Kira's Stupid Breast Cancer

Now that majority of the business aspect has been posted, the next posts will probably have more emotions in them.  Some may be all happy, some may be cuss word filled. Hard to say at this point. Refer back to my adverse reactions to meds.. I have no clue where my body will take me thru this. That was your disclaimer. LOL Treatment day. I'm really not in the mood today. Wasn't the best weekend for me emotionally. Wondering if it's a side effect. Emotions don't usually control me but for some reason this weekend they did. Anger, frustration, sadness, depression, feeling overwhelmed...  Spoke with the PA prior to treatment. I was cleared for treatment today so that's good. By their scales, looks like my weight is down a few pounds. I think she said my BP was 142/88. Not the best, but then again, I'm not the best today.  The rest of my blood panel looked good, thankfully.  Not every days are sunshine and rainbows. Some days just suck. Life. I will refer back to tod...

Thursday I actually returned to work at the office. First time in forever. It was good to resume some normalcy and see my coworkers. I'd be lying if I said I don't like working from home tho. While I do enjoy the social side of working in the office, from a production standpoint I get more done at home.  Friday I go back to VCU to meet with their plastic surgeon. I'm of the opinion - get all the information while I can. "Collecting Data" I have absolutely no idea what chemo will do to me personally. I know what the laundry list of side effects can be... I just don't know what my own body will do, so no telling what I will be able to comprehend down the road.  With a 3 hour drive, I left early enough to take into account any potential traffic. I arrived about 45 minutes before my scheduled appointment. Once again, all the staff was very kind. I get to where I need to be and get checked in. Copays, man... woooo.. I get seated in the waiting area, expecting to ha...

Today Nathan and I meet with the local breast surgeon to go over this phase of this stupid cancer. Let me take a step back for a second. I did read my MRI results the night before and, as mentioned previously, I understand a lot of medical terminology. My MRI results were not happy.  What does all that mean? Basically, the MRI shows the known jackass that's making my life hell, but it also shows an additional one nearby that could be a secondary jackass, as well as lymph nodes near my chest wall that appear to be pissed off. Two things to note here.... at least I'm already on treatment so steps are being taken to kick ass, and because I'm on treatment COULD be the reason the lymph nodes are pissed. Hard to say at this point. Is it concerning to me, of course. I'd be an idiot for it not to bother me. Why am I not curled up in the corner? GOD'S GOT ME. NATHAN IS WITH ME. I have to think that the God had the delay in MRI arranged so that I would have treatment already ...

My original MRI date was April 30. Seeing as how I was meeting the local breast surgeon on April 23, the medical staff had been trying to get my MRI date moved up. They were successful and got it scheduled for April 22. The reason for wanting this test is to give better imagery of the tumor in my breast as well as any other potential issues that the ultrasound may not have seen. Hope for the best, brace for the worst.  The staff at Crystal Spring Imaging were all quite pleasant. There was little to no wait time before they called me back. The process for this particular MRI is interesting... The usual undress from the waist up, put on the gown, opening in front, belongings in a locker. This part is new from the last time I experienced an MRI... they have you stand on a mat in front of a magnet thingy. Then they ask you to turn a full circle. This is to ensure there's nothing magnetic in the body. Just like warning labels on toasters that say not to use around water must have come f...

Because of all these appointments, I have been working remotely. My company got a new laptop for me and our IT guys mirrored my desktop to my laptop and set up a VPN connection for me. Told you I work for a good company. It's been easier to work at home, run to an appointment and just come back, picking up where I left off, working however long I need.  Background info: I am not a medicine taker. Very rarely do I take anything over the counter. I've got a pretty stellar immune system, but on the oddity I get a sniffle or anything, I usually hit it by upping my supplements. Medicines and me don't get along. Whatever side effect the box says will happen, typically I will have the opposite of. For example, DayQuil is supposed to make you stay awake yet it makes me jittery and sleepy and NyQuil keeps me awake with violent nightmares. Go figure. Needless to say, my biggest concern with treatment was how my body is going to react.  April 21. My first treatment day. Marsha, my fri...

 Friday. Where'd the week go..... Tracey goes with me to the cancer center for treatment training and labs. This appointment is to go over my treatment plan, discuss side effects, reactions, etc. And to explain the reason for weekly labs prior to treatment. (This is in order to monitor my CBC to ensure I'm healthy enough for treatment.) For the life of me I can't recall the person's name, and I think she was a physician assistant, but it didn't really matter. I knew she was just going over my stuff and not fully integrated in my care team.  She was nice, explained each medication, the potential side effects, possible allergic reactions, etc. She was informative. She discussed the options for getting cold packs for my hands and feet to prevent neuropathy - an extremely common side effect from one of the meds.  Common side effects from chemo drugs - nausea, vomiting, low blood counts, hair loss, mouth sores, numbness or tingling in fingers and toes, hearing loss, join...

Today was my port placement day. What's a port? It's a little device that they implant into my collar bone area that allows for the weekly chemo treatments. This is instead of them having to stick my arm all the time for an iv tap. (Images were plucked from the internet.) This is basically what the port looks like. Brands vary so some may be larger, different colors, etc.  This basically how it's implanted. Mine is higher, right at my collar bone. (This picture was the day mine was installed.) This is how the port is used for treatment.  So, port placement day. Nothing to eat or drink past midnight. Tracey takes me to this one. Appointment time is 8:00am. It's only supposed to take 45 min. Conscious sedation out-patient procedure. No problem, right?  They take me back to the prep room while Tracey waits in the waiting room. The typical undress from the top down, put on the gown, answer the routine questions. The IV.... I'm not sure where this chick learned how to do...

April 14 I had an appointment with my PCP. She's awesome. We went over the recent diagnosis, the plan from the oncologist, reviewed my labs and did a once-over on Kira to get a baseline of my current health (pre-chemo). She wants to be able to keep an eye on me from another point of view, which I fully appreciate! Nothing against specialists whatsoever, but they do tend to focus on "their" thing so my PCP may notice something later on that might've been overlooked. I'll see her again in 3 months instead of my normal annual visit. She also told me to reach out to her, any time, day or night, for any reason. She'd be there for me any time. How can you not want to just hug your doctor?? I didn't, but wanted to.  Once again, Tracey and Chris arrive to help with things around the ranch. Their girls, Hannah and Izzy, came along for the week also. They are my babies too. They may not think they were much help while they were here, but I wish I could express just ...

April 10, 2025... Nathan and I both have cancer appointments.. At least we're still doing everything together, right? 😜 His appointment is in the morning and is a follow-up from his removal procedure. They discuss his "spot", which Nathan renamed Bob. The doctor wants to send it off for growth an further testing. So, adios Bob. See ya later! Wouldn't it have been nice for our appointment times to be close together since they're both in the same vicinity? Sure would've, but that's not how our lives work.  So, my appointment. The typical questions first...  Family history of breast cancer? No Ever take birth control? No Ever take hormone replacements? No Last menstrual cycle? ten years ago Literally nothing put me at a high risk for this shit.  The oncologist goes over the expectations, chemo cocktail to start ASAP, following that would be surgery, reconstruction, etc. Imagine a the speed of an auctioneer speaking, but it's about cancer. Yea, that's...

 Let's recap recent events.... Cancer diagnosis, Christian buying a house, and recent visits. I failed to mention something previously...  Kevin and Chandler (Christian's dad and brother) were in town around the time of my biopsy and confirmation. They'd gone to visit Catelynn (my niece) in Chesapeake the day I found out. They returned Saturday evening and left early Monday morning. Was uplifting to see them and have them visit. The day after my confirmed diagnosis, about mid-day, out of nowhere appears Tracey. In my bedroom doorway. She'd apparently decided that morning that she was coming to me for the weekend. God blessed me with great friends. She and I got out and did a LOT of retail therapy Saturday, buying things we knew the kids would need for their new home. She and Nathan were in cahoots because apparently he knew she was coming.  Needless to say, there wasn't a lot of time to be able to wallow in my misery or have much more of a pity party, which is proba...

When I had the biopsy done, they told me the results wouldn't be available for about 3-5 days. Another hurry up and wait game. I just continued to pray and ask the Lord for his comfort. There's confidence in knowing there's nothing He can't handle.  Thursday, March 27, 2025. The day I found out I have cancer.  I was sitting at my desk at work. It was super early as Marsha and I are at work before dawn, literally. Typically we are there by 6am. So anyway, as I'm sitting there working, something crawled into my head and told me to pull up my MyChart and see if test results were posted. Telling myself it's only been 2 days and I shouldn't expect to see anything new, then bam. The results were there. I had to open the report and read the outcome. There it was. Triple negative, invasive, poorly-differentiated ductal carcinoma in my right breast. I will add that my first thought was to say a thank you to God for the lymph node biopsy being negative.  Needless to s...

 Biopsy got scheduled for March 25, 2025. While a week after the diagnostic exam may sound like a long time to wait, in the medical field it might as well have been an instant turnaround.  During all these diagnoses and appointments, my nephew that was living with us at the time, was in the process of purchasing his first home. So while some moments were doom and gloom momentarily (I say that because I can't live in that mentality for very long.) it was also an exciting and stressful time helping him navigate thru the home buying process. The needed documents signed, forms to be filled out, delays, deposits, not to mention they (him, his wife and their baby, aka my grandbaby) have lived with us for 2 years and came with their clothes and that was all.... they needed stuff for their home. Shopping, thrifting, cleaning out our stuff to see what we could give them...  So it's been an exciting, stressful, emotional couple of months around here. There were MANY prayers to let ...

 March 18, 2025 was the scheduled date for my diagnostic mammogram. Nathan took me to this appointment and, bless his heart, he couldn't go back with me but had to stay in the waiting area the whole time. This was a lengthy appointment too but he handled it with patience, especially since he'd just had his procedure to remove his skin cancer 5 days prior and was dealing with a black and swollen eye, stitches and overall discomfort. Well, I say he did. He said he did. I wasn't with him so... LOL So, diagnostic mammogram... they take you back to a small waiting room with a couple of closed spaces and lockers for changing and storing your belongings. Again with the half gown, open-in-front attire. Once changed we sit in a small waiting room, sometimes with other patients waiting for the same thing. The staff was very courteous.  After a short wait, it's off to visit the boob squisher. The process is the same, stand this way, bend that way, lean back, head facing this way, ...

Wednesday, March 5, 2025 at 8:15am I was standing at the Carilion Clinic Breast Care Center on Jefferson St in Roanoke checking in for my 8:20am appointment. Get all checked in and have a seat in the waiting area. There were a few others already waiting so I figured I would have some time to kill. I think I only got to play 1 round of the game Cattywampus before they were calling my name. (That's an addictive word game - thanks to my cousin Adina) So, off I go into the world of boob-squishing unknown. They tell me to disrobe from the waist up and put on the half a gown with the opening in the front. Had never seen a half a gown before so that was kinda neat. Next I go to the other room harboring the mammogram machine.  This is a course of boob squishing at it's finest. Take into consideration that I am NOT a well-endowed woman by any means. I did not get that gene from my mom. So the nurse has me standing in all sorts of awkward positions, arms over this, twist that way, lean t...

 Let me begin with this -  I'd never had a mammogram prior to starting this journey, but my GYN had shown me how to do a self exam years ago. If you don't know how to do a self breast exam, have your GYN show you. It's simple and easy to do. It's something that can be done in the shower. Let's go back to March 2, 2025... I was laying in bed on Sunday night/Monday Morning (middle of the night) getting over a mild case of something respiratory that Nathan had shared with me. Sleep was off and on that night and I was watching TV in bed. I threw my right arm over my head onto my pillow and my left arm across my chest. I  just happened to feel something different with my finger tips. Brain on alert and fully awake at that point, self breast exam was under way. Sure enough, lump in the right breast. Needless to say, there was no further sleeping that night and tears and prayers ensued. I knew immediately what the outcome was going to be.  Monday, March 3, as soon as I tho...

If you have landed here, you must know that I have been diagnosed with Breast Cancer. My local oncologist said stage 2, the surgeons said 3... That's how my life goes... I'm agreeing with the surgeons based on how staging is actually done. I've created this blog to document my journey thru this diagnosis. My hope is to be as transparent as possible...  I will try to share the information that I have pertaining to this cancer and try to explain things in normal language. I recommend starting with the earliest dated post and following along in chronological order. I can't seem to get the posts to land in order from my viewpoint. Feel free to reach out directly any time with questions, comments or concerns.  I fully trust the Lord to get me thru this journey with Nathan by my side. I have cancer, it does not have me.