Prepping for another opinion

Tomorrow morning I have an appointment with a new oncologist to get another opinion regarding chemotherapy. I'm really opposed to doing chemo and could not agree with the 6 month treatment recommended by my prior doctor. I see no medical reason for 6 months. Hopefully he will agree with me. As I see it chemo only rids my body of any cancer cells that are growing or have spread - which had been ruled out by my previous PET scan. If there is no trace of cancer anywhere within your body, why would 6 months of hell be needed? my cancer is estrogen receptor positive - chemo cannot stop it indefinitely. Even though my ovaries have been removed, my body still produces bits of estrogen - and without some type of medicine like Tamoxifen, there's nothing to stop my estrogen from binding with cancer cells, allowing it to grow. I think it's reasonable to skip chemo and go straight to the hormone therapy or at the very least do only a minimal bit of chemo, like 2 - 4 sessions. I'm not even sure yet if this will be "the" doctor, as I am still awaiting appointments with 2 other practices. Also in the meantime of trying to acquire another opinion I am seeing my plastic surgeon to see if we can move forward with my breast reconstruction. The discomfort is killing me! When I first made a follow up appointment with my PS I wasn't expecting to get in to see another oncologist for at least a month, but this place could schedule me the very next day proving I had my records. I put off the appointment for a week just to make certain I got everything I needed. Now looking at this huge stack of files, I see I have more than I need and I now must find a way to weed through it all and remove the many duplicates and somehow organize it all by tomorrow morning! I wanted to make the doctor copies, but there is just way too much paperwork here - I would need my own actual copier in order to do it and there is no Kinko's around - and I fear what it would cost to do such!

So wish me luck that all goes well! I'll keep you posted!

Today it Snowed!

This morning was routine as always. Ruben listened to the news while he got ready for work. I helped Natalie get ready for the bus - then suddenly the phone rang. It was the emergency office for our parish, saying there was a winter weather advisory in effect till noon. I told Ruben that and he just laughed. Sure it got cold last night - and it was cold this morning, but this is Southern Louisiana it doesn't snow here. But sure enough shortly after hearing the advisory it began to snow. At first it was more like a sleet - more rain than snow. It didn't take long for it to become full on snow. Big, white, fluffy snow flakes coming down hard and fast. The grass, roofs, and cars all got a nice little blanket of fluff, however the roads just remained wet and slick looking. Sure the snow is melting from the grass - after all it did stop snowing 2 hours ago, but the roofs are still coated. I tried to get some good pictures, but it's almost impossible to get a perfect picture of snow flurries. I posted all the pictures on Flickr if you want to see them all.

I think it's quite funny considering how much I hate snow. It's not supposed to snow here and it's been 4 years since it has. Just like it never snows in Vegas but I can recall at least 2 times of it happening. I'm not saying a want warmer weather back, but I really do hate snow and living in Elko for 2 years only made my hatred for it worse.

Tomorrow is Natalie's meeting with the school board for talented and gifted children regarding her art. According to the request I received I'm not even allowed to go in with her. It says to either wait or to return after an hour. I think participating in this program would be a good outlet for her. Some of the kids around here haven't been too nice to her and it's total BS. So since none of them are genuinely her friend (expect a rare few) we won't even be holding a birthday party for her in January. Instead the two of us will be going to a salon on Saturday for cuts, color, highlights & waxing. She wants both blonde and red chunks in her hair - I'd do it, but I can only do the blonde ones as that's what I did to her hair last year. Besides it will be a bonding day for us. Then for her actual birthday, which is on the 4th, we will spend the weekend celebrating. We're going to go to the Insectarium, Children's Museum, and shopping wherever she wants. I think she'd have more fun picking out her own things to buy, then us getting her gifts. Originally I thought about maybe giving her one of those $500 pre-paid visa cards, but Ruben doesn't want to really put a limit on it - he just wants to buy her what she wants. We'll deal with the money part as we shop. Obviously we won't let her get too overboard, but we do want her to think that she can get anything her heart desires.....and unless it's something extremely ridiculous, too mature or immature for her or way over priced, we will get her whatever she wants. She's had a rough year so she deserves to be spoiled!

Tuesday I am meeting with a new oncologist out in Houma. It's about 35 miles away, but they could schedule me right away.....unlike Ochsner or Tulane who are booked solid for months! I'm still trying to get in to see them cause I figure it won't hurt to get more than one 2nd opinion. I'll let you know how that goes. As a back up plan, I scheduled an appointment with my plastic surgeon for the 22nd cause I'm hoping we can finish my reconstruction surgery before I start chemo. My one expander is so uncomfortably painful. I want it out, but we've come so far for me to just give up. We'll see how things pan out. Cross your fingers for me!