We have a date!

My biopsy is scheduled for this Wednesday at 8:00 a.m. I'll get the results the following Wednesday. I'm so excited! I know, I know. It's a weird thing to get excited over, but waiting for anything long enough will induce excitement, trust me. I'm ready to get on with it and get busy fighting.

The prayer of the day is: If *any* of the spots are cancerous, I want this result to come back positive. I don't want to have to go through additional biopsies to find cancer if it's there. If this comes back negative, they'll do a PET scan and then biopsy the largest spot on my vertebrae (T4). That's a tricky one to get to which is why they didn't biopsy it first.

If the result comes back positive, they'll still do a PET scan to measure the level of activity in the spots. Activity means bone turn-over, which is new cells coming up and dead cells being carried away more rapidly than usual. It's a sign of the bone trying to heal itself or fight something off. This PET scan will serve as a baseline to measure the effectiveness of treatment. They'll change my hormone-control medication and then take another PET scan to see if the level of activity has changed and so forth and so on. The road goes on forever and the party never ends, boys and girls.

Chemo may be involved at some point, but since this is medically incurable (notice I said 'medically'), they'll do the least they can to contain it.

I talked with my boss today, and working at home is a go. Now I need to discuss this with my oncologist to make sure the extreme (and we're talking way the hell out there, baby) nutrition therapy won't interfere with what she's doing. If it does, such as if she decides to do chemo right away, I'll wait until that's done to start shooting coffee through the bottom end.

Holy Frijoles, I can't believe I'm talking about juice fasting and coffee enemas. Have mercy. It's just more than a spyder can comprehend some days. Even more amazing is the amount of information on both you can find on the internet. I actually have detailed instructions.

I'm also in the market for a naturopathic doctor and/or nutritionist in the area. If any of you know of a good one, let me know. I need one that's not so into supplements as eating the right foods to accomplish what I have to accomplish. I already take 98% of all the supplements known to man, so I don't need a source. I need a complete program of diet, exercise, supplements, etc. The book I have has some guidelines but leaves many unanswered questions. I need expert guidance.

I've just about talked your ears off here (those of you who know me well won't be surprised), so just a couple more things.

Laura - I wish you were here, too, sweetie! Those of you who don't know, Laura is my lovely, talented and very intelligent daughter and is a constant source of pride for her mother. She's in Boston working on her Masters degree (man, I *love* saying that!).

Di - I loved your comment - will have to visit that site! Everybody check out Di's comment on day before yesterday's post. She found a cool website with healthy recipes, etc.

The ladies of OKRWA are the best in the world!

Everyone visit: http://altmedicine.about.com/od/detoxcleansing/l/bl_quiz_detox.htm for a quiz on whether you need to detox your body. You'll be surprised.... Scroll down and click on the really small blue link that says Detox screening quiz. You have to look for it. It'll bring up the first question.

Love you all!
~pinkie

They're still trying to schedule the biopsy for Friday, but we've changed from Mercy to Baptist because Mercy doesn't take my insurance. I hope they realize tomorrow is Thursday... little joke there, hehehe. Gotta laugh sometimes. Hubby and I went out for Mexican food tonight in preparation for my extreme diet makeover. For the next week, I'm going to eat my favs - Johnny Carino's, a big juicy hamburger, pizza maybe. I have to be careful because if I eat too poorly, it has digestive consequences. Those of you as firmly in your forties as me know what I mean.

I ordered Diana Dyer's book yesterday. She's a dietician who had advanced cancer similar to mine and beat it through diet.

Sometimes, like now, this seems so unreal. I think, what the hell am I doing? This can't be me. This isn't my life. I have a great talent for avoiding the unpleasant, and I feel myself slipping into that mode sometimes. Then it all comes back to me. Wow.

Then other times I want to get the testing all done and dive into the thick of the battle.

*sigh* Things will progress at the speed they want to and not the speed I'd prefer.

Don't mind me. I'm tired and a bit melancholy tonight, so I think I'll head off to bed, watch some TV, and drift off. Sweet dreams, everyone!

~pinkie

Well, as some of you know, it's been wild around the web lately. I had my annual CT scan (after being diagnosed with breast cancer in Feb 2005), and they found a spot on my backbone. The bone scan showed that spot, another on my backbone and several more on my left pelvic bone. The doctor's office is currently working on scheduling a biopsy of the largest and easiest spot which is on the pelvic bone. My doctor is really picky about who she'll let do it because we need the best. I love that about her!! Should be late this week or early next week at Mercy. I'll know the results by the first of next week. There are lots of details I'll be sharing this week about what this may mean and where we go from here, but no time tonight.

I've had a great time playing around with this blog, but it's time to get serious. Join me for a journey through the mysterious and deadly land of cancer. I promise I won't let you get hurt. Just take my hand, and we'll go together. I'll do all the dangerous stuff. Perhaps someday the things you witness will be of use to you or a loved one. I intend to make it all the way through, and I'm pulling out all the stops medically and nutritionally. Jesus is going with us (you remember, He promised to lead us through the valley of the shadow of death?), so we don't have to be afraid. Even if I end up having to leave you, He'll stay right beside both of us. He's special that way...

By the way, if you didn't know before, now you know why the spyder is pink. It's a spyder because that's just how I am. Kooky, horror-loving, and eternally optimistic. Even when I die someday, I'm optimistic. Heaven will be so cool. Trust me, I've had a lot of incentive to think about it.

'til tomorrow,
~pinkie