I need to rewind a bit since I forgot to post on Wednesday, after I saw the gyno surgeon. She's on board with the remove-everything-in-one-go plan and is going to work on scheduling the surgery this week with Dr. C, and we're aiming to do it in the third or fourth week of January. She wants me to do a pelvic ultrasound at some point in the next month just so she has a preview of what we're getting into. Because of the cancer they do this "washing" thing while they're in there, look for other signs of tumors, growths, random weirdness. I've got weirdness galore because of 20 years of Polcystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). The pelvic ultrasound isn't painful at all, but is really uncomfortable while they do it, because they make you drink a ton of water and then wait an hour and you need to pee BADLY the entire time, and they're pressing on your abdomen while you're trying not to let go. It's been a few years since I had one, and the last time I hadn't recently been suffering from stress incontinence. In the larger scheme of things, this is extremely small potatoes, but I'm not looking forward to it.
The days are really blurring together for me now, so my holiday weekend was pretty much like any other day except there was excellent turkey and stuffing with friends one night. Friday we stayed home. Saturday I was feeling pretty good so I went out for breakfast and grocery shopping. Last night we had a friend over for dinner and watched the Doctor Who anniversary thing.
It was nice to have a relatively slow week, because this week is busy again. This morning I had to go stand in line at the DMV to renew my disabled parking placard. Tomorrow I have to go do my bloodwork. Wednesday is infusion day. Thursday I'm supposed to be going to UCSF to meet with the surgeon that does DIEP flaps (they haven't confirmed yet) and then back to my oncologist for neulasta. Friday I get to sleep.
Symptoms have been funny - fairly mild but not what I expected. I never got the fabled red pee, although it does smell noticeably strange. The nausea has been coming and going but I only dry heaved once. I'm now carrying both zofran and compazine with me at all times. I'll be taking them at regular intervals for the first 72 hours post infusion, and then using them as I need them throughout the week. This week things that set me off were making cranberry sauce (even though it smelled good), and chinese food we had last night. It's not bad, it's like that first wave of seasickness so far. I feel it, I sit down with a ginger ale and take a pill, and its usually gone within 30 minutes or so. My general appetite seems to be fine, and I no longer have problems with greens (yay salad!).
I'm finding that this whole process is turning me into a hypochondriac. I now question every random weird feeling in my body. Last week on Wednesday and Thursday I had something going on in my lower back. So is it back pain from sitting on my ass all day, every day, for months now with no real exercise? Or have I done something horrible to my kidneys? I don't know. It's fine now. I'll mention it to the doc on Wednesday when I get my infusion. The thing is that I can't really tell when I'm being unreasonable - I thought the level of exhaustion I was feeling at the end of the taxol was to be expected, so I didn't complain and wouldn't have gone to the E.R. about it. So now I'm a little paranoid. But I'm right to be paranoid. But I don't really know about which things.
Something that is amusing me, but also a little annoying - the month off between taxol and AC gave my hair follicles enough time to wake up and grow a little bit. My scalp looks darker and feels kind of velvety. (Bob cannot stop petting it, and it's driving me bonkers.) But it will probably all fall out again starting next week. In the mean time, My eyebrows and lashes stayed put for most of the taxol run, but then started falling out a couple of weeks ago. In the last couple of days what was left seems to have spontaneously decided to jump out of my face. All afternoon for the last several days I've had the sensation of bugs crawling around on my cheeks, and it's more eyebrows gone.
The days are really blurring together for me now, so my holiday weekend was pretty much like any other day except there was excellent turkey and stuffing with friends one night. Friday we stayed home. Saturday I was feeling pretty good so I went out for breakfast and grocery shopping. Last night we had a friend over for dinner and watched the Doctor Who anniversary thing.
It was nice to have a relatively slow week, because this week is busy again. This morning I had to go stand in line at the DMV to renew my disabled parking placard. Tomorrow I have to go do my bloodwork. Wednesday is infusion day. Thursday I'm supposed to be going to UCSF to meet with the surgeon that does DIEP flaps (they haven't confirmed yet) and then back to my oncologist for neulasta. Friday I get to sleep.
Symptoms have been funny - fairly mild but not what I expected. I never got the fabled red pee, although it does smell noticeably strange. The nausea has been coming and going but I only dry heaved once. I'm now carrying both zofran and compazine with me at all times. I'll be taking them at regular intervals for the first 72 hours post infusion, and then using them as I need them throughout the week. This week things that set me off were making cranberry sauce (even though it smelled good), and chinese food we had last night. It's not bad, it's like that first wave of seasickness so far. I feel it, I sit down with a ginger ale and take a pill, and its usually gone within 30 minutes or so. My general appetite seems to be fine, and I no longer have problems with greens (yay salad!).
I'm finding that this whole process is turning me into a hypochondriac. I now question every random weird feeling in my body. Last week on Wednesday and Thursday I had something going on in my lower back. So is it back pain from sitting on my ass all day, every day, for months now with no real exercise? Or have I done something horrible to my kidneys? I don't know. It's fine now. I'll mention it to the doc on Wednesday when I get my infusion. The thing is that I can't really tell when I'm being unreasonable - I thought the level of exhaustion I was feeling at the end of the taxol was to be expected, so I didn't complain and wouldn't have gone to the E.R. about it. So now I'm a little paranoid. But I'm right to be paranoid. But I don't really know about which things.
Something that is amusing me, but also a little annoying - the month off between taxol and AC gave my hair follicles enough time to wake up and grow a little bit. My scalp looks darker and feels kind of velvety. (Bob cannot stop petting it, and it's driving me bonkers.) But it will probably all fall out again starting next week. In the mean time, My eyebrows and lashes stayed put for most of the taxol run, but then started falling out a couple of weeks ago. In the last couple of days what was left seems to have spontaneously decided to jump out of my face. All afternoon for the last several days I've had the sensation of bugs crawling around on my cheeks, and it's more eyebrows gone.
Did you ever get a result on the lung biopsy?
ReplyDelete-s
Not a big enough sample. :(
DeleteThey are pretty convinced it's not cancer. Gonna let it sit and see if it's grown again in my post-op PET scans and decide then.