FINALLY!

May 13/11

Bring it ON McCready!!

This DARN blog site (blogger.com) has been out of service for 24 hours! Wouldn't you KNOW, it HAD to happen on the ONE day I had the BIGGEST news! Anyone following this must have been wondering what the HECK was going on and why I hadn't posted the latest!

So - here it is. (drum roll please).

After seeing "the Man," Dr. David McCready at Princess Margaret Hospital this morning, the word on the pathology results is:

NO spread to the lymph nodes!
They GOT clean margins!
NO further surgery!

There's a good chance I won't need chemo (which would be my dream).
WILL need radiation (which I already knew).

Will soon have meetings with a medical oncologist and a radiation oncologist to work out schedules for future radiation procedures.

The docs told Sam and me it was the BEST NEWS they could possibly have to give! I could barely breathe (in between tears).

Just after getting the good news - Relief!

TOLD you Friday the 13th has always been lucky for me!

Called Carrie right away! (she was so happy she cried. Are you surprised?) Sam texted the kids. Called my Dad, my parents-in-law, Auntie Ray, my cousins, Kevan and Marilyn, sister-in-law Carolyn and some friends and emailed my two other sisters-in-law, Jan and Debbie. They were ALL jumping for joy.

My best friends, Franelle and Joanne (and Joanne's husband Bruce), are so happy for me and sent these messages).

Friday the 13th is still our lucky day!!!!!!!
Love, Franelle
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Yaaaayyy!

We couldn't be more excited! See? The good news is they had caught it so early. There was something positive about this. Couldn't be happier if it was our own armpits and lymph nodes and, well, whatever. Thank God and as thrilled as could be. Don't worry about the blog, celebrate your health. Happy news. Happy day. We're tickled, (as long as we're talking about armpits). Great going.
Love and enjoy the big news. Always in our thoughts,

Bruce and Joanne
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Received MANY more wonderful responses and kind messages on Facebook and want to thank EVERYONE who was pulling for me. The fight's not over yet, but I'm just SO happy to finally KNOW what I'm dealing with and it's all good!

My long battle with courage, led me to look up that word and this is some of what I found.

“Courage is something you just can’t be afraid to have!”
- Frank Burns – M*A*S*H*

“Courage is admitting that you’re afraid and facing that fear directly. Courage is thinking big, aiming high and shooting far. It’s taking a dream and doing anything, risking everything, and stopping at nothing to make it a reality”.
- Caroline Kent

“There comes a time for courage.”
-Jill Loring - (thanks Mum)

Cowardly Lion:
“What makes a king out of a slave?
What makes the flag on the mast to wave?
What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist
or the dusky dusk?
What makes the muskrat guard his musk?
What makes the sphinx the seventh wonder?
What makes the dawn come up like thunder?
What makes the Hottentot so hot?
What puts the ape in apricot?
Whatta they got that I ain’t got”?

Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tinman: “Courage”!

Lion: “You can say that again! Huh?”


Now, go on! Get outta here Cowardly Lion! - Right out the window!

Insanity reigns - so make it happen!

March 9/11

Kate posted a quote from Charlie Sheen on Facebook.

Interviewer: "How do you plan on winning that war?"
Charlie: "With zeal. And focus. And violent hatred."

Somehow made sense to me. Maybe I need zeal, focus and violent hatred to win this "war with cancer". (if that's what it is). Going into reporter mode, I decided I am going to GET these results TODAY, come hell or high water!

Got a call from the office manager at the biopsy lab telling me the pathologist, Dr. Kulkarni, had called my GP and given her "a verbal" of my results. I was thrilled. Got all ready to return to the doc's office for a second time to find out the news. As I was about to leave, got a call from the GP's secretary saying the doctor CAN'T give me the results because she only has a VERBAL, not a WRITTEN report. I practically lost it, but said I was going to GET that written report to her SOMEHOW! She seemed skeptical.

Rushed to the computer, tried to locate the name of the lab where the pathology report was being held. I knew it was Gamma something. Finally found it - Gamma Dyna. Called the 1-800 number in Brampton. Got an unknown woman who amazingly KNEW Dr. Kulkarni (pathologist) and told me this doc had already spoken to my GP by phone. I said, "I KNOW, but the doctor won't give me the results because she only has a VERBAL, not the WRITTEN copy". The woman told me the pathologist wouldn't be into the lab till the next day so I would have to wait. - Sorry, not going to!

Called the biopsy lab back and spoke to the office manager. She told me I would NOT be able to reach the pathologist because she was working out of some other hospital that day (Humber River Regional) and I couldn't contact her. I suddenly felt I was channeling Pierre Trudeau. "Just watch me!" The more someone tells me I can't do something, the more I want to do it!

Got the correct spelling of Dr. Kulkarni, Googled the hospital, got a recorded message, tried about seven times to locate a message machine for this pathologist, but no luck. Then, suddenly, like a bolt of lightning, I heard a tiny, quiet woman's voice say, "Hello?" I said, "Dr. Kulkarni?" She replied,"Yes?" I just about passed out. Felt like Bob Woodward digging for information during Watergate. (FYI - All the President's Men - my favourite movie of all time!)



I apologized for bothering her, but said I knew she'd spoken to my doctor that morning to give her my test results. She instantly remembered the case and asked WHY couldn't I get the results? I explained my doctor needs the WRITTEN report before I can get them. I told her I was in a state of high anxiety and could she please help me? Miraculously, she answered, "I understand how you're feeling. I will call my secretary right away and ask her to fax those results to your GP immediately." YES!! Success! Winning!

Called the poor secretary at my GP's office again and told her the biopsy test results are being faxed NOW and to let me know when I could come in THAT DAY to get them. Then called the biopsy lab to speak to the office manager again (I guess, to gloat), and to tell her I HAD reached Dr. Kulkarni at Humber River Regional and that she personally took it upon herself to get my results faxed. The office manager seemed astounded and congratulated me.

Finally, at 4:40 p.m., I got a call from the GP's office saying they HAVE the results and I could come in for the last appointment of the day at 5. Rushed out, it was snowing like crazy, brushed off the car and drove to the office exactly by 5, but there were still three more people ahead of me! Breathe, breathe. Called Sam. Called Carrie. Once again, told them I'm waiting for results, this time, all alone.