Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Report is awesome!


This is the picture Don made of Judy and I today. She wanted to be sure her new watch with two time zones on it got into the picture. I wanted to be sure my swollen arm got into the picture. See; it’s not very swollen!

That was the only ‘bad’ report I got today: that I have a mild case of lymphedema. Lymphedema is swelling that comes from the lymph nodes being taken out and the lymph doesn’t travel through the arm like it should, so it swells. I’ll go to a therapist when I get home and get some therapy and a sleeve that is designed to compress the arm and help with the swelling. It is so minor that I hadn’t even noticed it. They want me to get it corrected so that it doesn’t get worse. If it gets worse it can be very painful. I feel so blessed that it’s so minor that I didn’t even notice it. In fact I didn’t believe it was swollen until my radiologist showed me how to tell. My left arm feels like it should, but when I feel of my right arm, the skin feels thick. That’s because the skin on my left arm and the tissue under it are stuck together with the tightness caused from the swelling.

EVERYTHING else was great. I had a couple of spots that concerned me but they said they were caused by the radiation. I had a hard spot that I suspected was a seroma that was hardened by the radiation, because I had one that I knew was that and it looked the same. (A seroma is a pocket of drainage after surgery; I had one that we knew was there and the radiation made it turn hard.) I hadn’t seen it before the radiation and hadn’t noticed it since until a couple of weeks ago. They did an ultrasound of my whole chest area to be sure that was a seroma and it was. While they were there they also included my neck and collar bone because it could have easily spread to those nodes since the nodes under my arm were positive. All the nodes in my neck and collar bone were CLEAR! So, it was all very good.

The radiologist doesn’t need to see me for 6 months. The Oncologist will see me in 3 months; that’s normal for cases like mine. They were pleased with my tolerance to Arimidex and my energy level. THANK YOU, GOD!

It was wonderful to see Judy! After all my appointments we were able to find Ann and Jim Nelson. We were in such a hurry that I forgot to get pictures of us with them, though! We hoped to get out of the hospital and beat some of the traffic, but I don’t think that worked! Bless her heart, she is starting a new trial program today and she was waiting on an available bed. They looked absolutely great, though! It was wonderful to see them.

Raynie saw her doctor today for her post surgery visit and he said she is all healed and can eat anything she wants! She doesn’t have to see him again for 9 months! THANK YOU, GOD! Wow, are we blessed!

10 comments:

  1. Jo,

    "Praise God, give thanks to the Father for all that He does...." So, so very happy about your good report and Raynes quick recovery. God is so good!

    Keep up the good work.

    Love ya,
    Donna

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  2. You both look so good...isn't Judy beautiful!! Great news, isn't God wonderful. I meant to tell you....the pictures of you by the rainbow tree...for some reason you look taller....go figure!
    I love you Sissy

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  3. Great news Maryjo (course I had insider info from the pictured cohort) You both look wonderful...ain't age great. You two don't look a day over 50..but then I know you are.
    Can't wait to see you in Vegas
    dana

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  4. BTW...the totally unnatural angle of Judy's arm makes her look like she has more arm problems then you do.
    hey..its me, Dana, again

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  5. Thank you, Donna! I so agree with you and give praise to God for all our blessings, especially this week!

    Love you,

    Jo

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  6. Terri, yes Judy is beautiful and our God is so awesome! We are sure giving thanks!

    I look tall by the rainbow tree because that's not a huge tree and Mary is just about my size; Steve is no giant, either. I'm still the same old 60 inches. Maybe I'm standing a little taller these days, especially with the good news this week!

    Maybe I'm standing taller because I read The Shack! It's a great book. Thank you so much for sending it to me!

    Love you,

    Sissy

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  7. Dana, thanks for lumping me in with Judy on that age remark. She's the one who looks so young; she's amazing. I sure hate she's going to miss Vegas, but we're going to have a blast anyway! She'll miss out on a bunch.

    I can hardly wait,

    Mary Jo

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  8. Dana, Judy HAD to have that new watch in the picture. She is such a goof ball; she not only looks young, she acts young. The great thing is that it's not an act! We have so much fun together, just like when we were in Japan!

    Hugs,

    Mary Jo

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  9. Hi Jo and Don! We are thrilled about your good test results at MDA!! Blessings! Blessings! Also happy that Raynie is doing great!
    I also thought you looked tall in the painted tree pics.. What's up with that? Ha!
    Oh, everyone: Jo will have a birthday on August 4 in case anyone has forgotten!! Love you both, Linda and Tom

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  10. Thanks, Linda and Tom for the good vibes! We think of you all the time, but especially as we travel and remember what fun we had traveling with you. We must do some more of that.

    Yes, the big 60 is next week! I'm pleased to be celebrating already! Heather and Brett and Luke gave me a bag full of birthday goodies on Sunday, so they got me started off to a great year with wishes and gifts! Then the doctors treated me on Tuesday to all good news. I guess I'll be getting a compression sleeve for my lymphedema for a birthday present pretty soon; that'll be a relief, I think for what I thought was normal discomfort. Relief for this arm will feel nice. I thought I felt like I had a Popeye arm because the nerves were slow to heal, but I guess I really DO have a Popeye arm! Relief will be nice. I'm doing massages already and they help, but a birthday sleeve will be a good thing.

    I'm going to disregard that it will be hot or maybe I'll give thanks for the hot and say na-na-na to any remaining cancer cells since they don't like hot, either. Anyway, I'm going to celebrate with it.

    Linda and Tom we sure miss you. Can you do Branson sometime this winter with us? Give it some thought. We'll let you know as soon as we're going to be there and see if you can join us sometime. We expect to be there for several weeks.

    Love and miss you,

    Jo

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