i guess that this is my favorite quote from the hobbit. i know that i have used it a few times in my blog. but it is a good reminder to me that unpleasant things do not go on forever, although they might seem to. i can really relate to bilbo baggins, though. here is this person who is just going about his normal daily life, when out of the blue, fate dropped a bomb shell and his life changed forever. that pretty much sums up what happened to me. i was just going about a "normal" life, when a yearly mammogram sent me on this unexpected journey, and changed my life forever.
just when i thought that i had this "new normal" life almost figured out, i encountered some more twists in the road yesterday. i went for my three month check up with the oncologist, and blood work. with the exception of about three lab values, that are not critical ones, my blood values have returned to normal. score one for me. i have been having some pretty severe muscle and bone pain with the arimidex( estrogen blocking drug). it is the best choice for my situation and age group, so i am trying to see if these side effects will go away. at first, i also had nausea( the bane of my existence) and night sweats. thankfully, these two side effects are mostly gone. i am hoping that my body can adjust to the bone/ muscle pain and i can continue to take the arimidex. the oncologist said that we would give it two more months and see how i do. there are other choices for estrogen blocking drugs, but they may not be quite as effective as this one. twist number one: the doctor said that new studies have shown that instead of taking the estrogen blocking drugs for 5 years, as previously thought, it may be beneficial to take them for TEN YEARS.holy cow, i was not expecting that! my eyes must have gotten pretty big, because the doctor said, well, we will evaluate the situation in 5 years and make a decision at that point.
this is the biggest twist in the road: the oncologist also said that i would come back for more blood work and another office visit in march( i had expected that) but he also wanted to do a CT scan with contrast dye in may, 2016 to make sure that the cancer had not spread to my chest, lungs or bones. the oncologist said that even though my cancer had not spread to my lymph nodes, it was an aggressive type, and having had three fairly good sized tumors and an area of different cancer cells, i was at risk of the cancer spreading. i was pretty shocked to hear this, for some reason. i guess that it is good that the doctors do not give you all of the information at one time because it could be pretty overwhelming.
several people have asked me what stage breast cancer i have. ( or as i like to think, HAD). i asked the oncologist, and he just shook his head. he said that it is more complicated now to assign a stage to breast cancer. there are so many factors to consider - how many tumors, what size they are, what type of breast cancer( mine was invasive lobular- a fairly rare kind), and of course lymph node involvement to name a few . and if that was not complicated enough, not every physician agrees on the guidelines for staging breast cancer. some consider the size of the biggest tumor, some add the tumor sizes together,etc. so the oncologist said, if he had to guess, it would probably be a stage IIb or so. sounds good on paper, but that does not tell the entire story, so i will just not worry about staging. i plan to follow up with all testing and therapy recommended, and maintain a positive attitude.
on a lighter note, thank goodness, there was a lot of interest in my "hair" yesterday. i saw the nurse practitioner first, and she asked to see my hair( i was wearing a pre-tied chemo beanie. plenty of bling on it, i might add!) she asked if she could feel it- i said o.k. no it was not creepy. she laughed and said that it was so very soft- like baby's hair. when the oncologist was getting ready to leave, after his visit, the nurse practitioner said to the doctor " you have got to feel her hair!". to my amazement, he did, and said that it was indeed very soft, and that i was doing a fine job growing it out. he said that pretty soon i would not need my scarf. i told him i was not sure i was brave enough to go without my scarf just yet. besides, my head gets cold! it is so true about losing your body heat through your head. my two month old granddaughter and i are having a " hair growing contest". she was winning, but now i think that i am ahead. pun intended! there has to be some good news, right? even if i am having a little difficulty slaying that darn dragon.
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