I need your prayers....

You look beautiful, Lorrie! Wow!

Lookin' great Lorrie!

Lorrie, you are an inspiration and rock to lean on. You are looking great by the way!

You look great!

You guys touch my heart more then you will ever know...

Oh!! I hadn't seen your newest picture! Lorrie, you do look beautiful! And not only do you look beautiful, you ARE beautiful - inside and out. You really are an inspiration, and I'm thrilled to see you doing so well.

Carol wrote:

Lorrie, you are an inspiration and rock to lean on. You are looking great by the way!

Absolutely!

I didn't saw you last picture until today. You and your hubby looks great. We can easily notice you are deeply in love! Congrats. That's not easy to find nowadays.

Vanesa.

Vanesa wrote:

I didn't saw you last picture until today. You and your hubby looks great. We can easily notice you are deeply in love! Congrats. That's not easy to find nowadays.

Vanesa.

Vanesa, I reckon that's her doctor.

You looking amazing, Lorrie. I'm so happy for you.

alexczarn wrote:

Vanesa wrote:

I didn't saw you last picture until today. You and your hubby looks great. We can easily notice you are deeply in love! Congrats. That's not easy to find nowadays.

Vanesa.

Vanesa, I reckon that's her doctor.

But people was talking about her "hubby", so I tought it was him. Well, if it is not Lorrie's hubby, it's very god looking and seems to be very caring with his patient. My granny and auntie had cancer and never had a doctor so involved with them!

Vanesa.

Hi Gang,

Vanesa sweetie that is my doctor, but I can see where you would get confused. Dr. Zasuly is my only doctor so far that doesn't wear his Dr.'s lab coat. If you saw him in the hallway at the hospital you wouldn't know he's a doctor, and you are right I am blessed to have such caring doctors.

Today I had two more doctor appointments. The first was with my Radiation Oncologist. I had my CT scan and I am now sporting 4 more tattoos besides my butterfly. My radiation starts next Tuesday. Monday will be a "dry" run for me to get the procedure down in a timely fashion. They hurdle you in those rooms like cattle... each having maybe 15 minutes from start to finish. Anyways I am eager to get this process started, because the sooner I start the sooner it will be behind me. By the way I got compliments from two different ladies on how nice my hair is looking. They were both surprised at the growth since chemo.

My second appointment was with Dr. Zasuly again. He's pleased with how my skin is reacting with all it's gone through. I still have an extra bat wing near my right armpit. He says he can fix that during my implant surgery. I am such a challenge for him.. LOL

So life is moving right along here, warm weather is finally here and I got a slight sunburn yesterday when I was out mowing the lawn (hubbie's still laid up from his surgery). At work we started a "Biggest Loser" contest to see who can lose the most weight (body percentage) by the end of July. I hope my treatments don't slow me down. At least the contest will keep me motivated to walk if I feel tired.

Gotta run, love you guys
Lorrie

Glad things are going along well!

Glad to here things are going alright,

Now I understand why I took your doctor for your hubby. But I'm happy he is so caring, anyway.

I'm happy you are improving every day, and that you are sunburned. Yes. You've read properly. I know sunburning is terrible annoying, but I've read that if the sun tans your body, it's that cancer is not there. Maybe it's a popular belief, I don't know. But my mother, who studied medicine, always said that a sunburned or tanned person is most possibily healthy.


Vanesa.

I hope the radiation treatments go as smoothly as everything as has so far for you, Lorrie. Kelsey and I went to one of Tim's radiation appointments with him and they gave us a "tour" showing us the radiation room and equipment they use, and showing us the monitors they look through while patients get their treatment to keep an eye on them. You continue to be in my prayers.

Just a quick update. This week I start my radiation appointments. Today was what was called a "dry run". They lined up the laser beam with my tattoos and took x-rays (film) to see things from the lasers point of view. Dr. Rohde will read them this afternoon and my first treatment will be at 12:30 tomorrow. It's quite the system they have there, I don't even have to stop at the appointment desk in front. I can walk through the main doors, past the exam rooms and back to the changing area. Once I'm dressed in one of those hot sexy hospital gowns, there is a waiting room right there where they will then come to retrieve me on my scheduled time. I like this already... they got warm chocolate chip cookies, I'm gonna gain 10 pounds before my six weeks are over.

Today's total procedure including driving time took exactly 1 hour. Geesh I sure hope that schedule holds true to pace as I am running on my lunch hour and that would work out pretty darn slick.

Thanks for being such great friend,
Lorrie

Oh the memories of radiation treatments....I think my drive to the clinic took longer than the actual treatments...had to stop treatments in the middle of the first week and stay off for 4-5 days....the treatments were too toxic for me and later found out if they had continued that one area,it would've killed me. This was after the radiologist said my body shouldn't be doing that....all the books said that...I told him, "My body hasn't read your books...."

Anyway...hope all continues to go well with all your treatments.

I Love Dean wrote:

I like this already... they got warm chocolate chip cookies, I'm gonna gain 10 pounds before my six weeks are over.

Gotta love the added bonus! I'll be praying for you Lorrie....keep us posted!

Keep praying, Lorrie! You are such an example for all of us!

Vanesa.

Hi Prairie family,

Wow where has the time gone? Sorry I haven't been here to update sooner but we went through some computer changes here at work and I lost my Little House connection. But through some trickery I was able to email myself the link from home and voila I'm back.

Since my last post so much has happened. Today was my last radiation treatment. Over the past six and a half weeks I've been going up to the clinic daily (5 times a week) for my daily dose. As of two weeks ago I was really sailing through all this with minimal burning. Around treatment 22 (of 33) it all started going down hill. Now that treatment is finished the entire left side of my chest is burnt redder than a lobster. I wasn't sure if they would allow me to finish my final three treatments right away, but we plugged on. I think because I wasn't in any pain allowed me to continue. I was blistering and peeling though..

This past week consisted of "booster doses". Typically what this is, is they give you boost doses only in the area of the breast that the tumor was removed. I am currently sporting a very red glow along my incision seams but so far all is good. Today was an emotional day for me too... the radiation girls whom I've gotten to know quite well over the past six weeks all gave me congratulatory hugs. Finally... finally... finally I am starting to get my life back. My doctor visits should now be every couple of months. Next up for me is hormone therapy, I have a mid July appointment with my oncologist. She will put me on a pill (tamoxifen) that will help block my estrogen, since my tumor was ER+ (estrogen receptor positive) this pill will block those cells from using my estrogen as long as I am on that pill (5 years).

In about 3-6 months I can then have my final surgery and exchange my tissue expanders for my saline implants. I still can't believe my treatments are now all finally behind me. It looked like such a long road so many months ago...

I hope everyone is having a fantastic summer so far... Stay safe this holiday weekend.
Hugs to all and thank you so much for the love and support you've given me on this crazy wild journey called life.

Love ya guys,
Lorrie

Congratulations, Lorrie! I know your life has been such a whirlwind of treatments since your diagnosis. It sure will be nice to be able to get back on a normal routine and fill your free time with things you've been wanting to do. I know Tim enjoyed that. I'm so happy for you,Lorrie! Thanks for updating.

Congratulations Lorrie!

YAY LORRIE!!!! You're going from Booster Doses to Boobster Doses!!!