Epic

 

It’s been an exciting couple of months. I finished radiation July 1st, and started hormone suppression August 1st. I will (hopefully in the near future) be making a specific post to discuss the hormonal aspects of hormone positive breast cancers, but that will not be today.

I had some terrible back pain during chemo. They wanted to check and make sure that I didn’t have mets in my spine, but the pain went away so we decided not to pursue it. Over the summer, the pain returned, and when I didn’t have pain I had itching in the same spot, but no rash or bumps or anything. That was just weird enough that oncology wanted me to get it checked out.

My only instructions after I finished active treatment were to call them if I had “unexplained pain that lasts for more than 2 weeks”. I will no longer have mammograms (not that those worked for me, anyway), and other imaging will only be ordered in the event of said “unexplained pain”. This is not as thorough of a plan for monitoring for metastasis as I would like… The logic is that “the outcome is the same” whether or not metastasis is caught early. Technically, this is true. If my breast cancer spreads to bone or organs then it will be considered incurable/terminal. HOWEVER, a small spot on a bone is a lot different than a full tumor in an organ. There are treatments available, and both quality of life and length of life can be greatly improved if metastasis is caught early.

Anyway, my oncologist ordered a PET scan, which is the most thorough imaging available, but… insurance denied it. She then ordered a bone scan. I was glad to get one because my abdomen was thoroughly checked last fall but I’d never had my bones checked, and bones are one of the favorite places for breast cancer to spread. I had that test done a few weeks ago, and my bones were so clear that it barely took any time to get the results back! I officially have no metastasis to my bones!!

I also hadn’t had a skin check by the dermatologist since 2019, and it just happens that the painful, itchy spot on my spine is right below the location where I had a basal cell spot removed several years ago. So, while it seemed unlikely that the spine pain would be relevant, I was concerned that the itching could be related to that. However, I got that checked out this week, and the dermatologist said I have no areas of concern, including that spot! She did say that the damage she could see from my radiation was, unfortunately, an indication that I have a high risk of skin cancer in that location, “but not for another 10 or 20 years”, so I guess the bar is low and this is considered good news. 😆

The spine pain/itching is most likely a disc problem, but it has improved quite a bit as I’ve been able to resume more intensive exercise, so hopefully it’s not a huge issue and it will go away on its own? Right? Right??! 😬

I got my eyes checked this week, too. Aside from the fact that I had to purchase insanely expensive new lenses 👎 everything looks good! Breast cancer treatments can cause damage and pressure changes, but so far I have no problems!

I got scheduled for my swap surgery, and my new, hopefully more comfortable implants will be placed and my port will be removed on February 24th! I thought it wasn’t going to happen until next summer, so that’s pretty exciting. Hopefully it will turn out ok, but it’s hard to anticipate what the results will be due to the damage from my radiation. 

Things are sort of returning to normal. Patton and Brant are both back in school. My friend Chris came to visit. We recreated this pic (which was probably our first pic together) from 1992. I think we basically look the same. 😉

We went to FARM and C3 and Cup & Kettle and Gather  and walked around downtown- things I haven’t experienced much since not just before cancer, but since 2020, which makes all of this cancer nonsense seem like it’s dragged on even longer than it actually has. I hadn’t seen Chris in over 10 years, and it was a really good weekend.

I got my official biopsy report and met with my breast surgeon 1 year ago today. It’s been an extremely challenging year, to say the least, and the challenges are not over. Cancer will never really be over for me. I will be on meds for 7 years, and I will always have the risk of recurrence. However, I just learned about a new type of testing that would use the DNA from my tumor to get its very specific information, and then use that information to look for circulating cancer cells in my blood. The test is done every 3-6 months, and could potentially find residual cancer now or a recurrence in the future before that recurrence has time to “set up shop”! Additionally, it can help determine exactly what types of treatments my particular cancer would be most responsive to in the event that I did need more treatment! I was really hoping that I could report that I officially am doing this testing, but I have been unable to reach my oncology team, which is very frustrating. That said, I have reached out to the company who does the testing, and if I can’t get through to my oncologist then I’ll try my surgery team. It looks like insurance will cover it, so I definitely want to do it. It feels a lot more thorough and proactive than monitoring for weird pains…

Anyway, I’m through the worst of it for now. My hair is filling in. Things are going well, and I have no evidence of remaining cancer. I will be making another post soon-ish, but I just wanted to update you all on where things stand 1 year later.