Houston, I thought we were done with you!

Over the past few days, my right side has gotten progressively more and more sore. First, it was just around where the drain was. That isn’t that abnormal…I do have a tube going deep into my side, and it is stitched in to keep it from getting yanked out. The opening gets sore, the stitches get sore…it is just part of the joy of a drain.

The pain spread slowly over the past couple days.

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OKC Oncologist? Check.

On Thursday morning, Alan and I met with Dr. Wajeeha Abdul Razaq at OU Cancer Center.

I really liked her. We did not feel rushed. She answered all of our questions, but even better … She walked in, sat down and apologized that I was going through this. Then, knowing we had already been to an oncologist so we already knew a lot, she began to explain things to us. She didn’t assume we knew.

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Woohoo!

It was a long day, but we will take long days like this when they turn out to be so good!

First up, our appointment with Dr. Moulder, the oncologist. She gave us the chemo plan which consists of 12 rounds of Taxol once a week, followed by four rounds of Adriamycin/Cytoxan/5-FU once every three weeks. Total treatment: 6 months.

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Cheering up

Almost a week out from surgery – I’m tired and sore, but I think this surgery was a lot easier than the last one. The pain meds that I’ve been taking, combined with Benedryl for the allergic rash I developed, have put me in quite a zone. I’ve slept A LOT.

Lots of sleep, lots of meds and limited interaction with the outside world can make one feel kind of blah.

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The day after recovery day … and the day after that

We’re home. But it wasn’t as simple as planned.

We planned on leaving Houston at about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday and being home by late afternoon. But as we fought the morning rush-hour traffic near the Houston Medical District to the Interstate, Jenny was speaking to the triage nurse at the MD Anderson breast center.

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Recovery Day — Feeling better

Jenny wasn’t happy last night. She didn’t get to eat, but later admitted that the restricted diet was smart. When she received more pain medication at about midnight, she had another wave of nausea. At that point, she was happy that she only had chicken broth and jello to eat for dinner.

Since midnight, though, Jenny has been progressing very well. By 6 a.m. this morning, she was up and around in her room and getting dressed. She ate breakfast after the visit from a doctor this morning. Dr. Gainer’s fellow allowed a change to the diet restriction. But under the advice of the nurse, Jenny took it easy and ate cereal and fruit. There was no breakfast taco, as I promised yesterday.

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