.Life’s gotten harder since I wrote a few months ago– I mean, for all of us. On the way home from the pharmacy, I noticed gas was inches away from being $5 per gallon. I picked up a couple of things for dinner and almost fell over at the $19 cost. And yet, the cancer world keeps rolling along as though nothing has changed.
I’ve recently finished my quarterly brain-chest-adrenal scans and am so happy to report that everything remains stable. I don’t know how I’ve gotten so lucky, but I’ll take it.
Dr. New Radiology Oncologist, AKA Dr. Rad-Onc, and I spent a little time getting to know each other. Dr. Old Radiology left to live near family in the UK. I liked Dr. Rad-Onc OK, but I felt a little pang of missing Dr. Radiology.
Dr. Rad-Onc offered me the opportunity to come once a year for brain scans and I laughed. “I’m more of an every 6-months kind of girl,” I heard myself say. Hell, yes– once that crap gets into your brain, all kinds of stuff can go off the rails. Ask my friend who’s had her entire brain radiated in an effort to stop the leptomeningeal disease that’s pushing into her brain.
During my appointment with Dr. Oncology 2, I reported on my brain scans and the meeting with Dr. Rad-Onc. Dr. Oncology 2 said offhandedly, “Well, the research does show that more frequent scanning doesn’t change the treatment trajectory,” or some such nonsense. Research is nice, but it isn’t everything. “We’ll leave that to Dr. Rad-Onc,” she said airily. Uh, actually, Dr. Rad-Onc seems to be happy leaving it to me, thank you very much.
The biggest items of note: a stable cancer situation does not mean I should run out and try to lose weight. They don’t like to say it, but the truth is that the next line of treatment would be on the brutal side in terms of side effects. Dr. Oncology 2 says people with a “little meat on those bones” do better in treatment. Her approach seems to be, let’s celebrate stability– and will it kill you to be in a better position if further treatment becomes necessary?
The really big thing: instead of quarterly scans, I’m moving to three times a year. Yippee! All the dye they inject to get the chest pictures is really bad for the kidneys, so my kidneys thank you very much.
Today the temperature crept up past 70, and the sun was shining all day. In the middle of all the horrible news of the world, I’m grateful for the fresh spring air, and the fact that I can ride my bike on errands tomorrow.
I hope spring is springing where you are, and that you have a bike you can hop onto for a brief toodle around the neighborhood. Thanks for reading.
