov. 2020). This oncologist impresses me as he looks at everything, including my brain MRI from Dec. I now have TWO amazing Drs. looking at my brain MRIs. He told me that looked great too! Do you know what is better than having a doctor telling you a scan looks good, it is TWO doctors telling you that.  He also took the time to ask about other issues (my other oncologists don't do that). I made the mistake of telling him about some hip pain I have had this last week. He told me to try to cut sugar to see if that takes away the inflammation. Ugh. That's the last time I complain. LOL Then he said, "EVERYTHING LOOKS GOOD!! SEE YOU IN A YEAR!!"  Love those words. That doesn't mean I don...

This is the album that came out during the pandemic, the summer of my cancer diagnosis. I listened to it on the way to radiation most days. It is such an easy listening, musical, goose bumpy, teary album. It will always remind me of isolation, facing M’s senior year, and cancer. What a time in my life. Thank you Taylor for once again being there. Loved this film! Very goose bumpy!!!!  Ephiphany as a tribute to today’s pandemic heroes.....😭  Peace was a song that I just listened to in order come to peace and fix the anxiety that came with my cancer diagnosis. Something about it was soothing. Probably the high pitched metronome in the background. 😂

Today I start this hormone blocker. I will take this for 5 years and hope side effects are minimal. This is to prevent reocurrence  on the right and breast cancer on the left.  Follow up to this drug and my medical oncologist will be in 3-4 months. Wish me luck! 

So I couldn't let this blog go without documenting teaching in person, in a pandemic. I wear a mask and a microphone and honestly it isn't as bad as a thought. The worst part is definitely not being able to hear the kids speak in their masks. Also the planning it takes to get ready for remote students, quarantined students, and in person students is a lot! And of course juggling students on zoom with students in your class is also a lot. I am looking forward to the day this stops for sure but I'm learning that I can do hard things. And better than I thought I was capable of. I am doing OK. How are you doing? 

It's been awhile. I've been busy. Working 5 days a week during a pandemic is not for the weak. I'm doing it though! I can do hard things. Anyway back to healing. I DID get a rash, DANG IT! and it showed up  2 weeks after I finished. They were not wrong. They said that week would be the hardest. However my daughter has severe eczema and when I compare my rash to her skin I still think I got off easy.  I think it is finally getting better now, a week later. I ended up stopping my prescription and using this Soothing Salve and I think it is working. This came in a  patient care package found here.   I have since repurchased this for my daughter.  So I have follow ups next week. I was glad that one was in person and one was telehealth. I got a phone call because they did ask me to do both via telehealth, because Covid19. It's getting pretty bad. I did say though that I thought they needed to see this rash. It's better but not gone, and it's taking it's sweet tim...

Teachers, I took 10 weeks off from my job for surgery and radiation.  If anyone would ask me advice I would say if you can’t easily leave your job, don’t even go in. Not working was be\st for the kids (stability) , best for the sub (stability), and best for me.  Surgery and treatment went really smoothly, and the whole time I stressed about not being at school. I felt good enough to be there, however every time I considered it I got really anxious. I had weekly appointments. I didn’t always know what was going on either.  Add Covid precautions, remote teaching while teaching in person, and Covid stress and the answer was clear. It baffled me though that many people not affiliated with schools did not understand why I wasn’t working.  Going back to work is going surprisingly well and I’m really glad I took that time. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

That was the phone call I got at noon today, and my response was...OOOKKKAAAYYY? And the resident that called me laughed. He asked, "Are you OK with that?"  OF COURSE I'M OK WITH THAT!  The short story is that they are happy with the 16 treatments that I've had and they think it is enough.  The long story is my case is unique. It was a large area of contained cancer. They did 3 weeks of whole breast radiation. The next 5 treatments were supposed to be a targeted boost of higher radiation to just the cancer cavity which is large. Upon making my plan they discovered it is too large to do without risks. Basically the risks outweigh the benefit. They are more comfortable leaving me be than going forward with the boost which I most likely do not need. Sooooo...... YIIPPPPEEEEEEEEEE!  I feel great and tomorrow I'm going back to work. You can now pray that I remember how to teach. :) What a roller coaster the last 14 weeks have been.  Ready or not here I come 2nd grade...

Today was CT simulation for more targeted radiation next week. The surgical area did shrink making this easier. Skin still looks good. I added a picture of the prescription I’m using on my skin for my memory. 

It’s still going good. No reaction yet! 😁 

Just finished radiation treatment #8. It’s still going well. Drinking a lot of water. 💕  

Radiation is still going well. It takes 1.5 hrs. to go, do, and get back home. Time in the machine is about 10 min. I'll take it! The drive isn't bothering me yet. Skies were blue, the trees are beautiful right now. Thank God it isn't January.  Today is the first day of Breast Cancer Awareness. I am thankful for any and all donations people have given in the past to breast cancer research. It is because of research that I have no evidence of cancer currently. I have given my story to a friend to help raise more money for breast cancer. Here is the link to that  https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/survivher-amanda  . 

I'm not sure I'm supposed to be that excited about it but I totally am. Let's get this show on the road! I'm happy that I will be on my back. I wasn't sure until today. They gave me a scanner card. So I scan my card to go past the front desk, kind of like an employee. No more covid questions! Appointments are at 9:00 every morning. I see the oncologist on Wednesdays. One down, 19 to go!!!! 

Last week was a tough week and I learned a lot about myself. Apparently I am fine as long as I am actively doctoring and working towards the end of my treatment. Due to a security issue with the hospital's IT system, radiation was cancelled with no future date knows. I was told maybe Thurs. then maybe Monday, hopefully is isn't more than a week! I didn't handle that news so well.  Thankfully the system was restored on Sat. (a week later, 3 days after my original radiation appointment, and I will begin tomorrow! I will have 20 daily treatments with a re-simulation after 15. It should take 4.5 weeks from tomorrow.  I NEED my planner!! 

I have a feeling I won't start radiation until Monday Sept. 28. System is still not up. I can't even get a hold of them to figure out what hydration ointment I can use now. Oh yeah and we are having electrical problems at home and our dishwasher isn't working. I think we did avoid a house fire last night though....I've had better couple of days. 

Update: The hospital was hacked and it's IT systems is down. You can do radiation without tech so radiation is postponed until they get their systems up and running again.  Read about it here. Today I had a long appointment with my radiation oncologist. Healing looks good and we will radiate the whole breast for 3 weeks and then he will most likely target the area for a 4th week. One thing I am learning is the plan is always fluid. That being said there haven't been a lot of surprises or issues so that is good.  We did CT simulation on my back but also on my front (not my favorite but doable). I have sharpie marks on my front and back because they aren't 100% sure which way I'm going yet. My area was actually large and went from the peck muscle to the outside skin so they are covering a lot of area and very close to the chest wall. He said I picked a good side though (right is preferable because of your heart being on the left). They will radiate the entire breast for 3...

Another follow up appointment with the surgeon today. Scars look good, see you in 4 months! I'm looking forward to next week's appointment with my radiation oncologist. I am so anxious to get radiation started! (and done). I'm on season 8 of FRIENDS. I'm gonna run out of episodes. Have watched AWAY yet?? I'm watching that too. Do NOT watch that without a box of tissues! That's all I have for updates for this week. 

This morning I met with my medical oncologist. Up until last night at midnight I didn't think anything of this appointment. Then for some reason, at midnight, I started thinking OMG WHY are they having me meet with the medical oncologist BEFORE the radiation oncologist and I PANICKED. I thought for sure they were going to tell me margins weren't clear enough and I would need chemo. Therefore I lost a whole night of sleep. The ONLY reason I could think of them wanting to treat with chemo is that one margin was only .06 cm from my chest muscle wall and they generally want close to a 2 mm margin.  For a change I was thankful for my early 8 AM appointment where he confirmed that the cancer was contained and he confirmed that margin should be OK because it wasn't invasive.  So treatment remains the same. I am having radiation, and I am going on hormone blocker. So to sum up, nothing changed and I panicked for nothing. Most of the time is I am calm as a cucumber about my appointm...

My two spots of DCIS were removed with clear margins! They were 68 mm and 45 mm.  Everything is going as expected. I'm healing well. This is the easiest surgery I have had to date. I can drive, cook, and clean.  I do NOT want to downplay how hard surgery CAN be. I did not have lymph nodes removed. I did not have drains. I had the best case scenario, even with two spots. I will say though the diagnosis, three needle biopsies, and MRIs were very difficult so when I say surgery was easy, the 4 weeks prior to that were not. It should be downhill from here. You can still pray that I have no obstacles or complications during radiation and that my energy level stays up during treatment.  Now onto radiation (which is just an aggressive approach to ensure there are no cancer cells left behind). I updated my dates  here . 

So yesterday school started without me. And it felt weird because I feel really good, however today I realized that I feel good because I'm not doing much. I am walking everyday and until today I was even feeling guilty about that, but today I realized that if I'm going to go back into the classroom in a pandemic with twice the workload I'm gonna HAVE TO WALK MORE! I'm currently walking 1 mile in the morning and sometimes a mile in the evening. I'm gonna have to increase that if I think I'm gonna have any kind of stamina for going back into the classroom. So if you see me walking, know that I'm training for my comeback. :)  As far as recovery. I have to keep my bandage intact til Tuesday. It is starting to get annoying but I think I'll live.