Just had a nice conversation with Anne, who was preparing dinner and getting ready to go out for the evening, but she had time to recap the appointments they had Friday in Burlington. And she sounded great!
Elise Everett, MD
They met with the surgeon first, and really liked her. Elise Everett. She recommended that we do a few rounds of chemo before surgery, that her experience shows that people do better after surgery if the chemo has had a chance to decrease the cancer cells first. In the past, surgery went first, but it wasn’t always a good result. So that is the plan we’re going with. May 8th is the tentative surgery date, which will have 3 rounds of chemo under the belt beforehand.
Then they went to the wig store in Burlington, known for being particularly helpful for wigs due to chemo. Again, just another great experience! The owner of the store was kind and helpful and full of information and suggestions for wigs. Some were humorous, making her head look too big for her body (I wonder if she tried on any Dolly Parton wigs, just for fun…), but there were a few the looked okay. Many insurance companies cover this cost, but not Medicare. So the cost was going to be about $500, plus tax. Yikes!
Before they could come to any conclusions, they had to go back to the hospital for Tammi’s “tap” (to remove the liquid that gathers in her abdomen). There seems to have been a pocket of liquid that was behind something else and the tube was getting crimped (the details are vague), but they brought in the Big Guns and managed to remove 1.7 liters this time! That’s a huge amount! Tammi feels so much better when that liquid is gone.
Feeling lighter and chipper, they headed out again when the wig lady called to say she’d found some wigs in the back of her shop, some that had been returned from previous clients after they were no longer needed, and did Tam want to look at those? They did. One of those was better than any of the new ones they’d tried earlier, so they decided to buy that one. The price? FREE!
You all know what she’s like when she’s walking on air! Can you imagine her, newly 1.7 liters lighter, and fresh with new FREE wig, walking down the street? Glowing! For a day that should have wiped her out completely, she came home flying.
P.S. Tammi reads the comments here every day. Feel free to send her emails as well, but comments are always welcome. (The rules are that the first comment has to be “approved” but once I do that, you’re free to comment at will.) Enjoy!
So I want to know who is in the picture with Tammi. They definitely look related!
That’s niece #3, Sarahjoy! And that day we turned up dressed like the Bobsey Twins….go figure. At the time I was traveling in Michigan with my high school girlfriends and when SJ turned up also dressed in pink there were a lot of comments and stares.
Got to hand it to Beth! She turns a phone conversation with us into words that completely capture what we’ve said. Her remarks are the real deal. Just for the hoot of it, I’ve just sent her an array of photos taken while I was trying on those wigs. The Peanut Gallery (Craig and Ginny Spadaccini) kept up quite a commentary while they snapped photos. I had some choice comments of my own (mainly concerning WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON WITH MY NECK SKIN? I’ve suddenly got major turkey skin. Vanity, vanity…thy name is woman.)
LOL. Yep, in fact I think they look eerily similar in this photo. That is Sarahjoy, affectionately referred to as Niece #3.
i liked the wig you labeled as “too much hair” but a free wig is even better especially if they are going to cost half a boat unit for a brand new one! i wish i had been there for the wig-trying to contribute to the choice comments. maybe you should have taken your doc with you – she doesn’t seem to have too much hair herself!