scary new info

Just as I was about to prepare to be discharged, Josh, my surgeon, came up tonight and said that we had to have a talk. New results from the biopsy done at my surgery have shown what appears to be breast cancer cells. While these cells have been removed from my arm, we now need to know how bad it is with my breasts. I had a mammogram in late January with an ultrasound done on a spot that my doctor thought was slightly denser. Both came back fine. So, I am hopeful that this means things were caught early, though it seems strange that my arm started hurting in March and in April was xrayed. That seems really too close to the mammogram to have enough time to metastatize (sp). But we will have a great deal more information soon. I am having a mammogram tomorrow and probably a full MRI as well. They have already spoke to the anesthetist and he is going to put me out for the MRI (last time, the sedation did not sedate, so they need to do it with me fully knocked out to have success). I have good people looking out for me, and I believe that good things are coming. I thought that the good times were here, but I guess I need to get thru this bump first.

shake up in post surgery plan

No matter how carefully we plan things, reality will sneak up on you and wreck those plans.

James is not able to take the compassionate leave that we had planned on. He is unable to stay in Kingston and care for the children. So, we are coming up with new plans. I will just need to do my recuperating during the day, after we get the kids to school. Thank God for Greg, he was right there, immediately pledging his support. Friends and neighbours will help, too. And I will need to adhere to the plan, as I am at risk of a relapse or aggravation of the infection and injury. The bone is still very precarious though we are hoping for full regrowth and stability. Apparently, it could heal itself, but that will take about 18 weeks. I am not to be lifting and carrying, or weight bearing for that length of time.

Its amazing how stress creeps up on you. You would think that, while I am in the hospital, I would be able to just breathe, and not worry or get stressed out. But life carries on, and stress happens.

osteomylitis

welcome to the word of the day, kids. Osteomylitis is what the dr says is what was in my arm to start with. apparently, this was in the bone, and sort of sitting there for a while. It has been bumped out, or burst out or something. And then just sort of sat there, aggravating itself now and then. When they went in to do the biopsy, there were no tumour cells, and no infection that showed up on the pathology. However, the dr says that he believes that there was a dormant infection in the middle of it all that got stirred up. He also says that the staph infection that I am now being treated for was likely introduced during the biopsy. While I agree with him that it is far easier to be dealing with a staph infection and antibiotics, rather than chemo and steel rods, a part of me is feeling rather grumpy that I wouldn't have been dealing with the staph except that THEY introduced it!

Long Update!

Greetings from Kingston General!

Lots of stuff to bring you up to date!

On Saturday, August 22nd, Greg decided that it was time for me to get my arm looked at. It was day 10 post biopsy and my arm was swelling up more each day. This particular night, two of the staples were showing green roots, and part of my arm was going shiny with the swelling. The arm was also really hot. Greg took me into the urgent care dept at hotel dieu, and they got nervous about my blood pressure and pulse, both of which were elevated given that I was in pain. They got me in quite quickly and the ER doctor immediately called over to the ortho doctors at KGH. Well, they wanted me brought over to Kingston General Hospital ER immediately. So, Greg drove me over, though I think he was hoping that we could go by ambulance! They had a bed for me immediately, and ran blood work and did an ultrasound of the arm. From the ultra sound, the infection was really visible, sort of sprawling out like a cauliflower. The infection count in my blood work was huge. The decision was made to wait out starting antibiotics until they could get in surgically, so that they could get fresh specimens. But, and its a HUGE BUT, the biopsy results showed that there was no cancer cells! woo hoo! They admitted me, and transferred me to a regular floor on Sunday. I finally got in for surgery on Tuesday, and it went well. They basically dissected my arm, scraping out infection, and scraping hte damaged bone. The scraping that they had done at the biopsy was already showing signs of regeneration, so they feel good that the arm bone will regrow. They sewed me up and put me on antibiotics by intravenous. On Wed (or was it Thurs) they put in a PIK for intravenous, so that I can continue with the antibiotics at home. Yesterday (Saturday) they changed the antibiotics, based on the surgerys pathology reports.

So, I have been in the hospital for a week. I have a staph infection that they are treating with heavy antibiotics, and will continue to treat for several weeks. The incision is healing nicely, and is starting to itch, which is a good sign. I have a fair amount of pain still, but we are able to manage it orally, most of the time. I have nerve twitches as the nerve endings repair themselves.

James has the children, and he has returned to Kingston with them today, to get ready for school. He is taking some time off work and looking at doing some work at a desk in Kingston, so that he can continue to take care of the kids. I am unable to use my arm for anything that is weight bearing for a while, until the bone is healed. I am also on heavy medications. So I am unable to be the full time parent right now. But I was so happy to see my kids today! I missed them like crazy!

I think that this brings the blog more or less up to date. My brain is fried, so if I remember something, I will add it later.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

status report

surgery went well. it was just much more intrusive than i was expecting! i assumed that a biopsy was just a really big needle. it was a two inch incision, and staples. pain was never huge, just horribly uncomfortable . i have morphine for pain. i am much more comfortable today. the swelling is down (even my hand was swollen). we returned to the hospital the day of surgery, as i was bleeding, and learned that this was pretty normal. they packed th arm and sent me home with an extra shot of morphine. i am having a hard time sleeping, finally slept last night with the sling on and my hand propped up. i am at high risk for a break, with the bone in a fragile state. this is stressful for me. greg has been awesome through all this. i don't know how i could go thru this without him. we are now in wait mode again, needing the biop results before we can plan for surgery.
its hard for me to type with only one hand so there may not be many updates on here.

We are off to see the wizard!

I am checking in for 7 AM. Not sure when I am actually in the surgery room, but I think its a good sign that I am in first thing in the morning. Less chance of being bumped, hopefully.

WOOP WOOP WOOP THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!!

After how long in "hurry up and wait" mode, we have recieved THE CALL. Well, ok, one in a series of calls, but a very important call nonetheless, indicating that my biopsy is TOMORROW. I don't know anything more at this point, it was the doctor's office calling to alert me, but I am to prepare to go tomorrow. Its a horrible request to make at this point, but pray that I not bumped by emergencies. I will update as I get more info.