A day with Susan

Yesterday was the big day to meet Susan at Jennifer Caskey's
office for a consultation on her breast cancer. I arrived
at 11:50 AM and Susan and Doris Ann were already there. We
chatted and waited an hour as women came and went. Clearly,
it is a busy practice. When our turn came it was worth the
wait. Dr. Caskey (recommended by Dr. Braun) is very thorough
with explanations. She described the whole route of Ductal
Carcinoma In Situ. Previously, it was assumed the cancer
spread by fanning out from the site so that if all the cells
surrounding the site were removed and there was no sign of
invasion in the lymph nodes, the cancer was contained or
eradicated. with Human Epidermal growth factor Receptor 2
(HER2+) they have discovered it enters the blood stream and
may show up anywhere in the body. Hence, the chemo therapy
which is to get any stray cancer cells that have already
fanned out, followed by radiation therapy to make sure that
all the cancer cells in the breast are gone. The chemo is
given once every three weeks and repeated six times. After
she completes the chemo she'll do the radiation which takes
less time for each dose, but is administered every day. In
addition tothese two procedures herceptin is taken
simultaneously and then continued until she has been on it
for a year.

Susan has to have a small surgery in breast to insert the
tube which will be used to insert the chemo medication.
She'll do this next Thursday. After that surgery I'll pick
her up at the hospital and take her to Dr. Caskey's office
where she'll get her first infusion of chemo. This first
time will take about 4 hours and since her reaction to the
medication is unknown she has to have someone be there to
take her home. I'll be that someone. In the future she'll
probably be able to transport herself.

The room in which she gets the chemo therapy is tucked away
in the rear of Dr. Caskey's suite. There are about half a
dozen very comfortable chairs in the room and when we peaked
in there were four women there. Three getting treatment and
one visitor as well as Susan. Doris Ann and I retreated to
the waiting room. Later Susan said it was very comfortable
chatting with the other women, reminiscent of women bonding
during pregnancy. That sounded very positive and reassuring.

It was a relief that it isn't as bad as we thought, but it
is bad enough!