70 Pills

I finally spoke with The Vixen this morning regarding last weeks's scans. No bad news... other than she took a look at my feet (on zoom!) and was concerned about a massive blister on my left outer foot. (It was kind of funny getting the camera in position to show that angle - I said, how do people manage to have online "sex"? She said, "where there's a will there's a way". Anyway... she has decided to drop my daily dose of 6 pills to 5 pills. I'm OK with that. The last few days I had a lot of burning on the bottoms of my feet. It didn't stop me from hiking, but it did wake me up at night sometimes and caused quite a bit of discomfort. The part I didn't like: last year Glenn asked her about the treatment plan. How long I'd do the oral chemo. We understood it would be 3-4 years, then I'd move into remission and I'd be free of treatment. WRONG! It's amazing how many times I've misinterpreted what she says. (Always bring someone with you to important consults!) So she clarified that this is my forever treatment. She says that her longest living patient with metastatic breast cancer is still going 20 years later. That gave me some hope. But it sucks that I'll be on this "forever". She said that something else kills me first. So I'm feeling kind of defeated and disappointed. Life in the cancer lane.

Good scans!

I had scans last Wednesday and all good! It was a marathon 24 hours. I drove up by myself Tuesday night. No one is allowed in other than the patient, so it didn't make sense that Glenn go along. We have a tenant so there would be no place for him to be - with 2 dogs! So I went solo. I woke about 4am because I get so anxious before scans. Too early for Starbucks! I met up with Cheryl for a coffee on a park bench, then was at the hospital by 7:45 to start the day. The usual CT of chest, abdomen and pelvis. And a bone scan. And at the end, an infusion of a chemo drug, Zumeta that I take every 3 months. I had planned to see The Vixen, but was told she had a Covid exposure so would "see" me remote. Because things ran so late, I didn't have a consult w her but got a call from her Fellow as I was driving back to Connecticut. The Fellow told me that The Vix's husband has Covid. So I won't do a consult w her until Thursday. Upshot is that the bone scan looked stable, no new problems. And the CT scan showed a bit of improvement. I've been doing oral chemo for almost a year now. It kind of sucks. At this point the bottoms of my feet are pretty uncomfortable most of the time. Nails falling out. I wake up at night because of burning sensations on the soles of my feet. My hands aren't too bad but the cuticles crack, the skin peels and cracks. So far I can continue to play guitar and cook. It can get REALLY bad. So far so (kind of) good. Other health news: I got my initial Covid vaccine December 30 through my job. Will get the booster shot next week. In the meantime, Trump is destroying our country. What a shambles Biden and Harris will inherit. I really need to take a media break. I'm darkly obsessed with him. How did we get here? Who are these "patriots"? It's an America I no longer recognize. So dark, so ugly. I pray tomorrow goes smoothly for the Inauguratin.