Another Doctor Appointment

Boy! Have we ever been busy!

First I'll go over the hip thang. I went to see a different orthopedic surgeon today. I just didn't like the first one I saw. He was very dismissive. I found out later that his 18 year old son died about three months ago in a diving accident. I'm sorry for him but I still need a doctor who will listen to me. And, boy, did I find one! I went to a really nice doctor. He was recommended by my surgeon. He let me talk about my concerns. Mostly it's this. I've already had cancer. I could have a recurrence. I know it's not likely but it wasn't likely that I'd have 3 c-sections or almost die from asthma or get breast cancer at age 45 so I'm not really banking on the whole "it's not likely" thing, you know? So...I really need to have a good quality of life. The last six weeks have not been quality. I've been sitting around watching tv, reading and playing on the computer. This is not how I live my life, normally. I want to go for walks and go to the mall and visit with my friends and go to the gym and travel.

I told this to this doctor and he totally agreed. What he said was:

1. I do not have to use the cane.

2. I can walk all I want. If I'm walking a long way, I should make sure I'm wearing good walking shoes. If it hurts, take a break or stop - just like any normal person. (Hear that? I can be a normal person!!)

3. I don't need to have a wheelchair unless I'm in so much pain that I can't walk. If that's the case I should have been to see him and the hip replacement surgery should have been set already.

4. Two hip replacements are inevitable but he doesn't know when. It depends on how much activity I do and how quickly the bones degenerate. Could be in a couple of years, could be in 20 years. There's no way of knowing. In the meantime, LIVE!! yeah!!

5. He would like me to exercise by way of swimming and yoga.

So, I'm going to join Ballys. They have a pool and yoga classes.

As far as what our family has been up to. Hilary came in for Kevin's graduation. Yes, my baby graduated. Here's a few pictures:

After graduation we went out for dinner at a very nice (read expensive) restaurant at the top of a Hyatt Hotel in Tampa. No pictures from that 'cause I don't know how to download from my new digital camera, yet.

Then on Friday, Andrew took the day off and we all went to the beach. Pictures!

You'll notice that Kevin's hair changed from grad day to Friday, eh? And...to my family. OMG!! HOW MUCH DOES HE LOOK LIKE STEVE??? HOLY CRAP!!! He says that's a good thing 'cause Steve's a "pimp". I think my boys are impressed by Steve's ability to date girls 20 years his junior. ROFL!!

Then...on Saturday night Andrew, Hilary and I went to The Parrothead Party. It was really fun. We met my friend, Whitney and her daughter there. It's a party held in downtown Palm Harbor every year. It's free to get in (most of our festivals here are free) and they close off the street and there are bands (a lot of Jimmy Buffet songs) and food and drink (lots of drink!) and crafts.

So, as you can see, we were very busy. I managed to get in a dose of Herceptin on Friday. I also found out that my oncologist is leaving the practice and I'm being switched to a different doctor. Now, I've been getting my Herceptin every three weeks. That's what my doctor ordered. This new doctor doesn't believe in giving Herceptin every three weeks and likes his patients to go every week. Hmmmm. Makes me wonder. Have I been getting "lesser than" care? or is this guy overly cautious. I certainly don't want to be unnecessarily going in to the doctor's office every single week if every three weeks will do, you know? I have things to do!! We'll see, I guess.

We're off to Orlando for the weekend. Andrew's going on business so we're going with him. One day we will relax by the pool the other day we need to go look for an apartment for Scott and Kevin for the fall. Kevin actually starts his summer session on Wednesday (a week today!!) and will stay in the dorms for that but the boys have decided to share an apartment in the fall so we need to find one.

That's all for now. I'll try and update everyone once every week or so. I start with a new physio person next week so I'll let y'all know how that goes. I don't feel the need to update as often since most of my treatments are done. The purpose of the blog was to update everyone on how my cancer battle was going and I feel that it's coming to a slow end so I'll slow down my writing, too.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

TTFN

only 40 more days till I see Donny!! (and until Karen's birthday)