Tuesday, November 26, 2013

November 26, 2013 - Status Update



My appointment with the medical oncologist Dr. Rupa Subramanian on 11/15 went well – she even remarked over how well the incisions were healing.  Now that the immediate cancer concern has been taken care of by surgery, there are a slew of tests to make sure there is no cancer elsewhere in the body.  If there is, I’ll have to have chemotherapy (whole body) before the radiation (localized to breast).  So now I’ve got the following appointments:

12/2/13 CT scan (chest, abdomen, pelvis)
12/4/13 MRI of abdomen
12/6/13 oncologist appointment
12/9/13 meet with doctor in charge of radiation
12/17/13 dermatology appointment to check for skin cancer

And a bone scan that can’t be scheduled until I get approval from the insurance company.

Speaking to a woman who’s just finished her cancer treatment, she said she was having difficulty getting back into something that resembled a normal routine.  For the past year, everything has revolved around her cancer treatment and all the attendant appointments.  I get it.  We’re already experiencing some of that.  She’s done and finding it hard to do her life without all the appointments and the constant focus on cancer – it’s been the foreground to everything else for such a long time.

Given my current slate of appointments and the upcoming holidays, I’m guessing that I won’t be starting radiation until January.  Once that treatment starts, it’s every day, five days a week, for 4 to 6 weeks.  I’m looking forward to it, but only because it’s the next milestone to being done with all this.
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