Do you see that…..you see those words “IN REMISSION”….how freakin’ awesome is that! It’s the first time they added that to my “After-Visit Summary”
Today was my 15 month routine check with my oncologist. Always pleasant to see him and talk cancer w/o feeling weird. Someone that understands and listens to every concern w/o even batting an eye. No sympathy, no worried looks, just medical answers that I need to hear! I went into this appointment this afternoon secretly EXTREMELY worried. I have been feeling VERY tired lately, have some unusual back pain, stiff neck pain at least once a week for the past 2 months, I found little eczema blisters on one of my fingers (which, let me show you all what happened to my hands last time I noticed blisters on my hands…
Yes those are my nails FALLING OFF due to excessive dry skin back in 2009…it was horrible!! After many many appointments with the dermatologist, she came to the conclusion that I have severe eczema (which is excessive dry skin) and its triggered when my immune system is threatened! This eczema started when I was pregnant with Owen…got worse and worse and that’s actually what brought me to the doctors office when I had cancer, not the lump in my neck! haha Go figure! And for your info…the CHEMO cleared my hands up..Thank God b/c THAT was more miserable than losing my hair…seriously!
So when I saw the little blisters on my finger a few weeks ago, I kind of started to panic BUT the weather has been changing so much so thought it MUST be that. I didn’t contact Dr. Chan since I knew I had my 3 month check-up coming up. Tuesday this week I went to get my routine labs done…brought Owen along, since I was already going there, to get his 2 year check up labs done as well…my poor little dude was NOT happy about getting blood tests done. But I felt good…2 birds with 1 stone!
He screamed and cried, but helped me count to 10 until the technician was finished. After she was all done Owen said “All done” and I told him yes your ALL done. Then he said sooo excitedly “I DID IT!” heehee. Such a cutie!
My lab work is always done STAT, meaning no line or waiting and I get the results sent to my email via kp.org within an hour. When I got home I thought I’d take a glimpse at the lab results since I was feeling nervous. I’m not sure if I thought I’d be able to see something that would suggest that my cancer is back or even worse, I have a new type of cancer some where else…like the email would say “YOU HAVE CANCER”…I’m not sure what I was looking for!! haha So I looked at the tests, and compared these test results with the tests from the past 20 months…the electrolyte panel, normal. Creatinine and Creatinine Clearance, normal. Blood urea nitrogen, normal. LIVER FUNCTION PANEL, normal. But when I got to the Lactic Acid Dehydrogenase I noticed my levels were very high (for me). In August 2009, when I was diagnosed, my level was 133. Since then it has steadily dropped, and 3 months ago at my 1 year check-up it was 110. THIS time my LDH level was 147. So I was naturally worried. BUT Dr. Chan, my oncologist didn’t seem bothered by it today when I brought it up to him. He reassured me that that test can pick up anything, a cold, infection, anything. SO I don’t know…maybe I have a cold and think its just my allergies?!? I mentioned the tiredness and he wants to get a thyroid screening done for my next appointment, which he pushed to 4 rather than 3 months away! Which is a good thing…spreading out the time between appointments means my life is getting healthier and healthier!
I left the appointment happy, we discussed some research about chemo patients and weight issues and it made me feel good that I’m busting my a** working out lately and am not losing any weight or inches like I would have pre-chemo! Just ANOTHER thing that cancer has made a little bit more difficult for me…difficult, but definitely not impossible!!
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