I don't know how many people still read and follow this. I'm guessing not many since I really haven't had much to report lately. But here's a little update.
In January I was sent for a bone density scan by my oncologist. She wanted to see if I've had bone loss due to the chemo. Seems she went to a conference and they found good news with young cancer patients being on Zometa and a reduction of recurrence in the bones. She couldn't prescribe it without reason, hence the bone scan.
I went in for my 3 month follow up on the 9th. What should have been an easy appointment turned into a hellish day. I took a half day off work and went for a 1pm appointment. Around 2:30 I was getting antsy and talked to the nurse to see what the deal was, she assured me that my doc was with a patient and I was next to be seen. At 3:30 I was standing in the doorway to my exam room ready to flag said nurse down and tell her I was outta there when the doc came flying at me apologizing. So now I am 2.5 hours into being at the James. She tells me there has been some bone loss in my spine due to the chemo and wants to put me on the Zometa. It's an infusion I will need to have every 6 months for 2 years. So I head over to the infusion center where I admit to the nurses I was tired and grumpy and just wanted to go home. Since I had the port removed they needed to draw blood and start an IV for the infusion. Well 3 nurses and 3 pokes later we are finally good to go. One of the nurses took pity on me having skipped lunch (was going to grab something after appointment) and brought me Adriatico's pizza they had in the fridge. I finally escaped the hospital around 5:45. YIKES!! One of the side effects they warned me about was aches and said it might feel like the flu.
Fast forward about 17 hours and I was just starting to feel stiff and sore, so I popped 2 advil and attempt to go watch the St. Patrick's Day parade. After about 30-45 minutes I give up, I'm cold and I wasn't feeling very good. I crawled into bed and within a few hours had chills and the WORST body aches I've ever had. I had pj pants, a long sleeve tshirt, a fleece zip up, a sheet, a blanket and both halves of the down comforter on me and was still cold. Thanks to a gift from back in my college days, Brian heated up my "bed buddy" and I was good to go. I unfortunately had to cancel my Scentsy party that night, but my hostess took it like a champ and after dropping off all the essentials she ran the party herself. As soon as my advil would wear off I'd start in with the chills all over again. 3 Advil every 4 hours, what fun!! By 1 am I also added a sleeping back to the pile of things on top of me. It took many doses of Advil and 3 days before I was finally feeling better. I'm not sure I can do this every 6 months...I know there's a chance this could help but I don't know if the negatives outweight the positives.
On St. Patrick's Day I also celebrated the 1 year anniversary of having found my lump. This coming Saturday I will celebrate the 1 year anniversary of my diagnosis. That day is one I will never forget. I feel like my world was turned upside down. There have definitely been some good moments in the last year, but definitely one I will remember forever!
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