So. Much. Information! Today Nate and I started the day by meeting with my Gynecologic Oncologist, Dr. Remmenga after wandering the gorgeous glass art garden at the facility. We spent about two hours with him, his resident, their student, and nurse. I'll spare you the nitty gritty, but treatment plans were confirmed. We will start with five weeks of external beam radiation, throw in some chemo for a little razzle dazzle, and adding brachytherapy in at the tail end. No pun intended on that last part. We will be in Omaha for a bit longer than originally anticipated, but I nearly expected that. Up to nine weeks, so that means we should see some nice spring weather... right? My dudes, its pretty damn cold here, we didn't head near far enough south. Though right now, I'm not sure there is a south far enough to escape this crap! What an odd world right now.
After our first appointment, we went directly to the Radiation Oncologist's office and met with Dr. Wahl, his resident, and their nurse, Jane. I feel terrible because most of the names today only lasted about 14 seconds in my memory. What is imprinted pretty well are the words adenosquamous cell carcinoma of the cervix. Try saying that one time slow. This subtype of cancer is a less common than squamous cell carcinoma, but they are treated the same. Since there are lymph nodes involved, I am not a candidate for a radical hysterectomy. Different forms of radiation were discussed and submitted to our insurance company for approval. One last pre-treatment CT was taken to fine tune exactly where we will be shooting the radiation in. My first chemo and radiation appointment is scheduled for next Tuesday, meaning we have exactly a week before I become a microwave dinner, hot and ready! Reason being, they need the time to formulate and configure the radiation machine with exact coordinates in my body and the correct frequencies pin pointed and transposed into the computer within. A whole week in an actual city, during a pandemic, with cancer, and no real agenda. What are we going to do? Uh, go home and squeeze my babies. There is literally no other option. That drive out of my parents yard is going to be torturous to make again, but I'd do it ten times over if it means I get to watch them play and crawl all over me for an hour.
Both Dr. Remmenga and Dr. Wahl performed pelvic exams and neither noted any growth outward from the main tumor into the vagina. There may be a bit of evidence of some of the cancer spread up slightly into the uterus. Both the external beam and brachytherapy will take that bad boy out if there is actually cancer present there. With radiation I am expected to go into menopause fairly quickly after treatment starts. It may be a bump, but I consider it a small and very manageable one. Dr. Wahl feels as thought I, given age and activity level, should be able to manage symptoms of both radiation and chemo relatively well. I have been cleared to keep working out and running as best I can, which will help fight fatigue once that hits a few weeks into the treatment. I am excited to hold onto those outlets and endorphin boosters!
I have some light reading to do about cisplatin, the chemo drug I will be taking a low dose of once a week before radiation. I'm sure my grandma is already pretty well versed in it and I could probably just ask her anything I'm curious about. It will be delivered via IV fluids along with saline, anti-nausea medication, and some buffers to protect my liver and kidneys. I expect my tastes to change and foods to become difficult to get in/down partially due to gaining a metallic taste from the drug. Hoping I just miraculously begin to despise processed foods, as I have changed my diet over the past few months and tried to eliminate them completely. I have been advised to begin a low fiber diet, which may be kind of difficult. I love me some nuts and all the greens.
That's about all this sleepy brain can manage. Tomorrow I plan on finalizing schedules with both facilities and ensuring no one needs to see me before we take off. There is a clinic right down the road from our hotel where I will be getting chemo and radiation at opposed to driving across town to the UN campus. It is obviously smaller being a clinic, therefore more my pace and quiet. My radiologist makes a visit out there every Friday and we will have a meeting to discuss progress and plans at my appointments then.
I love you all, and could never had expected the outpour of love and well wishes pertaining to this endeavor. I am honestly speechless and could feel your love, light, and vibes encasing me throughout my appointments today. I will never be able to express my gratitude for your thoughts and as I have said, I will be using up every single bit of your prayers. Thank you to all, and please know each of your messages have 100% impacted me and my family.
Thank you. I love you. I hope to have nothing exciting to say until treatments starts.
Until next time,
XOJO