Friday

It’s 8:15 p.m and I’m doing what I find myself doing a lot of...waiting. This time I'm waiting for Becca to finish up at her senior high spa night, then I'll give her and some of her friends a ride home. This is right after I waited for Nathan's practice to end so I could drop him off and take Becca to her event. Earlier I had to wait for a doctor...then a nurse to hook me up for an infusion...then waited while an EKG test was administered.... well, I'm getting a head of myself, so I should probably start at the beginning of my day. 

Today was a doctor visit and Herceptin. My back is almost completely healed, so it was an easy appointment. A couple of weeks ago I was so certain that I would be needing a scan of some sorts to rule out cancer, and now that fear has disappeared with the back pain. It almost seems like those emotions and fears never happened. I guess it's either a result of living for each day or residual memory loss from chemo. Either way, I'm enjoying good health today. 

Dr. Kohn said my blood counts have all returned to the normal range. She said my Vitamin D was really high, so I could decrease the amount of the supplement I take. The one concerning thing she had to report  was the result of my latest echo. The cardiologist saw a decrease in  the ejection fraction of my heart.  It’s a small decrease and won’t prevent me from receiving Herceptin at this point, but it is something that needs to be monitored closely. Instead of going in for an echo every 3 months, I now need to go in every 2. My next echo needs to come before my next Herceptin in early April. Dr. Kohn also wanted to get an EKG on me. Fortunately, she said they can perform this test while I’m getting my infusion. I was grateful to not have to come back for another appointment. Dr. Kohn has noticed a slow pulse the past few times I’ve come in. I told her that I have a history of having a low pulse. Herceptin does not slow down the heart, so she thinks a possibility is because I have a slow rate naturally, the reading of the heart's ejection rate is affected, too. Anyway, she’s not worried about it, and I won’t either. I’m glad they monitor me closely. If things turn worse, I will need a break from Herceptin. Usually the heart bounces back after a break, but, of course, I'd prefer not needing a break. It's that fine balance I walk between cancer and the side effects of all the treatments.

While I was getting my EKG, the technician noticed that Dr. Kohn was my doctor and told me she really likes her. Her sister-in-law also goes to her, after not having a good experience with a previous oncologist at a different hospital. The technician said that Dr. Kohn never takes more than a couple of days off because she doesn't enjoy being out of touch from her patients. While I don’t know how healthy this is in the long run, it is nice to know how much she cares. I feel like I can rest in the fact that she’ll watch out for anything that might be a precursor to something serious, like this thing with my heart. Even with my back, she wouldn't let me just tell her that it was better. She wanted the specifics of how it was feeling and when it stopped hurting.  I remember when my surgeon, Dr. Clinch, told his assistant to make an appointment for me with one of the oncologists. She could have chosen any of them at the cancer clinic, but I feel God directed her to call the one He wanted on my team. It’s been that way all along this journey, and I am thankful.

Before leaving for my appointments today, I booked tickets for Becca and me to go to Colorado. My brother is having a wedding reception and the rest of my siblings, my dad, cousins, an aunt….lots of family…will be there. After our trip to Florida, I didn't know if I was up for another trip, financially or physically. While my back was sore, I didn't want to even think about it. My sister, Sue, sent me an email a couple of days ago and said she found some reasonably priced tickets from Seattle to Denver still available. I chuckled as I had been checking just that thing when the email came in. Last night I found some tickets for $200 apiece, but we would have to leave at 6 a.m. That didn't seem very fun. Becca seemed excited to go, but I couldn't decide. Since my stomach was hurting, I decided to go to bed early, and figure it out in the morning, knowing full well those reasonably-priced tickets could disappear. This morning, not only could I find $200 tickets, but a new departure time of 11:45 opened up. After spending time in prayer and asking God to show me specifically if we should go or not, I knew He had answered my prayer. As soon as I hit purchase, I felt an incredible peace, along with a bunch of excitement that I get to hang out with my family! I was able to switch an infusion appointment to Thursday so we could leave on Friday. The rest of the details will have to be figured out later.

So now as I finish up this post, it's almost 11. I've been home for a while, but thought I'd better post this before I go to bed. I'm glad today is almost over. It's been a busy day of a busy week. Most of all, I am overwhelmed with thankfulness. God is good.