Good And Bad Days - Day 11
You know, everyone has good and bad days. With cancer, this can be even more exaggerated. So many times treatment affects your day: from your mood to your energy to your physical state. I have certainly learned why so many call it a rollercoaster.
I am not ashamed to say I broke down yesterday; crying for no real good reason. It's not like I had gotten any bad news ... I just wasn't having a good day and the treatment was more uncomfortable and tiring. I slept for 10 hours yesterday, but got up this morning feeling much better.
And today was better. I have just completed slightly more than half of my 21 treatments, finishing Day 11. Although I have some soreness and tenderness, especially in that one area, I am more comfortable this evening and as I am traveling to Houston for work tomorrow, done until Monday. So I have some slight skin changes that have appeared including a darkening of the skin pigment on the right side, as well as a few red blotches (like a minor rash). None of this is major or unexpected as side effects normally start showing on the outside between days 10 and 14. It is not of great concern and I will keep treating the skin with the arsenal of products I have for this occasion.
I will have one more 5-day stint of the regular full breast rads before they will reset the machine to do 5 "tumor blasts" in the area where the tumor was. Believe me, I am already counting down to the day I am finished with this treatment.
I also visited my new PCP today for the first time. Got some refills on my RX's and she is gonna get new blood work (including a tumor marker test), do a well-woman exam in June and she referred me to a hand surgeon to look at doing the surgery to remove a ganglion cyst on my right wrist. She wanted me to do a colonoscopy but I didn't exactly look thrilled with that prospect and asked if we could go the Cologuard route first. She was a bit annoyed but didn't push.
I'm not sure about the new doc ... wish I didn't have to leave my old doctors at Communicare but they aren't in my new insurance provider network. So what's next for my cancer treatments? Honestly, I don't know. I think they will look at blood tests, do several follow-up appointments, do a new mammogram in August-September and check for me to be ... the magic acronym is NED (No Evidence of Disease). I really would like to have a full body MRI but this is not standard protocol without indicators or further symptoms. My insurance company will probably not like it and may not pay for that. But what better way to get NED clearance one year out from my diagnosis?
There will be no chemo unless something else happens and there is cancer recurrence. All prayers, white light, and thoughts/energies should be addressed to the NED department. Pray for that and an easy time through the second half of the radiation treatments (which is generally tougher). But we can do this!
I am not ashamed to say I broke down yesterday; crying for no real good reason. It's not like I had gotten any bad news ... I just wasn't having a good day and the treatment was more uncomfortable and tiring. I slept for 10 hours yesterday, but got up this morning feeling much better.
And today was better. I have just completed slightly more than half of my 21 treatments, finishing Day 11. Although I have some soreness and tenderness, especially in that one area, I am more comfortable this evening and as I am traveling to Houston for work tomorrow, done until Monday. So I have some slight skin changes that have appeared including a darkening of the skin pigment on the right side, as well as a few red blotches (like a minor rash). None of this is major or unexpected as side effects normally start showing on the outside between days 10 and 14. It is not of great concern and I will keep treating the skin with the arsenal of products I have for this occasion.
I will have one more 5-day stint of the regular full breast rads before they will reset the machine to do 5 "tumor blasts" in the area where the tumor was. Believe me, I am already counting down to the day I am finished with this treatment.
I also visited my new PCP today for the first time. Got some refills on my RX's and she is gonna get new blood work (including a tumor marker test), do a well-woman exam in June and she referred me to a hand surgeon to look at doing the surgery to remove a ganglion cyst on my right wrist. She wanted me to do a colonoscopy but I didn't exactly look thrilled with that prospect and asked if we could go the Cologuard route first. She was a bit annoyed but didn't push.
I'm not sure about the new doc ... wish I didn't have to leave my old doctors at Communicare but they aren't in my new insurance provider network. So what's next for my cancer treatments? Honestly, I don't know. I think they will look at blood tests, do several follow-up appointments, do a new mammogram in August-September and check for me to be ... the magic acronym is NED (No Evidence of Disease). I really would like to have a full body MRI but this is not standard protocol without indicators or further symptoms. My insurance company will probably not like it and may not pay for that. But what better way to get NED clearance one year out from my diagnosis?
There will be no chemo unless something else happens and there is cancer recurrence. All prayers, white light, and thoughts/energies should be addressed to the NED department. Pray for that and an easy time through the second half of the radiation treatments (which is generally tougher). But we can do this!
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