Always something.......

When I saw Dr. Kaplan three weeks ago, I mentioned that I'd been having some tightness in my chest and thought it might be anxiety. He said it could be but he wanted to rule out a couple of other things, including a blood clot (which can be a side effect of tamoxifen) and a tumor in my lung. WHAT???   I think I stopped breathing for a second because the possibility of a new tumor hadn't crossed my mind.  I immediately said, "No, I had a clean PET scan two months ago. That's not possible".  As if I knew better than he did!  I quickly realized that anything was possible, which was a reality check I wasn't expecting that day. He said he thought I was fine, but he needs to take all of my symptoms seriously, no matter how mild.   And I think we all appreciate that! 

The CT was clear and I'm feeling better. We're still not 100% sure what was going on. It could have been anxiety or perhaps asthma (I now have an inhaler). 

This experience reminded me of a friend of a friend who lived in a small town (in another state). She had battled breast cancer and was in remission.  When she developed a chronic cough and other symptoms, her regular doctor didn't think it was even worth getting a chest x-ray.   By the time her cancer was found,  it had progressed significantly and the treatments weren't successful.  I mention this because although I was concerned about my test results, it was comforting to remember that Dr. Kaplan won't let that happen to me.

I also decided to finally ask Dr. Kaplan a question that had been on my mind for a while:  "Am I in remission or not?"  My PET scans have been clean, but the CT has continued to show some activity in my liver. There are two possibilities. The first is that I'm in remission and the activity that shows up is scar tissue forming, or the regeneration of damaged liver tissue. The second is that the PET scan can miss trace amounts of cancer (which is why it's done in conjunction with a CT). If that's the case, then I'm in the "best partial remission you can be in with a very small amount of active disease". That seems like a long explanation when someone asks me how I'm doing, so I usually say, "I'm doing pretty well". I'd prefer to say I'm cancer free, but I'm happy to be so close.

When I went in for treatment last week (March 12th), the nurse said she couldn't access my port because the skin around it looked necrotic. Great. Dr. Kaplan had mentioned that scar tissue was forming and at some point the port would need to be moved or changed. I guess now is the time (specifically, March 16th). It's easier to take it out than to put it in, and I'll probably only be sore for a day or so. The person who scheduled the appointment said I'll be lightly sedated and "loopy in a good way". I'll let you know what that means......

The safest thing to do is let my body and skin heal before placing a new port. It would be easier to replace it at the same time and I'm not looking forward to another procedure in 6-8 weeks, but I am looking forward to having a break. My system has never liked the port and I was often itchy and uncomfortable. I don't know if it will be any different with a new one, but having it out for even a short time sounds good to me!   In the meantime, I'll get Avastin through a vein.  I can't do that long term, but for now it's fine. 

I'll have another scan in early April. Hopefully, nothing else will happen before then! 

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