| Eva 的个人资料Eva's Pink Adventure照片日志列表 |  工具  帮助 |
|
3月8日 ResultsMy mammogram in January came out just fine. I am looking forward to having my name put back on the transplant list. I will be looking for a doctor that does NOT use steriods after the transplant surgery. Dr. Sree told me that San Antonio does not use a steriod regimen. So if I cant find a Doctor here in Houston that does not use a steriod regimen, then I am heading to SA. 1月24日 Mammogram Coming up SOonMy first mammogram after my reconstructive surgery will be on Tuesday. Im really nervous about going because I want everything to be okay. I have been having alot of pain, but hopefully it is just nerve pain from the surgery. Wow, its been over a year since I have taken time to write on this blog. I would love to tell you that I was living up life, but that wouldnt be totally true. Right after I graduated from school I had to restart kidney dialysis. This was expected to happen because the doctors were not sure if my transplaneted kidney would able to handle the chemo. My transplanted kidney lasted about 2 years after my chemo treatments. So now I am on dialysis (sucks) and hopefully with this mammogram (if it comes out good) I will be able to get back on the transplant list. Wish me luck. 9月22日 An UpdateHere is an update for all the strangers who were nice enough to leave me inspiratonal words. Currently there are no new signs of cancer in my left breast. I have been doing very well and have returned to college. I am attending HCC for Esthetics. I will complete the course in June 2007. I had one set back, but that was for my reconstructive surgery. My blood level and pottassium were too low to have the surgery. Those conditions have nothing to do with my cancer, they were caused by my kidney disease. I am currently working on get those levels back to normal and hopefully I will be able to have the surgery in December. Sorry I havent posted any blogs lately but I have been living life to the fullest since I recieved the good news. Again thanks for all the inspirational words and prayers. 1月2日 HAPPY NEW YEARI wish I could say that I have a positive outlook on this year, but I dont. For some reason I have been bummed since Saturday. I do have a plan to return to school but I have this fear that once I do something will happen. It's hard to explain but I have the worst luck when I start something new. It seems that when I succeed I get knocked down quickly. I have made some new year resolutions. One I am going to try to be more positive. That is going to be the hardest one to keep. I feel that I am up to the challenge. Second, return to school and try to get my own place. This is what I want the most. I am going to strive for that one for sure. And last but not least, try to live a healthy lifestyle. I am going to try to eat healthier food and exercise. Hopefully I dont kill myself with the exercise. :) 12月12日 Check up!Good news everyone. My last mammogram came out on the positive side. There are no signs of new cancer forming!!! YIPEE! Now I can start to live my life again. I do have to return every 6 months for the next 2 years to get a mammogram though. Thats part of the process. The main reason they want me back so often is because of my age. The younger you are the more they want to see you. I can't explain the weight that has been lifted off my chest for the time being. I will be returning to school and hopefully to the working world soon. I will continue to write in my blog of the progress of my life. And hopefully there won't be any future worries about my cancer. Thank you for all of your support and well wishes. 11月2日 At the hospital.....once again.Hey guys, sorry I havent keep up with my blog but I had another stay in the hospital. My hemoglobin dropped dramatically and I had to be taken to the ER. It was pretty bad. I couldnt stand up with feeling like I was going to fall. I was put into ICU the first day and I was given 4 units of blood over 2 days. My kidney function had dropped as well. I was in bad shape. I was also low on calcium, magnisum and potassium. My potassium level was so low that I recieved a total of 10 small IV bags over my time in the hospital. The worst part of being in the hospital was that I didnt get to go home until Halloween. It happens to be my favorite holiday and I missed it this year. I guess thats okay because I wasnt able to find a geisha costume. I am feeling much better but I still have a cold. Cant wait until I get rid of it. I have had it for 2 weeks now. Dont worry that is common for me. Since I have to take immuno-suppressants it is hard for me to kick the common cold. 10月13日 And LIFE goes on....Well it has been 2 weeks since I finished radiation and I am feeling ALOT better. No more feeling tired but I still have a little pain from time to time. But overall I am feeling alot better. I am actually getting kind of bored. Before I had to many things going on for me to think about anything else. Now I want to get out of the house and have some fun. Unfortunately, I dont have anywhere to go. I could go visit my "married" friends, but not sure if they would be willing to go out on the town with me. If I dont get out of this house soon I will go crazy. LOL Hopefully this weekend I will be able to spend some time with my friends and get rid of this boredem. Most likely I will be spending my time on the couch. Yippee!! 10月4日 NO MORE RADIATION FOR ME!!!!I finally finished my radiation on friday. Monday I had my consultation with the plastic surgeon. He wants me to wait 6 MONTHS before I have my reconstructive surgery. Needless to say I was extremely upset. I want all this to be over and done with and now I have to wait some more. I was kind of a brat with the doctor but I was really upset. He kept say "I know how you feel". How could he know? First, he is a man and second he doesnt have breast cancer. He cant have a clue on how I feel. I was crying like a big baby because I was so frustrated. I swear that I am gonna go nuts during this 6 months. My family keeps telling me that it will go by fast but I feel like I have had this cancer forever. Its only been since Feb. of this year. Oh well, I am gonna go sluck some more. Maybe I will feel better later. 9月29日 ONE TREATMENT LEFT!!!!!Time to celebrate!! My last radiation treatment is tomorrow. I cant wait until all this is over. I will be seeing the plastic surgeon on Monday and I will get a consultation on my reconstruction surgery. I still have my breast but I am missing alot of breast tissue. I have to wait at least 4 weeks before I can have any kind of testing done. It is going to be nerve recking to wait to see if my cancer is gone. Then I have to wait at least 3 months before I can have my reconstructive surgery. I think I am handling things okay but yesterday I had a break down. For some reason I became very upset and started to cry. I was consumed by fear. Its like my body was trying to tell me that something was wrong. I have had this happen to me before. My last rejection episode (kidney transplant) came after I had the same type of reaction. One morning I was putting on my makeup and I became terrified. I told my mother that I knew something was wrong and that I had to go to the doctor. Unfortunately, I was right. I was rejecting my transplanted kidney and spend the next 2 months in and out of the hospital. Lets hope that I am wrong this time. Well I guess everyone heard about Hurricane Rita. That storm hit my home town of Port Arthur, TX. Currently I have 2 aunts, 4 cousins, 2 friends, 5 dogs and 2 cats staying at my house. IT IS CRAZY!! I am happy to say that everyone is okay and none of their homes had any major damage. They will probably be staying here for 4-8 weeks. There is no power, water or gas in the Port Arthur area. Its okay though. I always wanted to know what it would be like to have a big family. When I get a chance I will put some pictures of my hometown on here to give you an idea of the damage Hurricane Rita caused. 9月8日 Proud of Family and FriendsI just want to say to all my friends and my family that I am so proud of you. Hurricane Katrina caused the worst disaster this country has seen but it has brought the best out of alot of people. I just want to say that I am proud of my family and friends for giving donations to the Red Cross. My parents have joined up with their church and are doing as much as they can. My father works for the Department of Labor and the local offices are trying to help these displaced people find work. My father was at the Astrodome today and was surprised on what he saw. There are so many people there and they have no home to go to. I know that the city of Houston will welcome them to live here. Houston is a big city and there is plenty of room. One of the many problems is finding them work. My father says that there are plenty of jobs outside of the Loop, but most of them dont have transportation. It truly is sad to watch but I have confidence in the American Red Cross, city of Houston and other charities to help all the evacuees optain a normal life again. The photos below were taken by my father when he was at the Astrodome, Toyota Center and George R. Brown Convention Center. If you would like to donate to the American Red Cross; I have linked their website. Thanks! 9月5日 Happy Labor Day!Well since it is "Labor Day" I get a day off from radiation. Actually I would have liked to go so I wouldnt be behind an extra day. Anyway, I will have a doctor's appointment tomorrow before my radiation treatment. I will be going to the BCC and get my mid radiation check up. I will be asking my doctor on how long it will take me to recover from radiation. Most "normal" patients recover in about 2-3 weeks. I am thinking that it might take me twice as long. I just really want to get all of this done by the end of the year. Dont think it will happen but it sure would be nice to start next year anew. Plus, I really would like to take a short vacation. I need to get out and have some fun. Its really BORING when you dont have the strength to do much of anything. I hope that everyone else is doing well. 8月29日 Week #3I can honestly say that I HATE radiation. I have only done this for 2 weeks and 3 days but my skin is starting to show signs of damage. First my skin is really dry and it itches like crazy. Perfect solution would be to put some lotion on my skin and scratch the area. Not allowed to do either. ARGH!! My skin is also very warm on that side and my breast feels heavier. LOL I know, craziness. And dont get me started on my left armpit. OMG! 4 more weeks of this? I am gonna be one angry little person.  I keep telling myself, "it will all be over soon". If only I would listen to myself. Honestly, I am dealing with it okay, just ready to be done. I really dont have that much patience for anything. I blame my parents. LOL They gave me everything I wanted and then some and I am used to having things done my way. Yep, I'm a spoiled brat. But I have learned over the years that things do take time and the more you want it to be over and done with, fate drags it on.8月25日 Test Results FINALLY inWell good news on my EGD test. They are negative for both esophagus and stomach cancer. WHOO-HOO!!!! I couldnt be happier. No extra problems for me. I also had a blood test done on Monday and that was good too. So for now the only thing I am dealing with is radiation. I could dance a jig, if I wasnt sooooooo tired. Boy, this radiation takes every last bit of my energy. I cant wait unitl I am done. I think I will have a party on that day. I should be done the last day of September. Oh, and more good news. MY HAIR IS GROWING BACK!!! YEAH!! It seems like it grows more and more each day. Its still no long enough to go with out a scarf. Hopefully in a month I wont have to cover my head anymore. It may sound silly to get all excited about hair growing, but when you are bald for awhile, its a beautiful thing. 8月22日 Better days ahead....That is what I keep telling myself. Man, this radiation is taking the best of me. I will wake in the morning with tons of energy. Then I will get my treatment and I am dragging my feet and feel like going to sleep. This is my 3rd week (missed 3 treatments when in hospital) and I really dont think I will make it to the 7th week. Plus to add to the problems I have now, I could have a problem with my blood. Its possible that I am anemic, but wont find out until tomorrow. I am pretty sure that my blood level is low because my blood flows like water and it takes awhile to clot. I will post my lab results here as soon as I find out. Well I am off to go sleep. I NEED REST!! 8月18日 GUESS WHERE I WAS?!?!?Yep, I was in the hospital. But not for the so-called normal things in my life. Nope I had a staph infection on my leg. OH YEAH!! If its not one thing.....geez. Anyway, Monday morning I went to get my radiation done. When the techs called me in to the room I told them that it would be VERY painful for me to lie on my back for my treatment. They looked at my leg and told me to go to the ER. So off we went to the hospital. I was really more concerned about me missing my radiation treatments than going to the ER. The ER doctor comes in the room, looks at my leg and says you have an abcess that needs to be lanced. YIKES!! I wasnt looking forward to that. I was already in tears from the pain, I really didnt want to be cut open. Well the doctor performed the procedure with me screaming and crying in pain. Yes, he did give me a local, but that did not help at all. The packing of the wound with gauze was the worst part. I stayed in the hospital from Monday to last night. The antibotics I recieved for the staph infection might have caused some problem for my kidneys. I was given a ultrasound on my transplant kidney and I should find out more info soon. I really was glad to come home last night. I HATE staying the hospital. I have gone to hospitals more times than I would like to rememeber. So I only missed 3 days of radiation, which isnt too bad. I started right back up today like nothing had happened. So that is where I have been for the last few days. Hope you guys werent too worried about me.  8月9日 Finally Started RadiationI have finally started radiation treatments. Whoever said that you cannot feel any of the effects in the first couple of weeks is a LIAR!! I have this uncomfortable feeling under my skin on the area they treated. Its like I have an inch under my skin. Sounds weird I know but that the only way I can explain it. I already dont like the fact that I cant wear underarm deodorant on my left side. I feel so GROSS! Anyway enough about my armpit. I will see Dr. Teh tomorrow and I have alot of questions for him. There are somethings that I have only thought of now. You see, with my kidney transplant I have to take an immunosuppressant. One of the precautions is to avoid prolonged sun exposure, tanning booths, or sunlamps. Now I would think that radation would be a bad thing for me while I take this medicine. Oh well I guess I will find out for sure on Wednesday. I dont know if you guys noticed but I added something to my space about stopping breast cancer for life. This is the petition that the Lifetime Channel has set up for a bill called the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act . Please visit the website and sign the petition. There is also a way you can email your friends and have them sign the petition. Your help will be greatly appreicated. 8月4日 EGDYesterday morning I went to the Memorial Endoscopy Center to recieve my EGD. What fun. I was so tired when I got there, but I knew that they would put me out for the procedure. I only had to wait for about 30 minutes and then they rolled me in. I talked to my doctor for a few minutes and then the nurse started to give me the anesthesia. It burned alittle bit and they wanted to only give me half, but I assured them that I could handle it. The next thing I remember is that I am in the recovery area. I didnt think much of it and got dressed. They took me out to the car and my mom drove me home. I was supposed to do the radiation simulation, but I was still under the affects of the "drugs". I slept for 5 hours, and I needed it. Later that night my mom told me what the doctor said about my EGD. Basically I was a brat to the doctor, without even knowing it. LOL He told her that I hit him and refused to cooperate, plus I pulled the tubing out of my mouth. OMG I really dont remember any of this. But have to admit, it sounds like something I would do. I have been told before by other doctors that I have this knack of being alittle bratty when I am under the influence of anesthesia. Now when you leave they give you pictures of your insides (gross) and highlight the problem areas. I have esopagitis and a hiatus hernia in my stomach. Sigh! There were 2 nodules that looked odd to the doctor so he biopsy both of them, but he doesnt think it is cancer. I should know for sure in about a week or so. Now today I went to do the simulation for radiation. It was kind of weird but it was really a simple process. I was laided down on a platform with my left arm over my head. They took a MIR of my upper body and then they drew some marks on me. Its kind of funny when you look at the marks. I have 3 blue crosses and 3 blue vertical lines on my chest. I will go back on Monday at 4.30pm to get my first treatment. The tech told me that it is just like the simulation process but only 15 minutes. I think I can handle that. 8月2日 Step Two....Well tomorrow is August 3rd. Sigh! I am not an early bird but I must be at the doctor at 8am. YUCK! I am going to be cranky. LOL After my EGD I will head to the radiation oncologist to get marked for radiation. Now everybody has been asking me, "What is marking?". Well its really called a simulation process. This is when they will put me in the treatment position, which is with my left arm up above my head. I need to stay in this position for about 1-1 1/2 hours while they apply the skin marks. The skin marks are to make sure that they are treating the correct area every treatment. For the first 5 weeks they will be treating my left breast exactly were the tumor was located. The last 2 weeks they will be treating my left armpit area, since I had 1 lymph node positive for cancer. So hopefully I will be done on Sept. 23rd, if there is no problems. I have heard that you can get a skin burn and they will stop treatment until you heal from the burn. My doctor told me that I had they skin type that might not have to deal with that problem. It mostly occurs in people with fair skin. The main side effect of radiation is being tired. This usually occurs after a couple of weeks of treatments. They say to get plenty of rest, so no more of you guys (my family) telling me to go out and about. I have a question for my MSN friends. I have really been thinking about getting a "victory" tattoo when I am done with all my treatments. I have added a photo of what I want to get on the inside part of my right wrist. It is a buddhist mantra (prayer) which means Om Mani Padme Hung. The translation is roughly Hail to the Jewel In the Lotus. The Jewel in the lotus is said to be the jewel of compassion held by Chenrezig (Buddha of Compassion). So the mantra is a prayer for compassion. Tibetan Buddhists believe that saying the mantra out loud or silently to oneself, invokes the powerful benevolent attention and blessings of Chenrezig. Viewing the written form of the mantra is said to have the same effect. I have always been facinated by Buddhism and have a ton of books on the subject. I believe that this mantra is visually beautiful and the meaning equally lovely. So...please take a look at the mantra and give me an opinion on if you think this would be a good ending to my "pink adventure". 7月31日 Making DecisionsHere comes August. Trying to get ready for it. I have 2 days of "no worries" and then it is off to the doctor's office. I have been really thinking about what I should try to accomplish during this time and I have figured it out. I am gonna make sure that I do everything exactly as my doctors want me to do and have a positive attitude. Amazing, I know. But I was lying in bed this weekend (couldnt sleep!!) and I did alot of thinking. There are so many things that I want to accomplish in my life and I am not gonna let this get the best of me. I AM going to have a happy life. I AM going to complete college. I AM going to have a job that I love. I AM going to have a child. And, I AM going to be able to take care of my parents in their old age. They took care of me for so long I have to make sure that I am here for them in future. They have dealt with my 19 years of kidney disease and then 6 months of breast cancer. Without them I dont know if I could had made it. At age 15 I didnt want to deal with being sick and I was ready to give up. But now, I have to prove to my "15 year old" self that I am not going to die at a young age. She is still there in my head saying its too hard, I cant do it. But I realize that I have no choice. I MUST deal with this disease and cancer. For the first time in my life I am saying to myself, "You will beat this." 7月22日 Coming Soon-RADIATIONWednesday, the 20th I finally saw the radiation oncologist. My appointment took FOREVER!!! My appointment was at 1pm and we were there until 4pm. Blah! :( Anyway I talked to a nurse at first. She wanted to know my medical history, so you know that took quite awhile. They wanted to go over all the surgeries I had and the medications I am taking. Then I met Dr. Teh, who I can honestly say is a great person. He is very flamboyant and funny. I can tell that I am gonna enjoy being his patient. He explained the radiation process to me. If you are curious about the procedure, please read the blog titled "Graduation from Chemotherapy". I left the info I was given by the BCC on that blog. He basically told me the same thing but now I know how long I will be on radiation. SEVEN WEEKS!! Blah! I will be marked on August 3rd and my first radiation treatment will be on August 8th. Sigh. Two more months of treatments, I hope I am able to make it mentally. I am really tired and I want to be able to get pass this and live a semi-normal life. If that is possible. It always seems like when everything is going my way something has to come around and screw it up. Yes that is called "negative thinking" but trust me I do try to look at things in a positive way. Its just really hard. There are a couple of people I want say "hi" and "thank you" to. Regan, Ashely, and Julie you guys have left me some insirping and uplifting words. You have this knack of leaving them when I need a little pick me up. Thank you for the support & prayers, and for putting a smile on my face and tears in my eyes. |
|
|
