Yet More Human Maintenance (with a Nod to Rafia)

The past couple of weeks have again been very busy with medical stuff. On Friday a week ago (9/17), I had my first posttreatment bone and CT scans done. I arrived at the hospital at 8:30 when they asked me to, and even though I'm 47 and have not menstruated since November 2009 (because of my treatment pushing me into an early menopause), they felt they had to give me a pregnancy test. So that took about an hour, after a half hour to get registered. At 10, they gave me the shot with the radioactive stuff for the bone scan, which had to be in my body for two hours before they could do the scan. So sat and waited. Again. I got the bone scan, which takes about 45 minutes and goes from head to toe and is actually pretty relaxing. Around 1 -- and remember, I had to fast for all this, so I've had NOTHING to eat, just some water -- the radiology guy handed me over to the CT guy, who gave me about 1.5 liters of water that he put something in (I thought he said steroids?), and he told me I had to drink it all down and wait an hour and a half before I could have the CT scan because all this stuff had to reach my lower intestines. So I sat and waited. Again. And went to the bathroom. A lot. I had the CT scan, which took only about 5 minutes and was finally out of there at around 3:30, feeling rather ill from lack of food and whatever was in that water. I came home, had a quick snack, and laid down for a bit before having some lovely soup that Kyle made for dinner.

On Monday, I saw my primary care physician for my yearly exam/checkup. Here's what she had to say:

1. My bloodwork looked really good. Cholesterol, liver and kidney function, counts -- all were great. Except my thyroid numbers. Evidently, it's not uncommon for women going through menopause to lose thyroid function to some extent. My numbers were very low. So now I'm on something called Armour. Hopefully, it will help my thyroid function and increase my metabolism, giving me more energy and helping me to lose weight.
2. To prevent recurrence of my cancer, I need to eat 7-9 servings of fruits and veggies a day. That's like four cups. I'm supposed to stay away from bananas, guava, mangos, and a couple of others because they have too much sugar. Really good for me are the following (all must be organic): any kind of berries, cruciferous veggies, greens, apples, citrus fruit, something called broccosprouts (which I have yet to find), and others. Also good are pumpkin seeds and other nuts and grains. I need to limit my intake of refined sugars and red meat. So basically, it's a sensible diet. I'm enjoying it so far.
3. To reduce inflammation of my mucous membranes in certain parts of my body, and to stabilize my hormones a bit, I'll be getting a vaginal cream with minute traces of estradiol and testosterone. I know. Seems weird, but I'm told it works. I was supposed to do this saliva test that costs $150 and that takes A LOT of saliva as a baseline test for my hormone levels. See below for my decision on that.
4. Also to help prevent recurrence of my cancer, she put me on a fish oil supplement and doubled my intake of vitamin D (to 2000 IU per day).

Just this past Friday, I saw Dr. Krekow for the first time in three months. I actually became more than a bit annoyed, much as I like her, since she kept me waiting almost an hour and a half. And I had a morning appointment! Grrrr. I just sat there and watched the minutes tick away and got more and more steamed. I mean, this is my vacation time I'm using now since I'm out of sick time again! Anyway, once she finally arrived we had a nice chat. Here's what she had to say:

1. My chances of a complete cure (i.e., the cancer NEVER returns) are 60%-75%. I thought I remembered her saying that from the very beginning, but I wasn't sure, so I asked her again.
2. That said, every year that goes by with no cancer means the likelihood of it coming back decreases.
3. With the "personality" of the type of cancer I have, she will not say that I'm "cured" at five years, or even ten years. She's seen this type come back as late as 15-18 years after initial diagnosis, so she said she would not use the word "cure" until after 20 years. That means I will not be able to breathe easily and forget this nightmare until/if I reach 67.
4. She said that my numbers look really good, and that I look very healthy. She also thought that I'm healing quite well from the implant surgery.
5. My bone and CT scans looked great overall except for one very small spot on my fourth rib on the left side, basically directly under my mastectomy incision, where the rib joins the sternum. She said that the spot is probably some inflammation from radiation (I also have some areas of my left lung that are inflamed), but she ordered a series of chest x-rays just to rule out the very slight chance that it's metastasis, which I had done on Friday afternoon. I should have results from those tomorrow or Tuesday.
6. I asked her about the saliva test and whether it would be all that much more accurate than blood levels. I really didn't want to do it because (a) it's very expensive and (be) it would be a huge pain in the butt to spit in this vial for about an hour to give them enough saliva for the test. Dr. Krekow said that blood levels would be accurate, so she ordered those tests.
7. I will stay on Tamoxifen for probably another two years and then switch to Femara. It is more effective at reducing the chance of recurrence, but I cannot take it until my ovaries are completely shut down.

That's about it for now. Everything at work is going well, just very busy with the beginning of the semester. We've had one of our best friends, Mike Larson, visiting since Friday night and have had a blast with him as we always do. He will head out on Tuesday to the deep south of Texas to visit his grandma for half a week. I hope all is well with you. Peace, Jody