Friday, July 31, 2009

Vacation Rush Meets Post-Treatment Recovery!

Ted and I arrived home from our vacation Monday night. I promptly collapsed on Tuesday afternoon. We just could not figure it out. I had a low-grade fever, but mostly I just could not stay up for more than a few hours without wanting to take another nap! I slept and slept and slept. Finally, Ted made me make an appointment with my doctor for today as I just was not making any progress. But thankfully, I woke up this morning feeling good again! Thank heavens--just had a bad case of 'too much vacation'!

I'm reminded once again that my brain moves at lightening speed and my body is still saying 'hold on a minute--I've just been through a rough time'! It slaps me back into reality now and then.

Also--for those of you who have requested, I've added a new section to the right that details each of the topics I'm learning on my 12-week exercise and nutrition journey. Obviously, I canceled this week's appointment due to my state of post-vaca fatigue, but I've posted the ones I've received so far and will do a new post each Tuesday starting next week. I highly recommend Exercise, Inc., which has 2 locations in Indy, as the source for the 12 habit recommendations, as well as for their strength training program. I'll let you know when I'm ready to take you all on in an arm-wrestling contest!

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

What I Did on My Summer Vacation!

I'm reminded by all the back-to-school ads, that typically the first English assignment upon the return to school, was to write an essay about what had transpired over the summer. Well, Ted and I just returned last night from a wonderful two weeks of fun, so here's my essay (maybe students just blog or tweet vs. essay now?). First, I went with my college roomies on our annual retreat (no husbands permitted). We always go to Munch's house and after a trip to the store, typically don our swimsuits and never venture out again until we all must face reality and drive home! Here is a picture of those of us who could make it this year...it truly is a treasure to have friends who have known you through every phase of life and love you anyway!


On the way back, it turned out that Kyle was filming at Notre Dame, so I picked him up and we had a surprise great night with Kyle and his friends at our place amidst unpacking, laundry and repacking to leave again!

We dropped Kyle at the airport on Monday and headed for Gettysburg for quite a memorable tour. If you haven't been, you must go as the National Park Service has built a new Visitor Center where you see an introductory film, then get a guided tour of the entire three day battle, then return to a wonderfully well done museum. We dined at the famous Farnsworth House, which at one time, housed Confederate soldiers. Being the Yankees we are, we enjoyed never-before-tasted spoon pudding and the Southern version of duck/chicken/pheasant pot pie.

Next, we headed for Baltimore Wed-Fri morning, where I gave a speech at a nursing informatics conference. Ted had not seen Baltimore, so we did the typical harbor and crabcakes thing.

We left Friday and did a quick drive-by visit with some favorite colleagues of mine, who kindly met us near I-95 for a delightful lunch. We learned what "going to the shore" means in terms of Friday afternoon traffic near Philly and then rush hour in Brooklyn, but we landed safely at Kyle's place, just in time to have a great dinner at the much-acclaimed restaurant called "The Grocery". Small, local foodies and a quaint outdoor patio with a perfect summer night and of course KYLE, made it a memorable meal. Saturday, we took in brunch, West Side Story on Broadway and a wonderful meal again! You know that 5 pounds I lost...gotta lose it again!



But the capper was Sunday morning, when Kyle used his contacts to get us on the set of CBS Sunday Morning...our very favorite show! ALL the staff were so gracious...even the host for the day, Jeff Glor, who couldn't have been nicer to us! We were literally the only non-staffers on the set, then up in the control room...so it was quite an experience. We topped off the day with a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and great Italian dining in Brooklyn...you can't beat that!

So now home catching up with all that naturally continues even when we're away. It was a summer vacation to remember indeed!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Healthy as a Horse!


Well, I had my first mammogram today and all is well! I had a couple of 'suspicious spots' but one was the normal pocket of fluid that forms when you take a tumor out of a body...the body has a way of filling that spot with something. The other was just knarly fat lobules which happen because the radiation causes all kinds of changes in your breast tissue.

So the news was great today!

I was amazed at my experience, as I shared some conversation with 2 women in the waiting room. One had been post-treatment for a little over a year and the other for six years. What amazed me was that they were BOTH equally nervous. I guess that's part of the 'new normal' they talk about. As for me, I wasn't really worried. I guess because I've chosen not to be worried because it really doesn't do any good. If you worry and the cancer never comes back, then you've wasted all that time. If you worry and the cancer does come back, it still doesn't change the outcome--you just deal with it at that point. So what's the point of worrying?

I know I'm weird in that way, but I'd rather laugh it up and be carefree then spend my days worrying!

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

First Check-up

Wow, so sorry for the long pauses in between postings. It's nothing other than life back at its full pace for me. I've been teaching, grading papers, helping students and having really jam packed weekends of fun! This past weekend was filled with dinner with my co-teaching professor and her husband, then Game Night with neighbors, then throwing a bridal shower for Emmalee Frey here at our house on Sunday. So the celebration is that I feel good enough to do all of that again!

I have my first official check-up tomorrow, so pray that all goes well with my first mammogram post-treatment. I'll do a quick post to let you all know how it goes!

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Great News for Keeping Body Parts!


Yesterday was a great day...Teddy's BD (thanks to all of you who touched him with greetings yesterday!), my 5th Zometa treatment went off with only 2 sticks this time vs. 4 the prior times and we got the results of my genetic testing for BRCA-1 & 2. The test was NEGATIVE...YEAH for keeping my body parts intact for now!

For those of you scratching your heads at this news, here's a short primer. Only about 5-8% of women with breast cancer test positive for these gene mutations, but when they do...it usually means the woman needs to seriously consider a double mastectomy and potentially even having their ovaries removed. In addition, their male/female sib's need to be tested next and based on those individual results, potentially have to make tough decisions for themselves, plus have their progeny tested. So a positive result gets to be a family thing pretty fast and with the size of my Lukens family, that could have had major implications for lots of people.

So we are in the next 10-15% category, which is the 'familial predisposition to cancer' category. What that means is that our family tree has sufficient amounts of cancer in prior and current generations (3 of the 6 of us sib's had/have cancer), that we all just need to be extra diligent about our screening exams. This means starting those screenings earlier and having them a bit more often, so I've notified all my family members about these guidelines.

So for now, the need for additional protective surgical procedures has been cancelled and we can all get on with getting back to some sense of normalcy with our collective lives and 'parts' intact!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

A Special Day


Today is Ted's birthday...a very special day in my life! He's literally spending his whole day with me today, first with my Zometa treatment (I'm writing while being 'infused') and then we go to receive the results of genetic testing. What a way to spend your birthday!

Happy Birthday to my soul mate, my best friend and my love forever!