Let the journey begin...

After my initial diagnosis in London on February 27th, I was fortunate to set up an appointment with Dr. Peddi an oncologist at the UCLA Breast Center in Santa Monica on March 2nd (thank you to my dear friend Lena for helping me get my appointment). Dr. Peddi immediately sent me in for an MRI and brought my case to their team of doctors for their weekly conference on March 4th (thank you to my lovely friend Cami for joining me at my first two meetings and my husband who, thanks to modern technology, joined us by Skype). They let me know that their recommendation was chemotherapy, then surgery and then possibly radiation (they decide on whether or not radiation is recommended after my surgery).  I was also sent in for additional biopsies and had clips - metal markers to track the location of the tumors - put into what we now know are my two breast tumors and one into a lymph node that also tested positive for cancer (thanks to my amazing friend Adriana for taking me to my biopsy appointment).

Since chemo is step one, I went in for a chemo teaching appointment with Dr. Peddi (thanks to my amazing friend Spencer - a cancer survior himself and my husband who joined us on Skpye) for joining me at the meeting and our tour of the chemo rooms.   To facilitate the chemo, I had a port inserted into my chest one week ago (thank you to my  fabulous friend Jenn for stewarding me through a full day at the UCLA Santa Monica Hospital). The port incision areas seem to be healing nicely and should make my chemo easier as the infusions will go through the port rather than directly into my veins (chemo is essentially 4 hours or so of infusions and if you try to use your veins ... well, as you can imagine, the veins can collapse etc.)  So although having the port put in (and being awake for the procedure!!) was not the most fun, it is something that will serve me well.

In the meantime, given that they found cancer in my right lymph node, it was decided that I needed to do a PET scan to see if the cancer was metastatic and had spread elsewhere in my body (a very scary thought!).  The PET scan includes drinking berry flavored barium (yum, yum) and then being injected with radioactive glucose. Chris sat with me for awhile until the technician said, "sir I would be more comfortable if you went to the waiting area"! So he gave me a quick kiss and did as instructed.  I was then popped into a tube for about a half hour with arms above head.  Thankfully, they got the images they needed and Dr. Peddi emailed me last night at 11:30pm (on a Friday night no less!) to let me know that the scan came back clean - and that my cancer looks to be limited to my breast and arm pit area - Hooray! Finally some good news!  :)

My first chemo will be at UCLA on Tuesday, March 24th.  Thankfully, Chris will be with me for this first one - so wish us luck!  Feel free to send me some silly photos or fun messages on Tuesday - I am all about the smiles and being positive! We will update everyone after the chemo.  We are also working on a new and improved diet for me - which includes lots of juiced green veggies...so more on this soon.  Chris has banned me (and himself) from having any more red velvet cupcakes from Crushcakes cupcakery, at least until we are on the other side of this.

Thank you to everyone for all of your messages and words of encouragement.  I know that I am sometimes slow to reply to everyone, but your messages mean a great deal to me.  I am truly blessed to have so much love and kindness in my life.