Tattoos

So at my appointment last week at Princess Margaret Hospital it was decided that nothing different should be done for my radiation. Today I had my appointment with the radiologist at Grand River Hospital and I received my first ever tattoos!! Five small "freckles" to act as markers for the radiation. First they position you and make a mold so that each time you come you stay in the same position. Then they use the CT scanner to determine where they will put the markers. Then they use a black indie ink to tattoo you. It does hurt a little because of the needle but not for long. I can't imagine getting a sleeve tattoo...way too painful!
Radiation hopefully will start next week. Today one of the four radiation machines broke and they are not sure how long it will take to get the part so we will see.

Without faith... nothing is possible. With it... nothing is
impossible.

     -- Mary McLeod Bethune

Last Self-injection!

Well I am all done chemo and have my last self-injection tonight! I am so happy to be finished chemo...no more toxic chemicals being injected into me to kill off any cancer cells. Seems rather barbaric to inject toxic chemicals into a body and hope the body survives but I guess it is the best we have yet.
I have an appointment with an oncology surgeon at Princess Margaret Hospital on the 20th. He will decide what, if anything, we will do about the other side that may have had cancer. This will determine if I need radiation on both sides or not. I also managed to get an appointment at Women's College Hospital on the same day (save an extra trip to TO) for the genetic study. It will be a busy day but I will be glad to get it over with.
Thank you to everyone for your continued prayers and support. You are awesome!

We must shift our interest from the seen to the unseen. For the
great unseen Reality is God.
     -- A.W. Tozer

Last Chemo Wednesday!

Yes, my last chemo is Wednesday and I get to ring the bell!! I can hardly believe it. After 8 more self injections at home I will officially be needle free for awhile and my body is going to be thanking me for that.
This paclitaxel has a cumulative effect which is catching up with me. I am tired and 4-5 days after treatment you feel like you have been run over by a Mac truck. I have slept a few days all day. Yes everyone leaves in the morning and I go back to sleep and they come home and I am still in bed!! It doesn't help that my hemoglobin is low again...I kinda slacked off after getting it up the time before by eating a lot of red meat. These last 2 weeks I think I have had red meat everyday with help from David! Tomorrow I will find out what my level is.
So just to add a twist to everything my oncologist whom I saw yesterday has now decided that something needs to be done with the CT scan (done in August) that showed an enlarged lymph node. The MRI was negative but was also done after 4 chemos were completed. Dr. M. is not sure what to do so she is thinking of sending me to an oncology surgeon at Princess Margaret to have him decide . This needs to done in December if possible before radiation starts!! I never realized before how much cancer is NOT an exact science but I am learning.

If I didn't have spiritual faith, I would be a pessimist. But
I'm an optimist. I've read the last page in the Bible. It's all
going to turn out all right.
     -- Billy Graham