10-Dec to Present:
Ok, I've been remiss. My only excuse is the Holidays and it's a weak one at that!
Kris saw her Physical therapist, Dale, her final three times and other than the edema where her reconstructive surgery was done, she's fine. In fact, she's exceeded Dales expectations... to the point that Dale tried to discharge her. Kris asked about the edema and Dale relented since dealing with edema from surgery is one of the responsibilities of Physical Therapy.
She went in for her Herceptin last week on December 23rd. While their, she asked the Dr. about a rash that had broken out on her belly... the Dr. said it was shingles! She prescribed a medication for Shingles and we got a lesson in what Shingles is. When I was young, I'd hear folks talk about shingles and the way folks spoke about it, I always assumed that the victims of shingles had been doing something naughty... since it was always in hushed tones or 'behind the hand.' Turns out that if you have Chicken Pox and beat it, the disease can recede into your nervous system as a form of herpes virus. This dormant version creates pockets in the nerves near the spinal column and will be dormant for years. When it does finally awaken, it travels along the nerves until it breaks free through the skin. Looks just like your garden variety rash. The only thing I can say is that the rash Kris has is roughly the size of a half dollar. We initially thought it was a break out of ring worm. The bad news is that what breaks out of the skin is contagious and can spread, of all things, Chicken Pox. Note that the contagion is unlikely to spread save to those folks who have suppressed immune systems... oh, like folks going through Chemo Therapy! However, once the rash scabs over, you are no longer contagious. Fact is, the Dr. washed her hands and had Kris was hers as well before going in for her Herceptin infusion... just in case. Other than that, she wasn't worried. I specifically asked if I needed to worry about this and she said 'no.' So, we filled the prescription and the rash is clearing up quickly and nicely.
Note that if you do not catch this in the first 72 hours, living with shingles can be a living hell! This according to a friend of ours who has had it and did not catch it in time! Apparently it can spread widely and the itch and pain is a nerve itch/pain so it's quite bad. We read up on this and found that in rare cases it can break out on the face (cheeks) and that can cause blindness! Long and short: if you have a rash that you can't explain, don't be embarrassed to ask what seems like a 'dumb' question of your Dr. It may well save you some pain and frustration!
Kris is now back at work! Oddly, it's been quite the fight. I'd love to rant about this but, I won't. I'll just say that, according to Kris' observations, it's costing IBM quite a lot of money to put her on LTD. And that there was some question, in fact, about bringing her back... which makes me question whether or not this really is a benefit. Fact is, it would've been more cost efficient, and less nerve wracking, to just take vacation and a short leave of absence... though, it would've been more costly to us personally.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: Physical Therapy
Monday, 8-Dec-2008
Kris saw the physical therapist who gave her the go ahead to be done with Physical Therapy since Kris has met all of the goals Dale (the Therapist) had for her. Kris asked about the level of Edema and whether or not she'd benefit from more therapy to address that. Dale agreed and thus Kris will go in for more sessions.
She also saw Dr. Kuisle who hemmed, hawed and generally thought her progress is just fine.
Kris saw the physical therapist who gave her the go ahead to be done with Physical Therapy since Kris has met all of the goals Dale (the Therapist) had for her. Kris asked about the level of Edema and whether or not she'd benefit from more therapy to address that. Dale agreed and thus Kris will go in for more sessions.
She also saw Dr. Kuisle who hemmed, hawed and generally thought her progress is just fine.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: MugaScan
Thursday, 4-Dec-2008
Kris had a mugascan today. Uneventful. She's doing these every so often at Dr. Moran's request (her oncologist). It's a type of heart scan which will show if the chemotherapy drugs are having an adverse effect on her heart. So far everything has been good!
Kris had a mugascan today. Uneventful. She's doing these every so often at Dr. Moran's request (her oncologist). It's a type of heart scan which will show if the chemotherapy drugs are having an adverse effect on her heart. So far everything has been good!
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: Drain away!
Tuesday, 25-Nov-2008
Kris saw Dr. Kuisle and had that final drain removed... yeah! Wound still weeps a little but, at least she doesn't have to deal with the drain and it should heal up quickly enough.
Spirits are up and all seems to be going well. What might be Kris' last physical Therapy is set for the 8th of December. Herceptin (Chemo-light) on the 9th. Then we have another followup with Dr. Kuisle on the 12th.
Kris saw Dr. Kuisle and had that final drain removed... yeah! Wound still weeps a little but, at least she doesn't have to deal with the drain and it should heal up quickly enough.
Spirits are up and all seems to be going well. What might be Kris' last physical Therapy is set for the 8th of December. Herceptin (Chemo-light) on the 9th. Then we have another followup with Dr. Kuisle on the 12th.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: Physical Therapy
Ok, lots of catching up to do:
Tuesday, 18-Nov-2008
Met with Dr. Kuisle. He was pleased with the lack of edema in the reconstructed breast. We noted that Kris had been squeezing it as directed and Dale had done lymph-edema work on it Monday. With that, he decided to leave the drain where it was, and said he'd remove it as a Thanksgiving day present.
We also went for our infusion of Herceptin and saw Dr. Moran. He confirmed that it's ok for Kris to have her flu shot, in fact he wants her to have it. He also increased her dosage of Warfarin as her 'I and R' got a tidge low at 1.2. He also took a look at her scars and reconstruction and generally gave his approval. I think I can quote him as saying 'that's the best looking 2 foot scar I've seen!' Which will give you a reference as to the size of Kris abdominal scar! She talked with him about returning to work and Dr. Moran is of the opinion that going back now would be pushing it. In no small part this is due to the simple fact that work at IBM is not something that can be done in 40 hour weeks. :)
Kris talked with her manager during the infusion and relayed with Dr. Moran had said. They decided that going to work this year might well be pushing things too hard. We'll still play it by ear since the question of going back part time is still on the table but, I think she has settled on starting work First of Jan.
Monday, 17-Nov-2008
Physical Therapy with Dale went smoothly. She did what she calls 'lymph-edema' work because Kris has a decent amount of fluid on the reconstructed breast. This work was trying to get the local tissue to use the lymphatic channels to remove fluid... specifically, the old channels that the new breast won't be used to yet... since the tissue came from her stomach area. Dale is actually quite impressed with Kris' progress with physical therapy and gave her some new stretches to perform... which are fun to watch. :)
Friday, 14-Nov-2008
Ok, details are fuzzy from here back but, she saw Dale and things went well with physical therapy.
Met with Dr. Kuisly afterwards and he removed all of the stitches, pulled out Kris drain a bit, then restitched the drain. He squeezed out what fluid he could, and instructed Kris to continue squeezing it as she can stand.
On a personal note, the site of the edema is quite hard which is disconcerting because the tumor she had two years ago was hard. All of the Dr.s agree that it's just edema but, I can't help but be concerned. :/
Tuesday, 18-Nov-2008
Met with Dr. Kuisle. He was pleased with the lack of edema in the reconstructed breast. We noted that Kris had been squeezing it as directed and Dale had done lymph-edema work on it Monday. With that, he decided to leave the drain where it was, and said he'd remove it as a Thanksgiving day present.
We also went for our infusion of Herceptin and saw Dr. Moran. He confirmed that it's ok for Kris to have her flu shot, in fact he wants her to have it. He also increased her dosage of Warfarin as her 'I and R' got a tidge low at 1.2. He also took a look at her scars and reconstruction and generally gave his approval. I think I can quote him as saying 'that's the best looking 2 foot scar I've seen!' Which will give you a reference as to the size of Kris abdominal scar! She talked with him about returning to work and Dr. Moran is of the opinion that going back now would be pushing it. In no small part this is due to the simple fact that work at IBM is not something that can be done in 40 hour weeks. :)
Kris talked with her manager during the infusion and relayed with Dr. Moran had said. They decided that going to work this year might well be pushing things too hard. We'll still play it by ear since the question of going back part time is still on the table but, I think she has settled on starting work First of Jan.
Monday, 17-Nov-2008
Physical Therapy with Dale went smoothly. She did what she calls 'lymph-edema' work because Kris has a decent amount of fluid on the reconstructed breast. This work was trying to get the local tissue to use the lymphatic channels to remove fluid... specifically, the old channels that the new breast won't be used to yet... since the tissue came from her stomach area. Dale is actually quite impressed with Kris' progress with physical therapy and gave her some new stretches to perform... which are fun to watch. :)
Friday, 14-Nov-2008
Ok, details are fuzzy from here back but, she saw Dale and things went well with physical therapy.
Met with Dr. Kuisly afterwards and he removed all of the stitches, pulled out Kris drain a bit, then restitched the drain. He squeezed out what fluid he could, and instructed Kris to continue squeezing it as she can stand.
On a personal note, the site of the edema is quite hard which is disconcerting because the tumor she had two years ago was hard. All of the Dr.s agree that it's just edema but, I can't help but be concerned. :/
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: Physical Therapy and followup
Wednesday, 5-Nov-2008
Physical therapy with Dale. Actually, this first round was really just meet and greet with evaluation. She set some ground rules and sent us off with some tape that she wanted Kris to test out on her arm. The tape is to help scar tissue to heal so that it leaves little or no mark. The test run was due to the fact that Kris is quite sensitive to tape products on her skin. Fortunately, she reacted very well to the tape, which was mildly surprising.
After the appointment with Dale, we saw Dr. Kuisle following up on the installation of the small drain. Things are looking good. He asked for us to come back Monday, at which time we expect him to remove all of the stitches save the drain and stitches for it. He will back the drain out a bit at that time.
Friday, 7-Nov-2008
Met with Dale again and went through some gentle physical therapy, more like massage than anything else. She taped up the scar from the Tram flap (Kris belly basically) and gave us information on Lymph edema. This last is a concern since Kris has lost most of the Lymph nodes for her left arm. Which means that some of it's drainage has been removed.
Physical therapy with Dale. Actually, this first round was really just meet and greet with evaluation. She set some ground rules and sent us off with some tape that she wanted Kris to test out on her arm. The tape is to help scar tissue to heal so that it leaves little or no mark. The test run was due to the fact that Kris is quite sensitive to tape products on her skin. Fortunately, she reacted very well to the tape, which was mildly surprising.
After the appointment with Dale, we saw Dr. Kuisle following up on the installation of the small drain. Things are looking good. He asked for us to come back Monday, at which time we expect him to remove all of the stitches save the drain and stitches for it. He will back the drain out a bit at that time.
Friday, 7-Nov-2008
Met with Dale again and went through some gentle physical therapy, more like massage than anything else. She taped up the scar from the Tram flap (Kris belly basically) and gave us information on Lymph edema. This last is a concern since Kris has lost most of the Lymph nodes for her left arm. Which means that some of it's drainage has been removed.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: Post Surgery
I forgot to mention something because I wasn't able to attend one of Kris' appointments with Dr. Moran. The gist of the message I've already said earlier but, I wanted to report what Dr. Moran had to say about the Tissue removed. He said that they could hardly find any cancer in the tissue removed which is very good news!
Monday, 10-Nov-2008
Met with Dr. Kuisle to check on Kris' recovery since having the dead tissue removed. The wound has been seeping a little and he noted more fluid than he likes, so, he removed two stitches and installed a drain. He said they would gradually pull out the drain and remove it as they went. This way the cavity will collapse and heal around the end of the drain. He also prescribed another round of Anti-Biotics. Downside is Kris needs a lot of gauze to soak up the fluid. The wound actually looks good other than this.
Kris also called to get enrolled on my insurance while she's on long term disability. It was another example of the definition of 'bureaucratic nightmare' but, she's on my insurance now and things should be good to go... ok, things will be good to go but, she only gets on my insurance Wednesday the 4th! Nothing like increasing the stress for folks who are trying to heal! :/
Despite all of this, Kris' spirits are up and we are moving along. She will begin Physical Therapy Wednesday the 4th and hopes to be back to work by end of November. Me? I'm just being selfish and enjoying the fact that when I get home, she's able to greet me. :)
Monday, 10-Nov-2008
Met with Dr. Kuisle to check on Kris' recovery since having the dead tissue removed. The wound has been seeping a little and he noted more fluid than he likes, so, he removed two stitches and installed a drain. He said they would gradually pull out the drain and remove it as they went. This way the cavity will collapse and heal around the end of the drain. He also prescribed another round of Anti-Biotics. Downside is Kris needs a lot of gauze to soak up the fluid. The wound actually looks good other than this.
Kris also called to get enrolled on my insurance while she's on long term disability. It was another example of the definition of 'bureaucratic nightmare' but, she's on my insurance now and things should be good to go... ok, things will be good to go but, she only gets on my insurance Wednesday the 4th! Nothing like increasing the stress for folks who are trying to heal! :/
Despite all of this, Kris' spirits are up and we are moving along. She will begin Physical Therapy Wednesday the 4th and hopes to be back to work by end of November. Me? I'm just being selfish and enjoying the fact that when I get home, she's able to greet me. :)
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