Timeline: 2013

11/13/13 – Follow up with Dr. Razaq to discuss potential oophorectomy.

11/9/13 – Party to celebrate the end of radiation. Chemo ended two months back, but her friends waited for her to recover fully before having the big party.

10/20/13 – Race for the Cure fun with family and friends in Downtown OKC.

10/2/13 – Schedule my prophylactic mastectomy and reconstruction for Feb. 12, 2014

10/1/13 – My story appears in The Oklahoman and on NewsOK.com.

9/18/13 – One-year anniversary of diagnosis.

9/17/13 – Appointments in Houston to discuss prophylactic mastectomy on other side and reconstruction.

9/13/13 – Final day of radiation.

9/5/13 – Last day of radiation over entire area. The next six treatments will be focused on the scar tissue.

8/16/13 – Had another CT scan to try to make sure the radiation is hitting correct locations. Turns out, everything was fine. They don’t know why they sometimes have a hard time lining me up right.

7/29/13 – Begin radiation. It’s every weekday for about seven weeks. I go in the afternoons, usually at about 4 p.m.

7/25/13 – Surgery to remove the port after chemo.

7/23/13 – Another appointment with radiation oncologist — Dr. Terence Hermann — and pre-radiation CT scan.

7/18/13 – Appointment with plastic surgeon, Dr. Kronowitz, in Houston to fill up tissue expander one last time before radiation.

7/3/13 – Eighth, and final, round of chemo. Rang bells.

6/28/13 – Met with radiation oncologist — Dr. Terence Herman — at OU Cancer Center to plan the upcoming treatment

6/20/13 – Seventh round of chemo

6/6/13 – Sixth round of chemo

5/23/13 – Fifth round of chemo (the first treatment of Taxol)

5/9/13 – Fourth round of chemo (this was the last of the Adriamycin/Cytoxan cocktail — and none of it was fun)

4/25/13 – Third round of chemo

4/16/13 – Shave my head. Had a party.

4/11/13 – Second round of chemo

3/28/13 – First round of chemo

3/26/13 – Surgery for port placement in preparation for chemo.

3/25/13 – Finally get results of OncoType DX test. Decide to proceed with full treatment protocol of Adriamycin/Cytoxan and Taxol. 

2/12/13 through 3/24/13 – Wait for OncoType DX test to be run. The waiting was a result of a series of communication miscues. In the meantime (2/28 & 3/19), had two appointments in Houston with plastic surgeon to observe area of previous infection and increase fluid in tissue expander.

2/12/13 – Get my surgical drain removed in OKC.

2/1/13 – Appointment to see Dr. Gainer after having some weird symptoms in the preceding days. Ultrasound shows now fluid collection. Blood test show no abnormalities. Head home!

1/22/13 – Follow-up appointments: Pathology shows 0/23 lymph nodes have cancer. Plastic surgery is pleased with the skin around the expander. Oncology appointment: Dr. Moulder recommends a six-month treatment plan. She recommends 10 rounds of Taxol once a week, followed by four rounds of Adriamycin/Cytoxan every two weeks.

1/16/13 – Appointment with Infectious Disease on our way out town. I developed a rash all over my cheeks, neck, chest and stomach on the right side. One theory was it was related to the antibiotics I was taking. Infectious Disease switches me from Cipro to Augmentin though she does not believe that is the culprit. The doctor also strongly recommends stopping antibiotics the next week if I do not have fluid around my expander.

1/14/12 – Report for surgery at 10 am. Get right axillary node dissection – removed 23 nodes.

1/10/13 – Receive last dose of IV antibiotics – switch to all oral antibiotics.

1/8/13 – Cleared for surgery by Dr. Kronowitz and Dr. Gainer. Tissue expander gets to stay in. Unfortunately, so does the PICC line – just in case.

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