November 11, 2008,

I amble along at the pace of someone 87 instead of 57. My "walker" is my husband. I am stooped because standing up straight is painful causing the lower incision lines to stretch.
We are headed into the Cancer center to see my oncologist, Dr. Kato. We seem to live for these appointments to get the news of progress or next steps.

I stop to use the restroom but lack the strength to open the door so Shoyei gets it for me. Every movement is pathetically slow which is such an irritance for this multi-tasker.

The purpose of this visit is to determine whether or not I can afford to wait two months before resuming chemo. Shoyei carefully unwraps his handiwork. I watch Dr. Kato. He stands with his left arm crossing his body and his right hand over his mouth. He shakes his head and closes his eyes. Shoyei redresses me. "I'll be very honest," Dr. Kato begins. "In all my years (my guess is he's 50 something) "I've never seen anything like this." He acknowledges the obvious burns which Dr. Corn (the perpetrator of this crime) told Shoyei was "thin skin". Dr. Kato says that he absolutely will not administer chemo until this has healed. He also said "no wonder you're still experiencing so much pain, that's a terrible wound".

I asked him, "So Dr. Kato, do you feel that delaying my chemo in anyway compromises my treatment?" Absolutley not he says.

So I guess my worst case scenario in this process is it could take 4 to 8 months longer than I'd planned. Oh well, I am expecting my mastectomy to be fully healed in the 6 to 8 weeks.