[Yorkiegirl]

I am going to copy and paste a post that Kathy sent to another group I'm on. She seems to be doing really well.
Vicki
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Kathy wrote on 4-28-2009


I had an exciting few days earlier this month when I suddenly needed to
check in to the hospital and deal with more of the same cancer I've been dealing
with for 4 and a half years now decided to take a trip north. It was so sudden
that I had to call my neighborhood British friend to get a communication link with
family and Japanese neighbors going because I couldn't reach anyone on cell phones etc. and I was worried they might not understand the note I'd tried to write. The friend jumped right in and contacted the people I needed and
I was able to focus on getting to my primary care place and place my head in their hands knowing that things were OK on the home front.

She went a little overboard and contacted many more people than I expected (an online list of other foreign wives here in Japan some of whom I've met, others who are cyber friends as well as our local chapter of foreign friends) and proceded to get inundated with messages and questions. She's new to computers and the internet and I felt a little bad about overwhelming her so I was glad when another friend of mine decided to give her a break and set up a Yahoo group to make sure that I had everything I needed in the hospital and that my family was OK too. I'm still working on calming the British friend down though several weeks later - I tend to just do stuff on my own most of the time to keep things simple. She calls 5 and 6 times a day to ask if I'm resting (trying my cell if I don't answer or am already talking on the house phone).

Anyway, I ended up with all sorts of help and encouragement and two weeks in the hospital. resting and getting the biggest tumor (6cm from top back right) removed surgically in a 7hour operation. I'm home now and will go in on Friday for Gamma knife surgery for the remaining met or mets (the gamma knife guru says he has better resolution and that if he finds anything the Cancer Center missed, he'll get it all.)

Next step - MRI in 2 weeks to confirm post gamma knife status, start AC chemo (adriamycin cyclophosphamide) to blast away at lung mets. Still hoping for Tykerb soon. Now I have a bigger team of doctors looking at everything.
It was such a relief to get this taken care of quickly and be home with my family again and feeling fine.

The hospital food wasn't so great so I lost a few of the extra pounds I'd pack on so I feel pretty good might now, healthy as a horse other than a little cancer (and my dad's a vet...)

Time to get some of these kids to bed.

Best to all,
Kathy S. in Tokyo



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