Biopsy Day.......

Spinal biopsy day was Thursday...it feels like lots happened in just a week :)

I wasn't looking forward to the biopsy, was quite scared to be honest, but I knew it had to be done so plucked up the courage and went on Thursday for this procedure.
Had a chat with the Doctor who would be doing this beforehand and although still apprehensive, I knew he'd get it right. I was given the option of either sedation or general anaesthetic - so chose the general. I told him there was no way I could do this under sedation as I remembered the whole conversations of the staff who did my colonoscopy - I recalled them planning their night out on the Friday because J was leaving the department and going to work up North...I really didn't fancy recalling anything to do with needles being poked into my spine - so took the cowards route and had a general.

The procedure took about an hour and I was then back in recovery. During my recovery period I developed a stinking headache that made me feel really sick - like an early stage migraine. This was because I was dehydrated and once I got back home and got some fluids in me, whilst resting in bed, it then went off and I managed to get up, eat some toast and peanut butter (yum) and had a cup of tea - then went back to bed until 10.30am next day. How can you sleep that long and STILL feel tired!

Had a phone conversation with one of the Breast care nurses on Friday afternoon. She told me that they'd had their weekly MDT and they'd discussed what they want to do. Firstly they've looked at the MRI I had done on Saturday to check that there was no risk of immediate spinal compression (it is this that causes problems such as bladder incontinence and paralysis of the lower limbs)...luckily it was felt that at the moment there is no immediate danger of this - however they've instructed the other hospital to contact me immediately with regard to palliative Radiotherapy sessions. She wasn't sure about how many or over which period of time but I'll sort that out with the Radiology team at the other hospital.
I asked if cyberknife had been considered as an alternative and she informed me that yes, they had investigated this option, it had been discussed with the head of the cyberknife team but was decided that I'm not suitable for this - they also felt the same about spinal surgery. I'm unsure as to exactly why at the moment but will be having a meeting with them hopefully next week.
So the reality now is that the option available to me is palliative Radiotherapy and possibly biophosphates (not sure of the exact spelling and right now, can't be bothered to google it LOL)...more will be revealed next week when I meet with them.
Best case scenario is that the Radiotherapy will reduce the tumour and stop it from growing for a while....worst case scenario is that Radiotherapy does nothing to the tumour. Time will tell but obviously hoping for the best case scenario right now.

Breast care nurse T, let me know that the pain may well increase for a short time during the Radiotherapy sessions but after a week or so the pain should subside dramatically. The purpose of Radiotherapy is two fold, to attempt to reduce the tumour by killing off as much of it as they can and to attempt to repair some of the bone damage that has been caused. I'm just hoping that it responds this time to Radiotherapy because it didn't last time. After my 18 sessions of Radiation last time there was very little difference made to the original tumour - so if it is from the same original tumour, it may be stubborn - on the other hand it may just completely die off and I'll be sitting here saying 'Amazing, all gone' :-))
Now THAT would be a nice post to write for sure :)

After my biopsy he warned me that I had to rest for at least a week - as much laying down in bed as possible - no lifting, no carrying, no excessive bending or stretching as after a biopsy on the spine there is a slight risk of bone breakage. So, I'm taking it really easy for the next week or so and doing as I'm told, resting a lot.

Apart from that I have an outpatients appointment with the palliative care team on Monday to discuss tweaking pain meds and such stuff.

Dj has gone to spend the weekend with his big brother and the lovely Leanne. They are taking him out somewhere for firework night, it's always been a tradition that they take him to the fireworks every year and I'm hoping that even when Dj is 30 and J 49 yrs old they will still get together every November 5th :)
Because J has taken him for the weekend I can take the daytime dose of tramadol because if I need to sleep I can - when he's here I don't want to be constantly sleeping so reduce the dosage, but that of course increases the pain somewhat.....catch 22 eh!

So, that's what's going on at the moment - I am okay, if I can get rid of this pain I'd be able to say 'I'm good'...strangely enough I'm the best weight I've been for years, my skin and hair are in great condition, I eat well and if I didn't have this pain I'd be able to just get on with doing things...living my life...and just 'doing'..
Big hope for no pain soon so I can do exactly that :)

My lovely sister, Sarah, is coming over at the end of the month and I'm really looking forward to that. I've not seen her since March when I was over in Rhodes so will be great to be able to properly catch up again. I've also not managed to catch up with mum or dad lately simply because I've not been able to do the train journey to them, mum broke her hip a short while back so she's only just started getting a bit more mobile - I'm hoping to be able to see them next week once I've sorted out my treatment days etc...I know my dad's feeling neglected :-))

Oh and for all those who know me in real life.....Dj doesn't yet know about the spinal mets...he (obviously) knows I've had problems with my back, he knows that I've had 'some fluid taken with a needle to see if they can work out what is causing the pain'...and that's ALL he knows at the moment. I wanted to wait until after Christmas to talk to him about what is going on - if possible - I also want to make sure I have all the facts first so that I can tell him what the plan is.

Catch up soon - much luv to all xxXxx