What's Next?

We returned from Winnipeg and hit the ground running. Beginning of June, 3 weeks left of school, and many tests and appointments for me. That first week was my bone scan, which involved 2 visits to the hospital, AMH. The first, to inject the dye, and the second, 3 hours later, for the actual scan. The results of that were negative, good, nothing to worry about.

That second week of June was the busy one, with lots of school year end stuff interspersed with 4 doctor appointments. The first, was with Dr. N. medical oncologist. Though my surgeon had called the day before with the results of my oncotyping, Dr. N was the one who explained it in greater detail.

My second appointment was with my OBGyn, as, with all of this going on, mother nature has thrown a bit of a curve ball at me and put my menstrual cycle all out of whack. Menopause? Possibly. But whatever the cause, the situation must be rectified before I can proceed with any treatment. My menstrual cycle has been pretty irratic and irregular for the past couple of years, but has become unmanageably more so. I had a seven week stretch with no period, followed by what is, now, a month long menses. Inconveniently so.  Since I was scheduled, as per my surgeon, for a chest/abdomen/pelvic CT for the following week, my OBGyn decided to put me on progesterone to hopefully slow the bleeding, and see what the results of the CT scan might show. (that was at 2 weeks. the progesterone has given me 3 migraine headaches in 12 days, so I, at the doctor's recommendation, cut back the dosage. good and bad, because the flow became heavier again, and the headaches continued. I had cut the dose after 2 headaches, but still got a thrid)

That same afternoon, I visited my surgeon's office for genetic testing, for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, breast cancer genes. Nothing is simple here. The test was the easy part. Different insurance companies pay for different tests and services. Because they can. I was told by Jacki that the lab running the tests would call me to advise where I stood with that. And they did, the next week. I was told that my insurance company would pay for the tests for the first two genes. If positive, there would be no need to proceed further. If negative, tests would/should be run for mutations. Which my insurance doesn't cover. Another $700 for that. Figures. I told them we would wait for the outcome of the first series of test.

Last doctor's visit Friday morning, Dr. H, radiation oncologist. We were joined by resident Philippe, who's last name I don't recall (also because he was both referred to and introduced by, his first name) Radiation is a given. Six weeks, 5X/week. In and out, fairly straightforward, some minor side effects. He explained that while fatigue was common, it might also be caused by the change of pace during radation. Some people can travel an hour in each direction to receive their treatments. I'm fortunate in that I'll be driving 10-15 to AMH, using valet parking which is a deal with the monthly $10 pass, and should be there and back in about hour each day.

The following Tuesday, the 15th, was my CT scan. Another big chunk of time. I took my computer and some of you were lucky enough to get emails from me while I sat and drank two bottles of that barium chalk shake. Mmmmm. Not! Whether it's chilled out of necessity or chilled to make it go down easier, I'm glad they do it. I can't imagine drinking that stuff warm. The straw that's provided helps too. But it's like downing two 454 ml sodas -- soon, you've gotta go. And you're not allowed to! I stopped typing about 25 minutes before the scheduled time for the scan, cuz I just could not concentrate. Thankfully, they called me early and got the scan overwith and done. And the last of my tests and appointments. For a little while.