And The Winner Is...

[KDR]

Door Number Two!

Option 2: Navelbine/Herceptin. Was still on the fence until this morning, when a peaceful feeling just washed over me. I will be having the ablation done sometime next week. Hopefully, after that, we will try to qualify for the HER2 vaccine at my center. That's my ultimate goal.

WHY
The big, important word: FREEDOM. Easier on liver. Just got off a trial, and it'll be there should this regimen fail me. And maybe down the road, the understanding of the new drugs will be clearer and they'll be more developed. It's summer. Who wants major diarrhea when one could be splashing in the waves? It's two weeks on, one week off.

WHY NOT THE TRIAL
Big part of the decision was the scanning every six weeks. I just did that for 1.5 years. Could not do the ablation. Very hard on liver. Weekly bloods and weekly infusions. New drugs are enticing, and I know they are the future of cancer therapy, but I'll have that card in my back pocket.

Took Herceptin today, will go for consult on IR on Monday and make the plan for next week. Biopsy results were positive for HER2 (phew, not secondary), and mutation results won't be back for another two weeks.

Thank you all for your input. Everyone had something valuable and thought-provoking to offer.

On to the next step,
Karen

[Pray]

God bless you Karen!

[Mandamoo]

Glad you have found a way to a decision - seems a wise one to me. Wishing you well for the ablation and hopefully a vaccine.

[NEDenise]

Karen,
I'm so glad you've chosen a path that gives you peace.
I don't think the importance of a peaceful spirit can be overestimated.

Prayers continuing! Sending love too!
I hope that you are able to enjoy a wonderful summer while being treated with option #2!
Denise

[BonnieR]

I love that peaceful feeling that flooded over you!! That's what it's all about. The sense of relief is palpable! Nothing is worse than a state of indecision, I know.
I am so happy for you. Go have a piece of dark chocolate!
Keep the faith

[yanyan]

Dear Karen, wish you the best of luck in your new ride !!

[tricia keegan]

Good luck Karen!

[StephN]

Your reasoning is quite astute, and you have come to something that is giving you the best of a few "worlds." And going to chase the remaining bits of cancer right off the planet!

All the very best with the road ahead.

[Jackie07]

Good luck to you, Karen. Will continue to pray ...

[MaineRottweilers]

Wishing you luck and thanking you for presenting your decision making for those of us who may be faced with similar decisions. God Bless and good luck. May you know peace and health.

[phil]

so , you will have the ablation ? Lorraine had one yrs ago, 2009 ?? it blasted that tumor to bits, no re-occ. there since, just a nice empty space on every scan .
Good Luck and God Bless with that and the herc/nav, you know i am Praying for Great results !

[KDR]

Thank you all...SO much.
Ablation is on Wednesday, 7/3.
Will keep you posted--as soon as I can.

Love
Karen

[caya]

Good Luck Karen!

all the best
caya

[NEDenise]

Karen
You can count on LOTS of focused prayers till we hear from you that you're recovering nicely! :)
Denise

[SoCalGal]

Thinking of you today...
Flori

[KDR]

Sitting in waiting room. Hungry. But at peace, completely. Will check in later, hopefully.
Karen
Thanks EVERYBODY for your kind wishes. The sun is coming out...

[BonnieR]

Keeping the faith with you.
Your sense of peace is a blessing and an asset
God bless

[dawny]

Best wishes Karen

[KsGal]

Karen..I hope the procedure yesterday went smoothly and was completely successful, and any pain you have is being controlled. My thoughts and prayers are certainly with you.

[NEDenise]

Still lifting you in prayer, friend :)
Denise

[KDR]

Major accident in the Operating Room. I almost bled to death. Got transfusion. Still in hospital...will check in as I am able. News on cancer front is good, but whole story later.

[CarolineC]

Holy CRAP!!!!!! I'm so glad you're alive! I am sending ALOT of positive healing light across the country and over the border to you!♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Caroline

[NEDenise]

Good God!
Can't anything ever be easy?!

Praying with all my heart for a quick and easy recovery. Please post an update as soon as you are strong enough.

Sending love your way!
Denise

[BonnieR]

Just unbelievable! Thank God you came through. So shocking. We want the details when you are up to it. Keep the faith, now more than ever

[Andrea Barnett Budin]

No such thing as a simple surgery. Accident in operating room is so not what any of us want to her. Almost bled to death. Transfusion. NOT WHAT YOU SIGNED UP FOR! So so sorry, Karen. Shocking...

But -- I see good news in there on the cancer front. And for that we must all rejoice! There is a pony in there under all this crap!!

Love, Light, Healing Energy and torrents of strength being rushed to you up there!

ANDI

[KDR]

Good morning,
Leaving hospital today. What a long, strange trip! Just when I thought a had down a good understanding of life, I realize the radical change one split second can mean.
I went in Wednesday for the ablation of the met, and at this point, I am still piecing together the story (everyone is on vacation; I'll never schedule a procedure over a major holiday again). What I do know, is that the biopsy of the met 10 days' prior was positive and was removed. Two CT-immeasurable spots were there for the taking. Doctor just finished No. 2, and was moving toward No. 3 when an artery was accidentally severed. Tiny little No. 3 is now winking at me. The blood came so fast and furious that it took a total of eight hours to stabilize me with blood products. I do know that I did not flatline, because I asked, but had a major "close call." I woke up and a good man in a white coat with red embroidery was holding my hand--as I opened my eyes, he said, You Did It! You Did It! That's when the information started coming in bits and pieces. My confidence has been shaken, but I've got to go back for Little No. 3. It's all there is!
So, I'm in a new phase. I've had a transfusion. Blood: the Gift of Life. I find my mind wandering...with 50% of new cells, who am I? What's changed in the landscape, if anything. Who is in my body with me?
I also have a five-inch scar and two matching ones for the chest tube and one other incision. My derm can take care of those, but has anyone used Arnica? Is it better than Mederma?
Thanks all,
Karen

[NEDenise]

Wow!
Can't tell you how glad I am that things are back under control!

Sending love and prayers
Denise

[BonnieR]

I am still stuck on Denise's earlier remark. "Can't anything ever be easy?" Seems not, sometimes. We have been truly tested as a group. And as a group we keep standing strong.
Keep the faith

[phil]

Wow ! Keeping you in my Prayers

[Cat]

Thank God it all worked out ok. What a scare! Good thing it's not the norm. Get better.
I've never used arnica and I started out trying mederma and got tired of applying it. I now wear my scars like the war wounds that they are. Sorry I can't help there. The scar I have at the base of my neck has faded with time and hardly noticible. The one on my upper chest has faded but will always be noticible as the ribs needed to be broken and there will always be a dent there. The rest of the roadmap on my body is hidden by clothing and also faded. I have heard the creams do work if used faithfully.
Cathy

[Mandamoo]

How frightening! So glad you woke up! Healing energy sent to you. Xx

[StephN]

You did not yet have your Ninja Name, but you have certainly EARNED one! Glad you kick-boxed your way out of that little slip up ... and are back among the rest of us walking wounded.

Someone had better be holding your hand after that event. How many units of blood did they have to give you? 50% is a significant amount. Which probably means you have several "someone's" blood. So don't go all split personality on us now. We love you as you were!

Maybe that third little met scared itself to death?

[Lani]

not only shouldn't you have a procedure during a long holiday weekend you should be extra sure it is not the July 4 holiday weekend because all the new interns and residents start on July 1 and may not have enough supervision if they are on call that weekend and very little experience to fall back on. Luckily your complication occurred during your procedure and not when you were back in your room--so there were lots of experienced people to do what was needed it seems. Must be your Genie powers! Congratulations!

[cheery]

Sorry to hear that you'd to go through such a scare..and glad that you're back home now resting. Great news that the main spot has been zapped off successfully! Please take care.

[StephN]

Overlooked your request about Arnica.
I have only used it after my angioplasties and for sore muscles. OH - and after my disk surgery. I used the kind you take internally for those purposes. I seemed to heal very fast with minimal scars.

For my sore muscles or leg cramps I have a gel that I sometimes use. So, I think it is a good product for me so far.

P.S. My mother has her 10 Gallon Pin from the blood bank for giving that much blood over the years. I know another lovely lady in my area who has the same.

[SoCalGal]

Karen,
This always just astonishes me: World Trade Center Survivor (56th Floor/North Tower)
You are meant to be here! I'm glad for that. What a freakin' ordeal-nightmare...
Am thinking about your 50% fill up.
:-)

[KDR]

Friends,
Thanks for your all your thoughts. Concerns. Interest. Calls. PMs.
I found out, too, via discharge nurse, that I had a collapsed lung and a hematoma removed from the right one. I have no feeling in the right side of my abdomen. They say it will return.
Each day, I am stronger. My upper body took a huge unexpected hit: chest tube, lung collapse, emergency thoracotomy (that comes with a five-inch scar and a smaller one where tube was), and then another small incision in abdomen for the ablation. So I do upper body yoga exercises, reaching to get out of this place, letting my body tell me my limits. However, I am no stranger to PTSD, that is post traumatic stress disorder, and I have it AGAIN. I remember being wheeled into surgery, so calm, so reassured, so READY with such confidence. In a split second my world was hijacked again. More work to be done on that front. I will get to the bottom of it: how it happened, who was at the controls, etc.
It is a given. We are here to learn from each other: no procedures around July 4. Not a doctor to be found, except some mature ones well into their fellowships have seen me since I nearly died. Right after I was put in a room, every doctor was gone, gone, gone.
Every day I push a little more. Intubation area still painful as I have that chemo thin-skin. All this and I was still recovering from the liver biopsy between the ribs, done ten days earlier.
As I've learned, the blood, from many sources, will become my own. I never had a position on transfusing, but glad someone was there to make the decision for me. It was one of those items I could never really commit to--whether to accept blood or not. When I get the final report, I will know how many pints I received.

I am walking, doing breathing exercises, but missing the pool and ocean and will for two more weeks, at least. I am very active and this really stole a chunk of my summer.

I keep listening to Pink's GREAT ESCAPE. I really feel like the King Of The Great Escape, at times. Then I listen to it because I need to know I CAN BE the King Of The Great Escape. We get our inspiration where we can, right?

Listen if you'd like, it may be your inspiration, too--
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wl5-audkPY

Added: When my daughter was three, she had heart surgery and her thoracotomy scar curves around her left shoulder. It looks like an exclamation point. The surgeons worked from her back so she would be saved an unsightly scar in or around the breast. Now we match, but mine is on the bra strap curve. Just spoke to my dermatologist, and she is going to erase as much as possible. I LOVE HER.

Love
Karen

[NEDenise]

Karen,
I'm so thankful that everything turned out "okay" BUT...
it makes me so angry that what should have been a relatively straightforward procedure turned into such an ordeal.
I'm glad to hear that you're going to get to the bottom of what happened. You survived, but it doesn't sound like that was certain while you were still in the OR. Scary... un-necessary... and perhaps your asking the right, uncomfortable questions will assure that this sort of debacle doesn't happen to anyone else.
I'm not normally a litigious person, but this seems too extreme to just let it pass. You know far more about the law than I do, but my trustworthy gut says you should sue.

I'm offering prayers of thanks that you made it through this mess in one piece...
and prayers for a quick recovery before you go completely stir crazy!
with love
Denise

[BonnieR]

I agree with Denise. But when I considered suing over my mistaken lung diagnosis and subsequent surgery, the only questions lawyers asked was what were my damages? Did I have long term, lasting effects? Since I fortunately had a full recovery, I was not entitled to any compensation! I suppose if I had monetary damage I could have tried for that. Out of pocket expenses. And in Calidornia, at least, one can sue a doctor for, like $39K, without it being reported to the medical board. So they often will settle for that rather than a lawsuit or a blemish. The only lawyer who would even consider perusing that was kinda sleazy and I didn't want to deal with him. And he would have received half. I let it go
But your situation was much more aggregious so hopefully you can seek compensation
I will be interested in hearing the outcome
Mainly the most important thing is your recovery. And don't be surprised if you get depressed. I was in a state of almost despair. I could not believe such a mistake had been made. I later realized the emotions were partly due to the painkillers
Keep the faith

[KDR]

Oh my goodness, it's a new day and a happy one...it's my birthday! And am I ever glad to have this one!
Well, today I finally found out who did my thoracic surgery. OMG! He'd been walking around the hospital floor doing rounds for the four extra days I was lying there and NEVER CAME IN to check on me! WTF?
My only emotion right now: shock. My goal: get better. My personality: come out swinging. Don't expect anything less!
Right now, Jeannie is in her green costume. Back in the bottle, deciding which potion to use. You can bet.
Love you all,
Karen

[BonnieR]

I can relate Karen! The doc who did my lung surgery also made himself very scarce. After I got home I had difficulty reaching his office and they never phoned to see how I was doing. Ever. This was even though he did nothing wrong. The mistake was made by pathology. But you'd think I was contagious! He still avoids me when I see him around the cancer center
Cowards!
Glad to hear Genie is suiting up!
Keep the faith

[KDR]

GOT REPORT: I lost 3.5 liters of blood.


Karen

[BonnieR]

That's major! We only have about 5, I think. Women maybe less.
You are very blessed
Keep the faith