Day 15: Port

Still feeling great! Spent the weekend in Santa Monica with the family. This morning Erich and I were at Cedar Sinai by 8:15am for my port insertion. The port, it turns out, is a titanium device the size of a quarter and 1/2 an inch thick with a catheter line. So, they gave me a local anaesthetic, sliced my arm open and threaded a small hose through a vein up my arm and down into my chest not far from my heart. Appearantly I don't have the best veins and chemo tends to make them shrivel up and disapear. A port is an easy way to administer chemo, draw blood, and administer IV fluids and meds. I had no idea what it all entailed and it was probably better that way. Feeding the catheter into my chest reminded me of my epideral with Frederich. That sensation of pushing a tube through a part of your body is strange to say the least.

After Cedars we went to visit my oncologist. No BRACA gene results yet. That test will tell me if I am at super high risk for developing cancer in the other breast and/or the uterus. I have already decided that if I test positive I will have the surgeon take the entire other breast as well, and basically obliterate my ovaries. My tunor has shrunk significantly already, which is a good sign, however, my doctor informed me that the plan will not change: Six rounds of chemo (which means the end of Nov) and then surgery.

I woke up today to clumps of hair falling out as I brushed my teeth. So, tonight I had Erich shave my head with a number 4 catch. I'm chanelling my GI Jane now. I feel kinda bad ass. I like it.:)