Ashe Kills Cancer

Tag: Cancer

  • Updated Appointment Schedule (Including First Chemo Session)

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    Happy Halloween and Merry Samhain, loves! 🎃 Instead of partaking in festivities, I’m researching what kind of stuff I’ll need to have for chemotherapy and starting to search for those things on Amazon to put in my cart. I’ll probably end up with quite the chemo haul. 😆 I scheduled my port placement surgery and…

  • Chemo is Officially Official

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    I mean, that’s basically the TLDR. Chemo is officially official. We saw my medical oncologist for the first time today. Three weeks to the day since surgery. It had to be three weeks because that’s how long the results of the Oncotype test would take. I forgot about that test, actually, but I awoke to…

  • Two Weeks Since Surgery, One Week Until We Know About Chemo (With Photos)

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    Today is officially two weeks since my partial mastectomy (lumpectomy), so I thought I should post an update. Following the advice of my surgeon, I’ve done my best to refrain from moving my right shoulder for the past five days. I’ve kept my right arm in a sling except when I needed to work (on…

  • HER2 Status, Surgical Follow-Up and Heart Rate Update

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    The biggest news of the day is perhaps that the results of the reevaluation of my HER2 status (the HER2 FISH test) came in today and nothing has changed! I’m still considered HER2 negative, which is a relief. Also today I had a follow-up appointment with my surgeon. She says I’m healing well! I do…

  • Increased Heart Rate While Recovering From Surgery

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    I wear a Polar arm band that tracks my heart rate throughout the day and equates it to exertion in an app called Visible that lives on my phone. I do this because I have ME/CFS and POTS, both of which are energy-limiting chronic illnesses. The app uses a tool called “PacePoints” that converts exertion…

  • The Surgeon’s Notes About My Partial Mastectomy (Lumpectomy)

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    Glancing through the online portal associated with my cancer surgeon, I found a report called “Operative Notes.” The report includes details from surgery — things that I didn’t know, of course, because I was under anesthesia during the procedure — like an itemized list of the specimens that were removed from my body and sent…

  • Surgical Pathology Results

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    I received the pathology results from my surgery a couple of hours ago. I didn’t expect them so soon, but I’m always glad to have more information about my cancer. Firstly, and possibly most important in the moment, all the tumor margins appear clear of any cancer cells. So, that is great news! That should…

  • Bandage Removal Day! (With Photos)

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    Once 48 hours passed, it was time to remove the binder and bandages and replace them with more permanent garments. I was counting down the minutes until I could remove them because they were making me so very itchy! I was prepared for my right breast to appear a bit mangled, but it still weirds…

  • Breast Cancer Surgery: Partial Mastectomy (Lumpectomy)

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    Yesterday I had breast cancer surgery. I had hoped to post about it then, but I largely rested and/or slept for the rest of the day. The day started very early. We were instructed to arrive at the surgery center at 6 AM, so we woke at 4:15 AM to leave at 5:20 AM. The…

  • Sentinel Node Injection and Surgery in the Morning

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    Cancer treatment is officially underway! I received a radioactive dye injection today. The surgeon will use the radioactivity as a guide for which lymph nodes need to be removed. It’ll be 1-4 of the nodes with the most radioactivity. I was worried about it because I saw a couple YouTube videos where people were saying…