"X" marks the spot.

By TEAM ANISSA

October 1^st, 2014

WEEK 11 – PHase II

October 1, 2014

Yesterday was Anissa’s last day at work. Today is the day before her surgery. The nerves and tension are beginning to show.

Whenever we can, we’ll both take the kids to school. This was one of those times. We thought it would be a quick up and back, but with surgery only a day away Anissa was getting stopped by friends and teachers, left and right wanting to share their love and support. Just another incredible reminder of how fortunate she is to have this village behind her and that no one fights this alone.

Later this day Anissa was scheduled for a sentinel lymph node mapping procedure. This allows Dr. Chang on the day of surgery to see exactly where Anissa’s sentinel lymph node is in order to make retrieving it for removal that much easier. The retrieval is done in order to see if any cancer cells have escaped the original tumor and spread to nearby lymph nodes located in her armpit.

The first part of this process involves her being injected with a radioactive dye. After circulating through her system for a couple of hours the dye shows exactly where the sentinel lymph node is.

With two hours of “nothing to do” Anissa and I walked from towards Westwood village to find something to eat. We settled on CPK. For the past 10 weeks Anissa and I have eating only plant based foods and nothing processed. We’ve really watched the calories and have been exercising regularly. Today, however, all bets were off.

We sat and enjoyed our together time and shared a ridiculously high calorie artichoke & spinach dip. Our mini date with a side of radiation involved discussing what still needed to be done in preparation for surgery tomorrow and CPK’s need to update their brand as well as the interior restaurant design. (CPK, if you’re reading this, get on it.)

The pizza I ordered was a little too well done for the chef’s liking. Even though they brought me a replacement the server asked if we wanted the overcooked one too. (which really wasn’t that overcooked). Anissa remained true to form even with the weight of everything going on around her and says to the server, “well take it.” She then looked at me, “we’ll find a homeless person to give it to on the way back to UCLA”. This is just one of the reasons I married her. She is selfless in every way and continues to be. We finished lunch, finalized our plan of attack for the big day tomorrow. Reviewed the strategy for kid coverage – answered a few emails – then walked back to the medical center.

Once back at UCLA the mapping of the lymph node began. Similar to an MRI machine – Anissa would lay flat on her back, as still as can be, for 5 minutes. Then, on her side for 5 minutes. It was pretty fascinating to see how this is done… once it was located, the technician marks the spot with sharpie in the form of a big ol’ “X”.

Way too early.

That same morning on the way to UCLA for the Sentinel lymph node mapping we got a call from the admissions department at UCLA to review and confirm all the details for Anissa’s surgery.

Our expected arrival time was now 4:45am. No – that’s not a typo – FOUR-FORTY-FIVE-AY-EM.

For some reason we had it in our heads that we needed to be there at 5:30am. We were just getting used to that idea. But 45 minutes earlier? To Anissa, this was like moving a movie release date up at the last minute.

We finished up at UCLA a little earlier than anticipated allowing us to get home around the same time as the kids did from school. I had a rather large “to do” list that I was hell bent on sticking to and getting through, but Anissa and Isabella would have other plans for me.

Bella’s emotions and nerves were running a bit hight and because of that nothing went as planned that afternoon. In hindsight, it went exactly as it needed to. Anissa spent the afternoon with her mom, and one of her best friends while watching Bella at her softball practice. They headed out to dinner after practice as Anissa was reaching the point when she would be able to eat anymore.

I managed to get the needed things done – but after all was said and done and the bags were packed, the kids settled, and we were prepped and ready to go the next morning – Anissa and I finally drifted off to bed at 1:15am. Just two and a half hours before we needed to get up to get ready for the hospital.

It took me a while to finally fall asleep. Anissa, not so much. In addition to running through the checklist for tomorrow’s surgery in my head, I had a storyboard of memories from the past 10 weeks showing with Anissa as the main character and all that she had been through at the center of the plot… only I don’t know if there’s a plot twist.