Since radiation ended and Herceptin & Arimidex began, I've had several follow up appointments.
On 9/23/16 I returned to Dr. Ehrichman (my plastic surgeon) so that he can see how "the new girls" are doing and if radiation has affected them at all. I always feel so good seeing him, he always greets me with a big gianormous hug, it's good for the self esteem (LOL). We talked about where I am now in treatment and how I've been. After he evaluated me - he was extremely happy with how my right breast looked after radiation. Even though my skin has been damaged & the implant has become stiffer than the left breast, he was encouraged with where I was and how my chest looked. I had many, many questions for him (as usual). We discussed if we will make any adjustments to the left breast to even it out to the right since radiation altered the look and feel of it. We also discussed finishing the girls off, meaning getting the nipples on! Yes, that's right, with surgery & radiation, first the skin has to heal before we can complete the appearance of them. That will be the last part to complete. He still doesn't think we are ready for that as we need to give the skin another 4 months to heal before we can make those decisions, but it was a good and funny conversation to say the least!
I also had a follow up with Dr. Zhou (my radiation oncologist) on 10/12/16. I was fortunate that my skin didn't get damaged until of course, the very last week of radiation. Despite that, Dr. Zhou, was happy with how my skin and chest looked. The radiation did make my right breast area stiffer so she did recommend that I make sure to continue with the arm exercises to maintain my range of motion. She wants to see me again in 6 months!
Every 3 weeks when I go for my Herceptin treatment, I see Dr. Browne (my oncologist). We reviewed where I am, discussed the joint pain that hasn't changed since July, the results from the rheumatologist and also she evaluated me. Because the results from the Rheumatologist didn't give any signs as to why I am having this intense joint pain, she recommended that I now reach out to my primary doctor and request for a second opinion from another rheumatologist AND to test out taking Aleve to see if it would break the pain cycle. I did reach out to my primary and she suggested that I try taking a steroid. I took Dexamethasone for 3 days and it did make the joint pain go away a bit. Based on those results, she wanted to me to also take Prednisone to see if that would also make the pain go away completely. Honestly, I was hesitant to take it and haven't yet. The pain has since come back and now I'm re-thinking trying it out. I just don't want to take pills for pain. I want to understand "WHAT" is causing the pain - then, I will commit to taking anything for it. I understand it's about quality of life because the pain is so intense, but man, I just really dislike taking any more meds than I already have to - UGH! I'm still debating if I should give in to it - or just continue to struggle with the pain? Mind over matter is what I keep telling myself. I've also been getting some bad, consistent headaches, which is unusual for me. I brought this up to Dr. Browne and she wants me to go get an Brain MRI to be sure there is nothing going on. Scary stuff. I can't even imagine! I'm happy that she is proactive - I go on 11/12/16 for the brain MRI. Now, because I had a allergic reaction to the contrast dye that your have to take for the MRI a while back, I have to take other meds to prevent another allergic reaction. So much for not taking any additional med, huh? Gosh - will this ever end? I feel like every day, something new presents itself. I'm so aware of what "used to be normal" for me before the "Big C", but since, I'm still figuring out what is normal now. I don't want to be a hypochondriac, but I find myself being so conscience of my body and how I feel and how things feel and what feels ok versus not, but honestly, I'm not quite sure what is normal or not these days. It's really frustrating! I just want to feel normal, I want to feel good, I want to drop these 30 plus pounds that don't want to come off my body and I want to feel healthy again. There's days I feel awesome and then there's days I feel like I'll never really feel truly normal again. I try NOT to complain because at the end of the day, I'm alive and I'm here and that's EVERYTHING! But, when you are in constant daily pain, it just sucks! Ok, rant over.... off to the brain MRI I go - wish me luck!
Brain MRI Results - Negative for anything abnormal!!! I can breathe!!!
