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Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Huntsman Appointment

For the most part I remain positive and feel pretty good.
My appointment days are harder because it reminds me that I have cancer--something I try not to think about too much.


8:45-9:30 am
Endure three different people attempting to start my IV and get a blood draw. After much poking and digging around, they settled on using a smaller needle to just get a blood draw and skip the IV (which was fine with me, since I didn't want to get my bone-strengthener this time). It seriously felt like torture, and I wanted to cry not only because it hurt and made me feel sick, but because of the whole reason I was there. I was feeling very sorry for myself and nearly in tears as I walked back out to the waiting room and saw a very thin woman there with short hair and patches of bald crying loudly to the nurse sitting next to her.

9:45-10:30 am
I had an exam with a resident doctor (it's a teaching hospital) who was very kind and thorough. She seemed a bit frustrated and angry with me at the end of the appointment when I told her I didn't want my bone strengthener this time. She said my cancer metastases were severe and that I could never get back the time I would lose by skipping a month. I felt like I would be fine and waited to see my real doctor (Sandra Buys).

10:45-11:15 am
Dr. Buys came in, sat down next to me, and put her arm around me. She smiled and asked how things were going and asked what I wanted to do. I repeated that I wanted to try skipping the Aredia (bone-strengthener) for a month since I'd been having some side effects (aches and pains)--and simply because I thought I was getting too much and wanted to try cutting back on it. She said that would be just fine. I love my doctor.

I then waited for the nurse to come give me my Lupron shot, and we (Bry and I) visited the Cancer Learnng Center and checked out some CDs on relaxation/meditation. I need to learn to relax. My stomach is constantly in a knot and my teeth are gritted together--even when I sleep!!

Then Bry and I went out to lunch at Kyoto.

Dr. Buys later called to let me know that my tumor marker had gone up, but only slightly (by about 90) which she wasn't concerned about. She said we'll probably do some scans again in a month or so. My blood counts remain about the same (they're slightly low).