Cancer center

I was here yesterday…

This is where I had chemo. This is where I sat on a couch in front of the tv watching first reports about Sandy Hook. It’s been a while. My mom has to visit this place occasionally for her high ferritin levels since they deal with both cancer & hematology.

I’ll have to look up the date I was here last for chemo.

Vaccine!

 I got my first COVID vaccine on Mar. 18. Went to Meijer, waited in line. Line moved fast and the shot wasn’t bad at all. My arm didn’t get sore. It seemed like a teeny amount of liquid because it was over in about 2 seconds. No issues with my arm. Had it done in my right arm because it seems to be less effected by lymphedema.

Felt tired/fuzzy-headed today but that’s it and that could be because I didn’t sleep well.

I can’t believe that it’s been a year (Mar. 6?) that my friend and I went the Cheesecake Factory here. We had been hearing about COVID and I was getting nervous (I’ve read Hot Zone more than once. I’ve seen the virus movies.) I commented that the staff weren’t wiping off the pager things.

I remember looking at the Johns Hopkins map and seeing those few red dots in WA & watching them spread.

Another shot

 I was on here looking for my blog url to try to print the entire blog but decided to post.

I have my Faslodex shots tomorrow (actually today now) and I’m feeling so over it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful every day that I’m still alive! I’m just tired of going in every month and waiting. Sometimes it’s quick and other times I sit there for over an hour. I’m in the chemo room and I feel for everyone in there getting treatments. I want to cry when I hear the nurses explaining what to expect to new patients. I see women with hats hiding hair loss. And I don’t talk to anyone. And I follow the nurse to a bathroom. I actually prefer the bathrooms to the other rooms because there’s a rail I can grip. Relax the right leg. Jab. Relax the left leg. Jab OUCH! “Ok, see you next month.”

And I think of the doctor at U of M. I’m still here.

2021

First, I’m doing very well! I had an appointment with my oncologist’s nurse practitioner last month. She’s actually more informative than him. I saw him once then the second time he said “I don’t think we’ve met.”

Uh...

Anyway, the NP said the plan is to eventually go off the Faslodex (the butt/hip monthly injections). I think she said 5 years?

It kind of freaks me out but also makes me want to go to U of M and see that doc who rolled up to me on her stool and told me my cancer was incurable. Maybe it comes back but dang, she had no right to be so blunt. I wasn’t stupid. I knew.

Sandy Hook

Yesterday, Dec. 14, was the 7th anniversary of the Sandy Hook shootings. Also, the 7th anniversary of my last Neulasta injection. Seven years since the end of chemo. 

Achilles Tendonitis

PCP referred me to ortho doc because I've been having foot pain. Saw him on Wed. He was super nice & has been thru colon cancer. He said before his cancer he never understood how long it takes to feel better.

Anyway, xrays and instructions to stretch my calf muscles. Hopefully that helps.

Scan day

I had a CT & bone scan today to recheck that area in my shoulder. Didn’t have to drink contrast this time. I guess since it was chest only & not abdomen. I did have my usual IV with the radioactive tracer. Then went over to CT. First part of CT was fine and then they injected the dye. No biggie, right? I’ve done this sooo many times. I felt the warmth in my throat and then it traveled down my body until it felt like I had peed...still all normal. AND THEN right as the scan was over I KNEW I was going to puke. OH NO OH NO OHNOOHNOOHNO!! I was frantically trying to turn to the side while signaling to them. They brought me a tray thingy to throw up in but I didn’t need it. Whew! Close one! Weird, that has never happened before. Tech thought a mosquito bite on my neck was a hive & they were worried about a reaction to the dye.

Now, I’ll worry everytime when they inject the dye.🙄