First Steps

My cancer is found in my milk ducts although they have been dried up and crusty for over 23 years now.  I guess cancer don’t care whether the milk is good or not!  (I digress.)  Ductile cancer has two forms: Non-invasive stays inside the ducts and remains contained while Invasive doesn’t play by the rules and busts through the walls and starts going wherever it wants to.  No doubt that this makes sense for me.  I don’t like rules and I do what I want-just like my cancer.

Now let’s talk about Breast Cancer Markers.  Breast cancer is defined by a positive or negative of three different markers: estrogen, progesterone, and HER-2.  I am what is called Triple Negative which means I tested negative for all three.  This makes my treatment a bit trickier.  If someone tests positive for Estrogen, the doctors know if they lower the person’s estrogen levels, it should most likely shrink the cancer.  But lucky me (detect sarcasm there), since I am triple negative, the doctors don’t know a specific protocol to shrink the tumor and therefore “throw everything at it.”  Also, triple negative cancers tend to be more aggressive and have a greater risk of returning even after treatment.

YIPPEE!

So here we are to my treatment plan:

My team of doctors has presented a plan including 6 months or so of chemo and immunotherapy, then surgery, then either more chemo, more immunotherapy, or radiation.  There are many questions throughout the treatment plan based on how well my tumor responds (or shrinks) to the medication.  So for now, we are doing one step at a time.

IT’S SHOWTIME:

The doctors are inserting a catheter port just under my skin in my upper chest area.  This is going to be helpful throughout my treatment for two main reasons:

1. The nurses and doctors can take blood samples from this port so I don’t have to be stuck over and over again.  I will need to give blood for testing before every single treatment.  Although all my tattoos would tell you different, I hate needles and I am thankful to not have to go through all those sticks and pokes.
2. Chemotherapy is awful to your veins.  If I were to receive chemo through a traditional IV, it would make my veins rock-hard and they would never soften.  With the port in my chest, the chemo is going right into my main vein and into my bloodstream immediately which is better in so many different ways.

Monday, April 8, 2024

Paul and I are both the type of people where if you are not early, you are late.  We appreciate being just 5-10 minutes early for everything in life.  However, in a very uncharacteristic way for us, we turned the corner to the hospital on two wheels Monday morning and walked in the door at exactly our arrival time.  (Thankfully our hospital has valet parking.)  And then in true hospital fashion, it was the story of hurry up and wait.  We sat in the waiting room for what felt like hours but was honestly probably 15 minutes watching the news talk about the Solar Eclipse that was happening that day. 

They finally called us back and all the usual surgery prep stuff began.  It was all fine and dandy until “Ms. Space Cadet” came to insert my IV.  Now I am a tough one to IV to begin with but this lady really worried me.  She seemed spacey at best.  Personable.  Friendly.  But Spacey.  After tying that rubber thing on my arm, waiting, and they flicking my veins until they hurt, she stabbed my hand and a fire lit inside me.  It hurt.  It was wrong and I knew it.  She said it looked good and proceeded to flush it to make sure when suddenly the back of my hand filled with saline.  “Oops.  I must have stuck all the way through the vein.  Let’s get those warm blankets around your arms and we will try again.”

“NOPE.  Heck to the NOPE.”

Paul and I knew she was not touching me again.  And she didn’t.  We requested somebody else.  They had to call someone from another department, but they did and she did an amazing job!  (BTW-my hand is still green from her bruising me so badly.) Yet another reason that the port will be so awesome!

Once that was taken care of, my surgeon came in and we discussed the surgery again:

Catheter Port placement under the skin on my right side so they could easily access my vena cava, a major vein.  We all agreed and that was that.  I walked myself back to the surgical room (that was a first for me) and hopped up on the table, took a few deep breaths and was off into dream-land.

It seemed like a few minutes passed and I woke up.  I felt my chest area, and was instantly PISSED!  I was still coming out of anesthesia but I do remember looking at the nurse, MAD, and stating that they put it on the WRONG SIDE!  My port was on the left and not the right!  Sounds like a silly thing to be mad about, but I had good reason.

You see, if you don’t know me personally, you need to know that I am extra and extra prepared for EVERYTHING that might come my way.  The minute I found out I would be having a port put in, I went into research mode looking for anything that might be helpful along my journey.  In this search, I found port shirts.  They were genius!  These shirts had a zipper on the front allowing access to the port for infusion days so the patient can stay comfy in their own clothes without having to change into a hospital gown.  I found some on Amazon-WHEW-too expensive.  I found some on Etsy-ehhh-cheapy made and not cute.  I am a girl that loves fashion and I don’t want that to change during treatment.  So I went to work figuring out how to make these shirts and within two days of youtube and a few trashed shirts, I had it perfected and I was set-up with 4 infusion shirts…..all with access on the RIGHT side…..and now with a port on the left…

I told everyone how mad I was.  There was no doubt how I felt!

So here’s the weird thing-When my doctor spoke with Paul as I was in recovery, he said that my veins were different than normal.  Most people’s superior vena cava vein is on the right side of your sternum.  Not mine.  Evidently my veins were switched at birth (lol) and mine is on the left.  But he also said mine was HUGE, being one & a half size of a man’s ring finger.  Weird.  

So now, here I am with double the incisions, double the scars, but all ready for chemo.

This morning

And because I know I have an AWESOME and supportive community, and I know so many of you will feel helpless in this fight of mine, these are ways to you can help us:

1. Pray that the Holy Spirit will intervene in every aspect of my journey and my fight. I am praying that I will meet people that need encouragement and joy and that I can bring a smile to everyone that I encounter.  I am praying that the chemo will be so effective that the remainder of my treatment will be minimized or better yet, unnecessary.  I am praying that my story will uplift and encourage others. 
2. I have made an Amazon Wishlist with several items that would be helpful and loved. There are items at all price points.  You can view it by clicking the link at the bottom of this post.
3. Since I am on a pretty restricted diet, a mealtrain would be difficult. There are a few organic/vegetarian restaurants nearby that Paul or a friend could grab food from.  If you want to donate money for those occasions, my cashapp is $JamiSullins or Venmo is @Jami-Sullins
4. Those Organic and Whole foods are EXPENSIVE and not what our budget is used to seeing. Whole Foods, CostCo, or Sprouts Market gift cards would sure come in handy.

Please understand, we are not asking for you to spend any money, but I also know that many of you have the Lord’s gifts of hospitality and caregiving, so I wanted to provide ways you could help.