The Latest And The Greatest

I realised that it has been a while since I have updated you all about what is going on with my treatment. Here is the latest scoop.

I went to my chemo oncologist today for a follow up visit and she said I am doing great. I had an ultrasound of my liver recently as they had found spot on it prior to my chemotherapy. It is not uncommon for healthy people to have a spot on their liver. It is very bad to have more than one. So the good news is the spot is still there and totally unchanged. This means it is not cancer related at all but a normal spot-like spot. So good news from her.

I have had a couple visits with my radiation oncologist and that ball is rolling. I had a consultation where they took a CT scan so they can map out where they are going to radiate. At this appointment I got two tiny tattooed dots on my torso to help them nuke me the same place every time. The dots are very small. However Yoshi has noticed the one on my front and tries to lick it off for me. Negligibly helpful and ultimately futile. Try explaining that to a cat.

My radiation should start the last week of October or the first week of November. This means I get zapped every day, Monday through Friday, for 5 ½ weeks. 28 sessions in all. Fatigue is about the only side effect. There are some nasty very rare stuff that can happen but I am not thinking about that if I can.

There is a possibility that the radiation might be postponed if I can get into surgery right away. I have appointments with my cancer surgeon and my plastic surgeon at the end of the month. If they can operate on me within a week we will do that first. Such a quick turnaround time for surgery is rare so most likely it will be radiation first and surgery after. I have no idea what all my surgery will entail so I will update you all about that once I see the surgeons.

Now about the hair…after a fantastic start the hair growth has not only come to a halt but also settled down with a case of beer and a nicely filled bong for a looong evening in. It grew to about 1½ inches and then completely bailed out on me. Then it started falling out again and I have an odd thin spot on the right side of my head. What I am hoping is new fabulous hair is pushing the weak and weird hairs out. Hoping….hoping…. It is a little sad looking. I look like I have mange. Very attractive feature in a lady.

I am feeling much more perky but still get quite winded very easily. Yet I am trying to get out for walks every day. It doesn’t always happen as it has been raining very heavily which curtails my journeys somewhat. The other new thing is that I am getting really bad allergies. Probably leaf mold. I have never had hay fever before but my oncologist said that it might be that my mucus membranes (nice sounding, huh?) are more sensitive after my chemo and the sinus hell may soon disappear. I hope so as I feel really crappy.

The other thing is that I am suddenly putting on weight. Not nice. I had put on a little weight during chemo, which is supposedly quite normal with starchy food cravings and drastically reduced activity. These days I am eating better food with less junk and getting out way more so I was surprised to find my jeans getting tight. I was working up a very good shame spiral but the oncologist came to my rescue again. Apparently my hormones can be very out off wack after chemo so that could be the culprit. I grabbed onto that excuse and am holding tight.

So that is what is new with me on the Cancer Front. Right now it is all good and I am just enjoying my time off while I have it.