Finally, a Surgery Date!!

Now I can plan my life…for the next couple of months, at least. The date of the surgery is set for October 15th at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach at 7:30...AM!!!! As you all know, I am NOT an early bird. Oh, I guess it’ll be ok. I’ll get a chance to have a long nap during surgery to get caught up on my beauty sleep!! LOL!! Hoag Hospital is the same hospital that Brett and Kristi were born in. I am blessed to have a fabulous team of doctors on my side-Dr. Lisa Guerra, my surgeon, Dr. Brian Dickinson, my reconstructive surgeon and Dr. Neil Barth, my oncologist. Everyone I talk to says they are totally awesome. I feel so much at ease knowing they are so highly well respected in their fields.

This is my first attempt at blogging. Please subscribe to my blog and I think that you will get an email when I post a new entry. Or you can ‘bookmark’ my blog at:

www.atakemoto1.blogspot.com

My plan is to post at least once a week. Larry will be a ‘guest blogger’ during my recovery and will be able to keep you all ‘in the know’ about post surgery and recovery.

The outpouring of emails and calls from all of you has touched my heart. Although I may not have replied to you, I have read each and every one of them more than once. I thank you for taking the time to email me, call me, stop by to see me, to think about me and for keeping me in your thots and prayers. I always say you can never have too many prayers. All your emails are saved in a folder in my Inbox. I always knew I had awesome friends. You have just shown it to me again. I appreciate your open offers of help, for shopping and running errands and for meals. Post-op, I am sure that I will need some assistance.

Have you ever had a CT scan with contrast with iodine? Well, if you haven’t, here’s the 411. First, they want you to be well hydrated. Translation, drink a lot so when they stick you to set up the IV, they can find your vein. Translation, they want you to have a full bladder. So, the tech tells me they will give me an iodine push twice (and it’s a lot of iodine!!), once to time how long it takes to get where ever and the second time to do the actual scan. She says you will get a warm feeling starting from the neck down to the bladder. And, you feel like you are peeing…but you are not. Well, with a full bladder already and the iodine push, I was really concentrating hard and felt like I should cross my legs!! I didn’t want to be the first person to pee in the CT machine!! LOL!! So, beware of CT scans with contrast!

Remember in my last blog post I had told you about 3 people who have made long, overdue appointments to see their doctors, I need to up it to 4 people and one who I will be contacting tomorrow to remind her to call her doctor. I skipped my annual mammogram. If I had gone on time, the extent of my cancer would have been a smaller area because it would have been detected earlier. So, if you are due or overdue for an appointment or annual whatever, please go. Do it for me. Do it for your family. Do it for YOURSELF!

Till the next post, take care…

Let's try this again...

OK, so I found out how to post my second post.  (It really helps if you have the user name and password...DUH!!  Mahalo to Larry!)  So this is the latest: I have finally decided on the treatment plan!! YAY!!  This decision was agonizing.   It took 3 weeks, many doc appointments, phone conversations and emails with the doctors to give me enough information so I could make a decision that is right for me and one that I am comfortable with. I am having a mastectomy on the left breast.  There is no cancer in the right breast.  As soon as my surgeons and the operating room get on the same page with a surgery date, I'll let you know.
 
I am so lucky to have found this cancer today.  10, even 5 years ago, detection and even treatment has changed.  I am blessed to be EXACTLY where I am today.   I feel that I have this cancer for a reason.  God gave me this disease, right now, in the early stages, for a reason.  I am not sure why.  Kristi has a friend that has had a lump in her breast for some time and has ignored it.  Kristi is making sure that her friend has it checked out.  A friend of mine confided that she has not seen a doctor in years.  I will be making sure that she makes an appointment with a doctor.  Another friend of mine has been self diagnosing herself her years and has not seen a doctor for a health condition.  She has made an appointment with her doctor.  So, maybe this is why...

For everyone who reads my blog, will you promise me that you will get off your... (what language would you like it in-Hawaiian, Spanish, Latin, English, etc.?) little tush and make an appointment with the doctor if you are over due to see them?  Will you please, please do that for me?  Maybe me having cancer will help someone else be healthy, stay healthy or get healthy.  Make me a promise, please??  Pinky swear???????

I gotta get back to work.  (Don't tell my boss, Larry, that I wrote this during work hours.  I might get fired!! LOL!!)