Tamara Glover

EmmaLena woke up around 5am and came looking for me. I told her I couldn't sleep and that she could sleep on the couch. Around 5:45am she asked if she could make me some coffee and then I could make her hot chocolate and we could watch the sun rise together. We sat outside and I talked to Marni (its nice that she is on Hawaii time). Actually this morning when I sent text at 5am 4 people responded. :-) Very sweet. I will have to be sure not to send texts that early. I didn't realize people keep their phone on. :-) Benjamin and Brian found us outside and we came inside to visit. I laid down on the ground as I was feeling yucky and my chest hurt. Benjamin laid down next to me and asked what he could do to help me. He offered to make me coffee but then said, maybe thats not a good idea because you are sick. I said I would like coffee. Benjamin, Lena and Brian made me coffee. Ben came back and pet my hair. He said, "so, your hair is going to fall out. I wonder how you are going...

So in my typical party style I have decided to invite any of my friends who want to join us for breakfast before my treatment every 3 weeks. We will meet at the Waffle house on Cedar, just off of Herndon. My next appointment is tentatively scheduled for July 20th at 11am. We will meet for breakfast around 9am. The Cancer Care Associates is right down the street on Fir. :-) Please text me that morning if you plan to come, so I can ask for the correct number of seats. Thanks Tamara

Wed June 30 - today - Chemo Injection - Sandy (Mom) to take me Tue July 6th - Meet with Dr. Moffett - Brian to take me Tue July 20 - Breakfast with friends - All invited Tue July 20 - Chemotherapy treatment - undecided who is taking me at this point

For those of you who wanted the details of the medication I am being treated with. I posted that below. Now lets get to me. :-) The kids: Benjamin woke up in the morning, came and gave me a hug and said, "I don't want you to be sick." We hugged, I said me neither and we moved on. I asked the boys (EmmaLena was still sleeping) if they would like to help me pick out a wig. Isaac and Declan said no. Benjamin said yes, with a smile. We talked about how it might be fun and what different colors and styles I could get. Later Isaac said, I don't want you to get a wig because I don't want you to loose your hair. I said,,, "me neither" we hugged and he moved on. When I got home from my treatment at 6:30pm I still had a bandage on my wrist and my hand was swollen from a failed entry point. The kids asked about it. I explained that the needle was placed there and thats how they gave me the medicine. I unraveled the bandage and showed them the tiny little entr...

Neulasta Why is this medication prescribed? Pegfilgrastim is used to reduce the chance of infection in people who have certain types of cancer and are receiving chemotherapy medications that may decrease the number of neutrophils (a type of blood cell needed to fight infection). Pegfilgrastim is in a class of medications called colony stimulating factors. It works by helping the body make more neutrophils. How should this medicine be used? Pegfilgrastim comes as a solution (liquid) to inject subcutaneously (under the skin). It is usually given as a single dose for each chemotherapy cycle, no sooner than 24 hours after the last dose of chemotherapy of the cycle is given and more than 14 days before beginning the next chemotherapy cycle. Your doctor will tell you exactly when you should use pegfilgrastim. Pegfilgrastim may be given to you by a nurse or other healthcare provider, or you may be told to inject the medication at home. If you will be injecting pegfilgrastim at home, follow th...

After a fabulous breakfast with some friends and my mom, my sister, mom and I went to Cancer Care Associates. First the took blood in order to check on things. My white blood cells were high (maybe due to the fact that I am starting to have a sore throat). I didn't have a fever and my vitals were fine so they proceeded. Taxotere Why is this medication prescribed? Docetaxel injection is used alone or in combination with other medications to treat certain types of breast, lung, prostate, stomach, and head and neck cancers. Docetaxel injection is in a class of medications called taxanes. It works by stopping the growth and spread of cancer cells. How should this medicine be used? Docetaxel injection comes as a liquid to be given intravenously (into a vein) by a doctor or nurse in a hospital or clinic. It is usually given over 1 hour once every 3 weeks. Your doctor will probably prescribe a steroid medication such as dexamethasone for you to take during each dosing cycle to help pr...

Its now 5:30pm. The last of the chemical infusions have entered my system. I /we (Deb & Mom) have to wait another hour for monitoring. The last infusion was the Herspeptin. They want to watch me for an hour to make sure I dont have a reaction. We have been here since 11am and I am very tired.

So my plan is to cut my hair really short before it starts to fall out. For two reasons. To first minimize the shock of being completely bald, for myself and the kids. Second I think is to hope to minimize the impact of chunks of hair falling out. I am hoping that less of it will be less,,, shocking. My sister has decided to cut her hair super short too. Hers is probably long enough to donate to locks of love. :-) She is so cute! So on Friday we are having a hair cutting event together. The funny thing is the people at temple can never tell us a part. People will talk to me thinking I am Deborah and vice versa. When our hair is different lengths I think it helps people differentiate between the two of us. Oh well, I guess when I am balled or have a wig, that will help. LOL or maybe I can pretend to be Deborah once in a while... Stacey my poor hairdresser was the first person outside of Brian and a few people at work to know. I had a hair cut/color appointment 1 hour after I ...

Monday night we had a sit down at the big dinning room table to tell the kids. 6 minutes later it was over. It is so interesting how either genetically or environmentally we have passed down the, thanks for the information lets move on trait. They already knew about the lump in my breast. I told them the lump is bad and the Doctors want to take it out. (they new that). I explained that before they take it out they want to give me some medication to attack the... (i didn't want to use the word disease), Isaac pops up with Virus in your body. I nod, we go with that. I explain that I am going to cut my hair really short at the end of next week and that eventually the medicine will make my hair fall out. I quickly respond with the fact that I plan to shave my head like Daddy. They all smile and say cool (last summer I let the boys shave there heads because they all wanted to look like daddy. I was worried about this fact the most because the kids love to brush my hair. Declan...

Its 3am Tuesday morning, my first day of Chemotherapy treatment. The Dr. said to expect this from the steroids. I don't really know if I get to blame the steroids since I have only been taking them since Monday and I haven't slept well since Saturday night. Saturday night was Brian and I's last night in Cancun. The storm had officially rolled in (it is hurricane season). Our bedroom was 100 feet off the ocean. The rain and wind hit the windows all night long. I could start to hear the dripping of water as it ran down our patio and seeped into our room. I got up to move our suitcase off the floor so it would not get wet. I kept having "Cast Away" dreams. You know the movie with Tom Hanks? I was dreaming that I was in the cave, trapped on an island, trying to figure out how was going to get off of that island. These dreams meshed with similar feelings about my cancer. Why am I here? Why me? I am not supposed to be in this situation. Why did my body, my mi...

Our trip was nice. I was ready to come home on day 3. They scheduled me for a Muga Scan today. I took the boys to Emma's house for a visit and went to the appointment. I couldn't find the place and got a bit annoyed but all was fine. A MUGA scan (Multi Gated Acquisition Scan) is a time proven nuclear medicine test designed to evaluate the function of the right and left Ventricles of the Heart. It is also called Radionuclide Angiography, as well as Gated Blood Pool Imaging. This modality uniquely provides a Cine Image of the beating heart, and allows the interpreter to mathematically determine the efficiency of the individual chambers of the heart. MUGA scanning may be a valuable adjunct to the Echocardiogram. So here is what happened... He took some blood, left in the iv and had me wait in the lobby for 20 minutes. During that time, he mixed my blood with something radioactive. He put my now radio active blood back into me, attached 3 (darn it I forgot what they are called...

I will be having Chemotherapy treatments the following weeks with a two week break in between. June 28, July 19, August 9, August 30. Surgery is scheduled for the week of September 20th. Two more sets of Chemotherapy will follow.

Brian and I are getting on a plane at 5am Wednesday morning, headed for sun and sand. We will have 4 days of relaxation. I am getting very excited with the idea of relaxing. I won't be taking my phone, so if you need us call Brian's number THanks!

No it is not for my Dogs, fish or turtle. :-) Mysteriously my fish are dying.... that needs to be resolved....I took the turtle out of the pond. Anyways my ADD is kicking in. Today I did a Pet scan. The intent of this test is to identify if there are any more hot spots (possible cancer spots) throughout my body. I had to maintain a no sugar diet for 24 hours and fast for 4 hours prior to my test. Then they inject me with radio active sugar water. As I sit in a room holding very still for an hour, the sugar water moves throughout my body. Then I go into a machine similar to the MRI (but not loud). It scans my body and identifies the areas where the sugar hang out (cancer cells like sugar) the radio active serum makes a mark on the picture. Everyone was very nice at Cancer Care Associates. My sister hung out with me until she was kicked out, then she came back and we had lunch. That was good because I needed to explain what the genetic testing information meant.

Mike says as he walks in the room "do you do anything easy"? We all know the answer to that... :-) So he went on to explain that because of the extra mass extending from the tumor they want to switch the procedure and do 4 treatments of Chemotherapy, surgery and 2 more treatments of chemotherapy. He want on to explain that we will be able to monitor the tumor this way and see how quickly it is responding to the combination of TCH (Taxotere, Carbo platinum, and Herseptin. Then if for some reason it didn't shrink as fast as he wanted he can adjust the treatment on the final two doses. I think this is a brilliant idea. I like it better because we can see that the drugs are working. He explained a lot more about the 99.9 percent that is killed with the drug but the .1 percent that remains, multiplies so fast that it doesn't get rid of the cancer.

Brian and I met with Dr. Delozier, she is very nice. My results came back BRAC analysis. there was NO MUTATION DETECTED. I will explain more what this means later....

So now that I am definitely getting a mastectomy my surgery date is not set. The Dr. may recommend Chemotherapy to start now and the surgery to come later. We will no more next week.

Ok friends and family, help me out here. People keep telling me that I don't have to be so strong and I can lean on others. I don't know how to do that right now. At this point I am busy scheduling, managing and planning - thats where I am comfortable. My biggest concern is the kids. I want them to have fun, be distracted, see me but have so much going on that they are not all over me. I have already asked for help in that area. I am going to want to see my friends, laugh and relax when I am going through treatment. That is when I am thinking I will need you all the most. I imagine the crying will come a lot more than. I am thinking weekly lunches or something social will be good. Then when I am "in need" I am already seeing you on a regular basis and can lean on you. :-) Anyways those are my thoughts. I really have no idea what I need or will need. I am taking this all one day at a time. I love to hear your suggestions and helpful ideas. Thank you all!!!

Received a phone call from Dr. Rogers. She said she had read my MRI results compared them to my ultrasound and mammogram results and wanted to talk with me. She said "when was a good time." of course my answer was, "Now". :-) At least I am consistent. She said that the results came back and their is a mass that extends out of the tumor towards my nipple and they wanted to do another biopsy. The size of the total mass is now 9cm according to the MRI. UGGG Ok,,, so I explained that my original response was that I wanted to get a Mastectomy. I wanted to take the most drastic measures in order to avoid having potential issues in the future. I asked her if that was my plan; if I still needed to do another Biopsy. She said that it is good to have all the information. She was very nice and gentle with me. She went on to explain that in some cases if a person did a mastectomy and then they discovered that the extra mass was not cancerous a person might regret doing...

Dr. Stone is a Medical Doctor who opened up a Holistic practice. I went to her a few times for my migraine's a few years back. Now that I have insurance that she accepts (found that out yesterday)she can become my primary care Doctor. I went to see her yesterday. I told her what was happening and she asked if I was there to see how she can help me manage the treatment better. She asked for some details and said she would write up a list of some things that may help (then I can take it to my other Dr's for there support). She also recommended acupuncture throughout the next 12 months. So was very sweet and supportive. She asked how Brian was doing and how my kids were responding. She recommended I only respond to the kids questions. She said "don't keep secrets, secrets are bad for kids, don't hide anything but don't tell them more than they want to know." It is so nice when people agree with me. :-) LOL

I have updated the blog so that you do not have to blog in in order to see the information. www.tamaraglover.blogspot.com Thank you all for your support. I am not sure what you can do to best help me right now. I have moved through the Dr. appointment phase in 2 weeks which I guess is pretty quick. At this point surgery is June 28th. Chemotherapy will start towards the end of July. The most important thing for me right now is that the kids have a fun and interactive summer with their friends and family. They know I am having surgery but I havn't discussed anything more than that at this point. I plan to cut my hair real short after Brian and I get back from our trip. Hopefully then it won't be as much of a shock when it falls out. My babysitters are awesome and will be taking the kids to the zoo and water park etc. I would love to have the kids friends over if you can schedule some time for a visit or an outing. Please let me know via email if you want to schedule an ac...

I am headed to my MRI appointment... The meeting with Dr. Hadcock is this upcoming Monday afternoon. At that meeting we will review the MRI, genetic results and make our decision on how to move forward. Lumpectomy vs Mastectomy etc. I am taking Declan, Benjamin and EmmaLena (Isaac is in Washington with my mo) on a whirlwind Disneyland trip this weekend. We leave after Brian and I's school on Saturday and come back late Sunday night. That should be fun. Thanks for everything!!!

AHHHHH... Everything that can be scheduled, is scheduled. I feel much better. Brian has done a great job of getting all the insurance information in line. My Dr.'s have been amazing. Today I feel better. Friday on the other hand, was a bad day. :-( Once we get the Genetic information back and meet with Dr. Hadcock (quarterback Dr. at this point) on Monday we will have a plan of what surgery I will do and confirm the treatment needed. At this point, its Surgery, Chemotherapy and Radiation. (to me therapy doesn't belong in that word, therapy to me is something nice, like a massage or chat with a friend.) I will put more "details" for all of you who like details, up a little later. Tamara

wow - today is a rough day! I walked into the cancer center (Brian was on his way). My thoughts were "I don't belong here" I was younger then even the receptionist. :-( There was this really loud woman complaining about her life in the lobby. She was talking to another person who was waiting. I kept thinking "isn't there a counselor around here, this woman needs to talk". :-) Kind of funny now. I was also thinking about how corporate and sterile it felt. Maybe they should have theme days I thought. Or woman under 50 have their appointments on Thursday mornings. I keep thinking of the Red Hat Society. LOL Obviously I need to start planning some events or something fun. The cancer center made it all so real. It was a very difficult day.

Thank you all for your good wishes and offers to help. I am creating this page in an attempt to communicate with you all more clearly about whats happening. So here is the story. Last Wednesday June 2 I found a lump in my breast (lying down, more about that later) after Declan put his chin into my breast while we were cuddling and it hurt. I made an appointment with the my OBGYN for Thursday morning. Thursday morning EmmaLena and I went to the OBGYN for an evaluation. The nurse practitioner confirmed that there was a lump and it was irregular. She said it would take about a week to get me into the imaging center. The scheduler at the front desk got me in 15 minutes over at WISH (Womens Imaging Specialty Healthcare). I got a mammogram and a ultrasound. I met with Dr. Forsyth who confirmed that the lump was abnormal and an irregular shape. He was very kind and gentle and said there were just next steps we had to take because of the irregularities. He told me I needed a biopsy. ...