DR. WRIGHT

WAS OUR FOLLOW-UP APPT. WITH MY ONCOLOGIST, DR. WRIGHT.  What a great guy, we REALLY have been blessed by him.  Not only is he kind, patient, listens and is so personable, but he ALWAYS apologizes profusely for making us wait the slightest bit.  In fact today, he was in the room waiting for us!  He even let me teach HIM about what I learned about Axillary Web Syndrome which he admitted he was not real familiar with.  I was glad to help him help the next patient he might have with the same complaints.  Dr. Wright released me until December.  Based on some new preliminary trials just published, he suggested I take a low-dose aspirin a day which may reduce the chances of reoccurrence of breast cancer and certainly can't hurt.  We gave big hugs to him and to our nurses and brought them Nabisco goodies.  I won't miss chemo and needles, but I WILL miss them.    

WHILE WE WERE IN THE INFUSION CENTER, we talked to a sweet and lovely younger patient who started her chemo sometime after me.  She's a mother of 6 and 7 yr. olds. and she was delighted to see my hair already starting to grow back this close after my chemo.  She admitted losing her hair had been the hardest part for her.  My heart went out to her and I tried my best to encourage her and blessed her as we left.  She has six weeks left of treatment.  Its truly a bonding experience.  I just want to give them all a big hug and tell them to hang on!

I SAW MY LYMPHEDEMA P.T. first thing this morning just to make sure we had gotten all the cording broken.  We discussed my lymphedema risk factors more in depth and she was very helpful.  She said from my descriptions I'm probably a Stage I.  I realize now with even the mild level I've experienced that I need to be more vigilent with precautions and wearing my compression sleeves at least when I do strenuous activities that bring on the heavy tight feeling in my upper arms.  I DO NOT want to advance.  I'm also to wear them when I feel the heaviness coming on to help move the lymphatic fluid along.  They're no fun for sure as I even wear them for a couple of hours now, but I guess you adapt.

OH, AND GUESS WHAT?  We saw Dr. Oz next door outside our exam room window.  He was next door at the heart hospital doing a "health diagnosis special" of the city of Tampa.  We wondered why tons of people were lined up outside the hospital just standing waiting.  Dr. Wright said Dr. Oz was down there, and sure enough he was in his blue scrubs taking pictures.  Pretty cool!  But we told Dr. Wright, he was nothing compared to him and we meant it.