January 12th, 2025 to June 8th, 2025 - It's Been an Interesting Five Months - Part 3 - Things Are Looking Up

 

May and June

I was released from the hospital on April 10th. My sister, Karen, stayed with me that first week. I was still very weak and we worked every day for me to become more independent. April was a month of steady improvement. I had a visit from the Palliative Care nurse who explained that, as a rule of thumb, patients generally take seven days for each day in the hospital to recover. In my case, that would have been 35 days -- and that proved to be pretty accurate. Improvement was gradual but significant.

What changed:

• I gradually was able to take more steps and accomplish simple tasks such as preparing breakfast, climbing stairs, etc.
• My pulmonologist had put me on a C-PAP, designed to keep my airways open during the night. My breathing improved to the point that I could now walk without gasping for air.
• In discussing my case with my doctors at the Cleveland Clinic, I found out that their committee had decided that I was not an appropriate candidate to undergo robotic brancheoplasty. Their main concern was scar tissue and adhesions from my chest reconstruction surgery. To quote the surgeon, this would make a "tricky" surgery even "trickier". I was in agreement with their decision as I felt I could no longer recover from such a difficult surgery.

Meeting with My Oncologist

As I got stronger, a decision was going to have to be made as to whether or not I would restart my cancer medications. During my recovery, I had monthly blood tests that indicated a gradual and significant improvement over time. For the first time in over two years, all of my results fell within the normal range. I no longer was anemic. Even my "cancer marker" test results fell in the normal range.

My cancer treatments, Ibrance and fulvestrant shots, are known to lower immunity, increasing the likelihood of infection. My red and white blood cells were reduced as well as my platelet count. I've always know of these side effects, but in balance, my cancer had been held in check for nearly five years. Taking the drugs was clearly worth it. So what to do?

Dr. Specht and I met, and the decision was made to hold off on restarting the cancer drugs for at least another six weeks. At that time, I will have a CT of my chest to see if there are any changes. We can then revisit this topic.

My Current Status

This month I celebrated five years since my initial diagnosis. Here is one of my favorite pictures.

Liz, me, Bill and Adie

It was taken the day after my lumpectomy June 30, 2020. This was an outpatient procedure and I obviously recovered quite easily. Unfortunately, they discovered during this procedure that there was much more cancer in my chest wall. This meant that a future surgery would need to be scheduled. I wrote about it earlier in this blog.

BUT I'VE NOW SURVIVED FIVE YEARS!!! Bill and I have been able to travel extensively during this time and I've been able to watch my grandsons grow. I have so many things to be thankful for -- and I am. Who knows, I may get well enough to travel again and, dare I say, ride my bike. And I have all of you who have read this blog and offered me encouragement. Thank you.

Kathy