October Update

The last 2 weeks have been extra rough. This weekend was really bad, so much that I was so sick we missed all our weekend events.

I had issues with my back that finally warranted heavy pain meds. I got into a hot bath and let the jets just kind of beat on me. It was extra good that Preston was able to be home with us all day on Sat because trying to dry off/clean up, I slipped and fell right back into the tub....sigh....I have spent most of the last few days on pretty heavy pain meds. I am so thankful Preston was home and I was just able to let myself be drugged. He was extra worried enough to send a note off to the dr office to let them know I was not doing so good.

Yesterday I had a couple of "check up" appts - things mostly went well...

I was able to talk with one of my specialists about oncology surgical options. I was much relieved after talking with her. Initial conversations led me to believe surgery would be like C-sec as far as surgery and recovery. I was so thankful to learn that it really would be more simple than that, including maybe a couple days in the hospital and up and around within a week (vs being down 6 weeks). It will be big part of discussion with the oncology team next week.

The other appt was with the oncology nutritionist, and the oncology MA. Found out that the pain med that I used over the weekend is slowly being phased out. It has been linked to high risk of seizures, and esp high risk since I went through that before during treatment. It is being taken away/thrown away. I expressed my concern of that leaving only 2 pain meds on my ok list, even for surgeries. She was adamant that the other one must be taken away. The other big info she shared was a plan to go forward with more specific imaging for my back concerns. I will be scheduled for a dye MRI and a special contrast CT. They are looking for something more than showed up on my images from April. Thankfully one of the nurses is totally on top of We talked about several other things, but unfortunately my brain didnt retain anything except about the pain med. Hopefully I will remember soon. 

Some extra information that I have found out today. The dr office did call to confirm what I suspected was happening over the weekend - UTI - so adding ANOTHER med to my revolving pharmacy...sheesh. Also was given some random family genetic info today. When I went through cancer treatment the 1st time I pretty much crashed and burned and I experienced some severe seizures. Never found a cause for those. After that happened I have had hand tremors for all these years. With starting cancer treatment again, and again experiencing severe side effects, the trembling has increased, esp in my left hand. I have been put on a special med to try to tame the tremors and also my heart rate that seems to want to skyrocket all on its own. Found out today it is not just me on treatment - it is actually a hereditary trait that goes back at least 1, and maybe more generations. Wont my drs be happy to hear that it isnt something that they can fix, but hopefully at least keep tamed. I am told to expect this to get worse as I get older too. Loverly.

I had a nice chat with the nutrition specialist. We discussed trying to take and look at a whole picture, vs only focusing on diet and weight - both of which are a huge struggle. I felt more encouraged and will be happy to "throw away" my scale for awhile. Will just keep trying to make healthy choices and exercising when I feel up to it. I will try to not get discouraged when things arent going so good. It will continue to be a work in progress.

Yesterday I was feeling better enough to go shopping with ceana for wedding clothes for me. After lots of looking, I found a top that I really love and that is going to look great. It doesnt match any of the wedding colors (thanx for a tip from a wedding momma friend) but Ceana & I think that it is going to be great. Though I am super sore, it felt good to be in the sunshine and walking on my own.

I hopefully dont have anymore appts this week. I will post another update next week after big oncology appt. Thanx to all for your love and support as we go through these current trials. 

rory