By Tammy Gunn
This is part 2 of Tammy’s story. Part 1 can be found here. Tammy Gunn, an original prairie girl, grew up in Saskatchewan and for the last decade plus has been a Zumba fitness instructor working with youth and people of all abilities in the Greater Toronto Area. She currently lives with her husband Nino and their toy schnauzer Senna. Tammy has two stepdaughters living out West that she loves like her own! Tammy has a gift for finding the humour in any situation, including a cancer diagnosis. Her passion is to share her personal journey and to be the trusted tour guide for all of life’s unpredictable adventures that get thrown our way.
Copies of her book Dancing Through Diagnosis – Navigating Breast Cancer; the good, bad, and surprisingly funny can be purchased through her website www.tammygunn.com
Chapter 14
The Other Man in My Life
Of course it is Nino first; my husband, my soulmate. He was my caregiver through all of my treatment taking me to the hospital and waiting outside while I had treatment due to Covid restrictions. He was my personal chef and the one who supported me to calm the anxiety. If there was an award for an Incredible Spouse who gets the "For Better or Worse, in Sickness and In Health" promise in our vows, Nino would win it, but this chapter is not about him...
There was a total of three oncologists from different areas of care that I would meet along the way. First was my surgical oncologist, dealing with my surgery. The medical oncologist deals with everything to do with my medication and chemotherapy treatments and is the one that I stay in touch with the most even after my treatment. And my radiation oncologist, who, as I am sure you guessed it deals with my radiation sessions after the chemotherapy and surgery. Then there is my plastic surgeon!
The beginnings of a joke. Three oncologists and a plastic surgeon go into a bar...
If you have a good joke for this scenario, I would love to hear it. But this is the thought that keeps popping into my head every time I am told about my surgical team.
Back to the meeting.... My medical oncologist is great! He is highly informative and allowed me to have Nino there for my first appointment. That gets you a gold star from me during this COVID time! Being that Princess Margaret Hospital is also a teaching hospital, this appointment was my first introduction to two other doctors-in-training observing my oncologist’s interaction with me. My oncologist was always respectful to ask me first if I was okay with the other doctors being in the room before he began. I didn’t mind and over time I got pretty used to there being multiple people in the room masked up while I had my boobs out. It was all for the greater good of training new doctors!
“Tammy, the cancer you have in your right breast is large. It is hormonally driven, and we need to decrease the size of your tumour before we remove it,” he states point blank.
“Awesome, when can we get started?” I am so excited to finally have a plan coming together. Remember, the surgical nurse told me I would live, so now SHOW ME HOW TO LIVE!!!
“Okay, well we need to talk a bit about chemotherapy, so you are clear about all the side effects and what to expect,” he continues.
“Great. What do I need to know?”
The next few sentences he threw at me seemed normal. Like taking any kind of medication may have those side effects. Nausea, headaches, and exhaustion. No big deal. I expected this.
“And you need to know that chemotherapy can cause leukemia down the road.”
“What the F@#K?! Are you serious? That seems rather counterintuitive!” I say, suddenly mad about this whole process.
“Well, yes, it does. But it is the buildup of chemotherapy in your body that can have this happen. It all depends on how your body handles the chemo.”
“Okay.” After his comment I am pretty sure that I missed most of what was being said and was happy Nino was there to hear everything else.
Then I am back as he speaks about hair loss. The chemo (The Red Devil) that I was being put on would most certainly have me lose my hair. It was inevitable.
This side effect I came prepared for having done my research ahead of time.
“Can I do cold capping? Is it offered here?” I ask immediately.
“Oh! You know of cold capping. Not many do! Yes, we work with a company called Paxman Scalp Cooling. I can give you the information. You should know this is not covered by OHIP, but you can work with them to come up with a payment plan.”
“Great! Thanks. I will want to do this for sure.” I feel like I won a trophy! Or at least a participation ribbon! I was actively now a part of my treatment and would sort this out.
Yay me!
I missed everything else that was said until we were wrapping up. I am sure it wasn’t all that important, or possibly it was but Nino could fill me in later.
“Okay, when do you want to get started with chemo?”
“Can we start this week?”
“How about next week? That way we have time to finish up some preliminary tests we need done before you start.”
“Sure, perfect. The sooner the better.” I was feeling relieved we could get started soon.
“Great. We have some paperwork you need to complete and there are some prescription medications you will need to take while you are going through the treatment. They are a little pricey and you can pick them up at our pharmacy downstairs. It will just be easier that way. I have sent a referral for bloodwork down to our lab as well so please stop there on your way to the pharmacy.”
“Okay. Nino, will you go to the pharmacy while I go for the bloodwork. And then I will meet you there when I am done?”
“Sure, I can do that.” Nino is happy to be a part of the process too.
As we said goodbye to the doctor and his residents, I was so happy we had a plan! Everything was moving forward, and I was empowered. We were empowered!!
There is no better feeling when you are going through a disease like this than to feel empowered. I had everything under control. I was educated, I’d won my first blue ribbon of knowledge and now just some bloodwork and to pick up the prescriptions. What could go wrong?
A lot. A lot could go wrong.
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