Monday, December 11, 2000

Does hormone replacement therapy increase the risk of breast cancer?

Harmonic Power Doppler Enhances Patterns Of Hepatocellular Lesions - a better way to image small liver lesions.

Focal Nodular Hyperplasia - an essay on diagnosis using ultrasound.
posted by Karen Weber Monday, December 11, 2000

Tuesday, December 12, 2000

Drug Combination Improves Survival for Breast Cancer Patients

Progress in Measuring Lymphedema
posted by Karen Weber Tuesday, December 12, 2000

Wednesday, December 13, 2000

Acupuncture Eases Nausea Caused by Cancer Therapy

Seed May Hold Secret To Fighting Breast Cancer
posted by Karen Weber Wednesday, December 13, 2000

Thursday, December 14, 2000

This has been a quiet week, waiting for the gallbladder tests. I took my measurements and weekly weight today. I've lost 11 pounds since Nov. 13, plus 2 inches off the bust, 2 off the waist, and 2 off the hips. Yesterday we finished filling the pool, and today we have the walk-through. They'll teach us how to run the pumps, heater, etc. Give it a chemical shock, finish off the waterfall, and bring the cover. I am SOOOOO excited! I don't know how long it will take to get it up to swimming temperature, but I am ready!

Had a great time at band rehearsal last night. Our rhythm guitarist, Uriah, has short hair and I've been closing in on him. I figured I was about 1 week away from having the same length and thickness as his. Well, last night he showed up freshly shaved down to the nubbies. He says he had a sideburn accident and had to keep going. We know the real story though. He saw me gaining on him, and he couldn't take the pressure. Ha! We also had a lot of fun putting together special music for this Sunday. We are going to knock the socks off the congregation this week!

The Best Medicine - laughter!
posted by Karen Weber Thursday, December 14, 2000

Friday, December 15, 2000

Grizzie and I are back from having our pictures taken. First I had the DISIDA scan. There was a short period of excitement when it looked like I might have 4 gallbladders, but then they took pictures from a different angle and it turns out I just have one. Darn! There goes a big paycheck from the National Enquirer. Anyway, Grizzie behaved herself perfectly during the test, which means that she made it look like she's no problem at all. Darn her! Of course, I had just spent all night sleeping on my right side so that Grizzie was over in the fundus (the bag-like part of the gallbladder) and out of the way. That's where she usually spends the night and early morning.

Then we went down the hall to the ultrasound room. There Grizzie showed her stuff. As I moved from side to side, she obligingly rolled about freely. Just a little tilt to the left, and she blocks the bile duct. We also learned her little secret - she's not 1.7 cm wide, she's 2.7 cm wide. That's over an inch. The ultrasound tech was very impressed with Grizzie's size and mobility. She seemed to understand why I want Grizzie to come out.

After we got nice pictures of Grizzie, we went in search of the elusive whatever-it-is in the right lobe of the liver. The tech said that, of course, she wasn't going to be able to tell me what it is, but that we could get a size measurement and see if it can be clearly imaged for a biopsy. The good news is that she said it doesn't look like the typical breast met to the liver. The bad news is that it is much larger than it appeared on the MRI and CT - at least as big as Grizzie - and in an area that would be very hard to get at for a biopsy. We were so reassured at how small the lesion looked on the MRI and that it was only in one slice. The tech said she can't believe it only showed on one slice, it's that big. This isn't encouraging. Could mean it's growing.

I called my surgeon's office to make sure that they get a copy of the ultrasound results over to my oncologist ASAP. Then I called the oncologist's office to tell them I'd had the ultrasound, that the lesion is bigger than we thought, and that results would be coming over. I refuse to let this worry me yet. I want to pursue it, because I don't want to cross that fine line between optimism and denial. But I refuse to let this news ruin what promises to be a beautiful weekend.

When I was on my way to the hospital this morning for the tests, I got stopped at a red light behind a stalled car. I started to be annoyed, and then out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of the eastern sky. It was lit up a brilliant pink over the Superstition Mountains. Just a little reminder that no matter what happens, God is good and he is still in charge!

I just got off the phone with the oncologist and he is back to the wait-and-see mode. He says that if I have the gallbladder surgery done in the open style (rather than laproscopically) the surgeon could do a biopsy. But he said that otherwise we just wait and see. So now I have to figure out if having a biopsy is worth changing from an outpatient procedure with quick recovery to a few days in the hospital and and extended recovery. I'm getting quite a collection of scars, so I'm not sure I actually need another one. I just really hate the wait-and-see option. If Bones McCoy was here, he could run that wonderful scanner over me and know what this thing is in an instant. I was born too soon!

One thing the oncologist assured me about is that whatever-it-is could not possibly be growing so fast as to go from teeny-weeny to golf ball size in a couple week's time. The whatever-it-is is lodged in a fatty area of the liver, so maybe the ultrasound tech was measuring the fat deposits when doing her measurement. We'll wait for the radiology reports, I guess, before entering panic mode.

Laparoscopic Gallbladder Removal - this short article offers a nice comparison of open vs. laproscopic gallbladder surgery.
posted by Karen Weber Friday, December 15, 2000

Next - December 17