The newest news...

The doctors have tentatively set February 12th as my surgery date. That should give me enough time to finally shake this cough! It looks like I'll have to sign all new pre-op paperwork because there is a month between.

Mum and I went to see "Chorus!" at Houston Grand Opera yesterday and had a good time. They do these teacher workshops where you can get CPE's, dinner, a workshop, and tickets to the final dress for $35 (for two people!) Can't beat it. It is hard to find Fine ARts CPE's.

I hurt my foot last week, Friday, when one of my darling students knocked a chair off the stage on to my instep. I'm Ok, nothing was broken. But they did find an old break! I'm guessing it was from the summer I had a "sprained ankle" and couldn't put weight on my foot for 6 weeks. All these tests I've been through have shown some interesting things: I have broken my right ankle and a lower rib and Never Knew!

Work on Saturday

Today is an Ike make-up day. We have two more days to make up... getting kids to come to school on Saturday wasn't so difficult. We did mostly fun activities in the content areas. We also received some school supply donations, and I finally got a storage cabinet. So it turned out to be a good day.

I STILL have a cough. It is no longer colorful -I know, you didn't ask- so, I am getting better. I see the surgeons again this coming week to try and reschedule the surgery.

STILL SICK-YEAH OBAMA!!!!

Selena is still sick. Her bronchitis is REALLLLLY bad. Did you get that. REAAAAAAALLLLLLYYYYYYY bad. She sounds like she is trying to cough up her lungs she is coughing so hard. her doctor does not think she has pneumonia but has sent her for a chest XRay that was suspicious and then sent her for a CAT Scan today to further evaluate her. She has been taking asthma nebulizer treatments and cough medicine and sleeping alot again. It is really sad because the week before she got this she was starting to have some energy again and now she is back to chemo level of energy.

We have not watched the inauguration yet. We TiVo'ed it and are going to watch it tomorrow. Selena is already in bed and I am back in school in a psychiatry rotation so I am off to bed.

Even if you didn't vote for Obama and don't like him. Pray that he is able to accomplish good things for this country. Our country is sure hurting right now.

hugs,

Chrus

SELENA'S NEW HAIR STYLE

Someone in the comments section had wanted to see what Selena's hair is looking like lately. It is fluffy and white and sticks straight up. It is still mostly soft like a baby's but it is starting to get a little more texture. It doesn't really look to much like a kewpie doll though.

I sure hope this cough does not last as long as the last one. Readers of this blog will remember it dominated our lives for much of the summer and generally made her life miserable. She is in the bedroom right now and it sounds like she is trying to extricate at least one of her lungs.

OPERATION POSTPONED

Selena's surgery for Monday, January 12 has been postponed. She has developed a very serious case of bronchitis and cannot tolerate the surgery. It will probably be 10 days - 2 weeks until she will be able to have her surgery. She is currently on antibiotics for her the bronchitis but we are going to get her into a doctor tomorrow to further evaluate her to make sure it is not pneumonia. She had a very bad coughing fit last night in which she a plug of phlegm get stuck in her airway and she stopped breathing. I was just getting ready to do the Heimlich when she dislodged it. She has been taking asthma nebulizer treatments several times a day to help open her airways.

Selena's mother and brother come this weekend. Mum is here to stay for the surgery. Steve went home this evening. My sister Lori, God Bless her, came down and helped me clean the house up so that Mum would have a place to sleep. I had been using that room as a storage room since the hurricane and had actually never even cleaned the floors properly. I could not have done it without her. She is my guardian angel.

I have set the bunnies up in the dining room again. This time I have only given them one cage to sleep in at night. It is the only good thing to come from Hurricane Ike. After five years fighting and biting and living together like a couple of grumpy old men, my two boy bunnies, HAAS and COININ have finally bonded and will cuddle with each other. It is really nice to see them grooming each other and having positive social interactions instead of Coinin biting Haas' rear-end.

I start on Psychiatry tomorrow, my first clinical rotation since Pediatrics in June when Selena was diagnosed.

Hope everyone is well,

Chris

Progress Report

I had an appointment with the surgeons on Tuesday. There was a mix-up at Dr. Arristea's office so a resident had to do the pre-op stuff on me. We finally figured everything out - it was really messed up with the scheduling. I saw Dr. M Silva (vascular) and Dr. C. Silva (breast surgeon). I also had an ultrasound to check out the status of my blood clots. I am healing well from those and can go off the Coumadin (blood thinner). The bad news of the day was that I will have to have a modified radical mastectomy instead of a lumpectomy because although the tumors are now very small they are too far apart. As you can guess, I'm unhappy about that.

I seem to be developing a cough, I hope that doesn't cause the surgery to be put off.

The hospital is now open and I am scheduled for Monday afternoon. The doctors say the entire operation should take about 5 hours.

It sounds weird to say, but this past weekend it hit me. I really hadn't thought about the surgery much, just been plowing forward. It is hard to wrap my mind around the fact that they are cutting off my right breast on Monday. I'm trying to think of it in the same way as when I had my gallbladder removed, but somehow it isn't possible to do so. Should I take some photos to preserve the memory?

Happy New Year

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Chris and I spent the Holidays at his parents house in Mineola (near Tyler & Dallas) and have had a real nice time. We evacuated here after the hurricane and have a lot of stuff, including two bunnies to take home with us. We leave tonight for home. While here we had a wonderful time. We went to church with the family and got to meet a lot of people who have been praying for us, ate, celebrated, played games, got reacquainted with the bunnies (they acted like we were strangers!) and slept a bunch. Time seems to stand still here at Pat and Carolyn's - I find it very comforting.

Health-wise I'm doing pretty well. I seem to have more energy every day. The neuropathy in my hands seems to be lessening and my arms/wrists don't ache so much. I've taken to wearing band aids on my fingers (I look like Seymore from Little Shop...) to make sure I don't rip my lovely, chemo-manicured nails off. I'm trying to let the "falling off parts" grow out - don't ask. My hair is growing. I'm trying hard not to think about the bald(er) spot at the crown of my head. The hair is so white and thin, you can see my scalp. Doesn't help that it sticks straigght up. The folks at work told me "you look all mixed race, rockin the platinum do"

I have one week of work before I go on leave again for the surgery. The big day is January 12 and I will have a quadrectomy (Lumpectomy) and hysterectomy/Ooperectomy. The oopherectomy (removal of ovaries) is supposed to help them treat my cancer AND regulate my hormones by putting me into menopause. The ovaries and the hormones they create have a lot to do with tumor growth - at least in my case. Mum is coming back to Galveston on the 10th to help nurse my through the surgery fun. Surgery is scheduled to be done at UTMB, but they aren't open yet... The doctors are sure it will be open, I'm not sure of a back-up plan.

In this new year I am feeling very grateful. I am grateful for my life, my family and all my friends(extended family - that's you!). I wish I could send a big hug, here's a virtual one