I think the clot in my arm finally broke up yesterday - this morning was the first morning that I woke up without a swollen hand, and I can type comfortably and make a fist again. My feet and lower legs have also been massively swollen (from all the IV fluid and lack of movement) since I got home from the hospital the last time. They are starting to shrink down. According to the scale at the surgeon's office I lost 11 pounds between Monday and Friday. Pretty sure it was all water. Gross.
I had my followup with the gyno surgeon on Wednesday. Everything there looks good and is healing right. We started talking about HRT and how instant menopause could be contributing to my mental state. She put me on an extremely low dose birth control pill that will supply estrogen and progesterone, which should help even things out a bit. I'll try this for two months and then we'll reassess.
The shrink referral finally came through on Friday but he can't see me until the 26th or so. In the mean time I had a long talk with my sister (both a cancer survivor and a psychologist) about meds and I realized that I've been doing something kind of stupid - I've had a prescription for Ativan for months now, and have been using it to help with sleep and stressful situations during the day up until the surgery. I stopped it cold turkey because I didn't want to mix it with percocet. But now that I've stopped taking the percocet during the day there's no reason not to take the Ativan when I'm feeling upset, so I'm doing that again. It's helping a little - less anxiety, more sleep. Both things I need. I'm nowhere near out of the woods yet, but it's a little better.
This week I've got bloodwork and a progress check with the surgeon on Tuesday and then a followup with the oncologist on Wednesday. I suspect the oncology followup is going to pretty much be about setting up another checkin in another two weeks to see if I'm healed enough to start chemo again. Depending on the bloodwork, she may also order another transfusion. I hope not.
I had my followup with the gyno surgeon on Wednesday. Everything there looks good and is healing right. We started talking about HRT and how instant menopause could be contributing to my mental state. She put me on an extremely low dose birth control pill that will supply estrogen and progesterone, which should help even things out a bit. I'll try this for two months and then we'll reassess.
The shrink referral finally came through on Friday but he can't see me until the 26th or so. In the mean time I had a long talk with my sister (both a cancer survivor and a psychologist) about meds and I realized that I've been doing something kind of stupid - I've had a prescription for Ativan for months now, and have been using it to help with sleep and stressful situations during the day up until the surgery. I stopped it cold turkey because I didn't want to mix it with percocet. But now that I've stopped taking the percocet during the day there's no reason not to take the Ativan when I'm feeling upset, so I'm doing that again. It's helping a little - less anxiety, more sleep. Both things I need. I'm nowhere near out of the woods yet, but it's a little better.
This week I've got bloodwork and a progress check with the surgeon on Tuesday and then a followup with the oncologist on Wednesday. I suspect the oncology followup is going to pretty much be about setting up another checkin in another two weeks to see if I'm healed enough to start chemo again. Depending on the bloodwork, she may also order another transfusion. I hope not.
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