January 2011 At CTCA

I certainly hope that your new year is going well and you have good health throughout the year. Robbin and I arrived January 30th and returned home February 1st. This trip was a very productive trip. My appointments began at 7:30am and we got back to the hotel around 8:00pm. It was a very long day. My doctor wanted me to see a radiologist to see if it is possible that radiation, on some of the bones that are involved with cancer, would relieve some of the pain that I have been having. I have to say this is the worst month I have had. My first appointment was an MRI of my neck. The pain is in the neck and goes up to my scalp. The radiologist, Dr Chang, also called for another MRI of my brain. He wanted to make sure that there is no tumors on the brain and there was none. Thank God!! He did say that two vertebras were totally involved and impinging on the spinal cord. The radiation will slow the growth of the cancer cells in the bone structure causing the bone to shrink and taking the pressure off the spinal cord. My treatments will start the 8th of February and finish the 25th of February. This means I will be staying in Zion for 3 weeks! I am ready to do this so that I have relief for some of the pain. I also am changing from the faslodex shots to a chemo pill called xeloda. The cancer cells are becoming resistant to the faslodex so it's time to change to a true chemo pill. The side effects are very minimal. I will not loss my hair! Yea!! Sooooo.....I will continue to blog when I start my radiation treatments. I know that a lot of you want to keep up with my treatments and I will make sure I do that. Without your support I can't do this so keep up the good work, friends and family!! Robbin and I fly out monday and will get settled in....grocery shopping, car rental, etc. He will be staying with me for a week. I can't thank him enough for all the support and help! Also, I will be taking my dog Molly and my sewing machine and projects. You know me, I can't sit still and will need something to do so why not do my favorite thing, sewing?! That's all for know....look for more as the days go by! Thank you for all the prayers!! God is the great healer!