Anethstesia is my friend.

Well, today was a fun day. Bright and early we headed up to the University Hospital for a little surgery. They inserted a Port-a-Cath in my chest just under the skin above my heart. They will use this port for my chemo treatments. I opted for this rather than to have them insert an IV every time I had treatment. The IV in the hand was such a hideous experience during both of my c-section surgeries. It took the nurses 10-12 pokes before they got it in. By the time they actually found the vein the towels were soaked with blood and there was a puddle on the floor. Literally. At least with Elijah there was. Anyway so that is why I went for the port. However, the little anesthesiologist that inserted my pre-operative IV (who looked like she was 16) did a beautiful job. I barely even felt it. Could of hugged her right there. The biggest difference was that she took a tiny little needle and injected an even tinier bit of numbing agent so I didn't feel the big needle even go in. Brilliant. AND, she got it on the FIRST POKE!!! So, why don't they do that when you have a c-section? After she was done, I was starting to second guess the whole port decision but... oh well. We did it. I officially have a breast implant. Well kind of. The surgery went well. They didn't put me completely out. They gave me just enough of the sleepy drugs to make me happy about the fact they were cutting me open and inserting a foreign device in my chest. I love anethstesia.

After the little surgical experience we went and had lunch at the hosptial restaurant. Just so you know, the Huntsman Cancer Hospital has a pretty hip little bistro. Neil had the stroganoff and I opted for the stir fry. Very tasty. And speaking food, the University Hospital has a pretty decent cafeteria. I'm a regular patron. I'm addicted to their brownies.

Okay, so after lunch we had a little blood drawn (and by little, I mean about 3 quarts), and went off for my needle biopsy. I'm participating in a clinical study. They're doing research on a particular medication (normally used to treat seizure patients) to see how it changes the cancer cells. So as part of that, I got to throw in a few extra needle biopsies and blood tests, yadda, yadda.  The needle biopsy is all sorts of fun. This was my second. One more to go after a couple weeks on the study drug. The doctor's name who does the biopsy is Joanna. We're good friends now.

So that was it for today.  Oh, in between our lovely little medical procedures, we meandered over to the Cancer Learning Center. I couldn't resist. I'm a librarian. I had to check out the cancer library. We found a couple of children's books about kids whose moms have cancer and used them as a way of trying to help Elijah understand a little of what was going on. I think it hit him this time. He got a little weepy. The first time we talked to him about it, he just said, "Yay! We get to get your wig out again!"  Hmmmm. Either he's coping just fine or we need to do a little more explaining.....

So tomorrow we will be up at the hospital again for most of the day (yay, brownies!!). I'll start with a bone scan. For those of you who aren't familiar with those (and I truly hope you're not, at least by experience), they inject a small amount of radioactive chemicals into your blood stream. You hang out for a couple of hours (hmm, maybe neil and I will have time for a free acupuncture session and the Wellness Center) and then they do a full body scan after the chemicals have had time to completely distribute themselves throughout your body.  The chemicals  attach themselves to unusually fast growing cells (cancer cells). On the film, those portions appear as bright spots, so they can tell if there is cancer in other places in the body. They will be focusing on the bones.

After that, we have a breast MRI. Stay tuned. I'm sure I'll have a few stories after that one.