On Monday I saw my Oncologist's PA and then went to see my plastic surgeon. All my radiation treatments are over and my Oncologist needed to put me on a pill I will take every day for the next 5 years. She prescribed 1 mg. Arimidex. ARIMIDEX works by lowering the amount of the hormone estrogen in the body. I will be having a bone density test within the next few weeks to get a baseline for comparison of my bone health in the future.
Here are a list of possible side effects:
So, sounds like a lot of fun, doesn't it? Sheesh. I guess I should be thankful that there is a drug out there that will keep the cancer from returning, but that tiny, one milligram pill is going to be a tough one to swallow.
When I saw my plastic surgeon he said everything was going well with my healing. I still have a tiny hole left in my breast where the open wound is still not totally healed. I will go back to see Dr. Kays in a month. He is wanting to make sure the radiation has not shrunk my breast a noticeable amount. He has only seen a couple of cases where that has happened. Honestly I don't think it will be a problem for me. I do have some discoloration and have been told it will fade with time. I also have a place on my back where the radiation went THROUGH my body and sunburned my back. So, that means that my lungs got radiated. I asked my Oncologist what it has done to my lungs and she said, hopefully nothing. What the heck kind of answer is that? She said my lungs sounded good and that worse case they could have been sunburned like my skin. So, I guess if I don't have any symptoms then all is well. (Fingers crossed).
The doctor allowed me to return to work tomorrow, Wednesday. I have enough vacation time left that I did not use that I will not have to go back until January 2nd. Yaaay! If the Lord is willing and that is his plan then maybe, just maybe I will be one of the 30 that are being given the Voluntary Retirement Package at work. If not, worse case, I will have about 7 1/2 months more to work and I will be out of there anyway.
Some of you may know this but for those that don't, my sister, Wanda, who is two years younger than me was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease about the same time I was diagnosed with cancer. It is called Large granular lymphocyte.
What happens is the large granular lymphocytes are supposed to be the front line and kills all the bad cells in the body. What happens though is something goes wrong in the body and the lgl's start killing off the civilians, the neutrophils, the good cells. It has caused Wanda's white blood cell counts to fall to dangerous levels. Her only symptoms that anything was wrong was she felt a little tired. It was abnormal blood work that prompted her doctor to refer her to an oncologist who then diagnosed her condition. To treat her, the Oncologist gave her massive doses of steroids (Prednisone) along with a cancer drug called Methotrexate, given in pill form once a week. She was taking several pills of Methotrexate one time a week. These drugs wreaked havoc on her health! To begin with, her doctor expected her white blood count to fall once she began the routine. True to form, that is what happened. Every six weeks or so, she would go back to the doctor. He would adjust the dosages of the steroid and Methotrexate each time based on her blood work. As time went on, progress slowed and Wanda came down with the Shingles virus. If you are familiar with this, it comes from the virus that is still in your body if you ever had chicken pox. When your immune system is compromised is when it rears it's ugly head. Ask anyone who has had it and they will tell you it is terribly, terribly painful. The illness attacks the nerves in the body. It can manifest itself anywhere on the body, including the eyes. It is contagious when it is in the blister stages. Thank God I did not go around her while she was contagious. With my immune system already compromised, I could have gotten it very easily through contact. With Wanda having shingles, it only complicated her getting better. She had to start taking Lyrica along with the other drugs. She was having serious multiple side effects, too many to mention here. She gained 35 lbs. or so. Her hair was falling out and the list goes on and on. Her Oncologist finally decided to wean her off the Prednisone and reduce the amount of Methotrexate she was taking. They did see an improvement in her white cell blood counts. He also referred her a another physician in Chapel Hill. This past Thursday we went to see Dr. Ma, an Oncologist. She was great. She said that even though LGL is called leukemia, it is not at all. She said what Wanda had was very, very minor and would take months to ever get better. In her 15 years practice she has only seen four other cases like Wanda's. Since Wanda has responded to the Methotrexate she wants her to continue to take it. There are two other drugs she can prescribe for her but she does not want to go there unless it is absolutely necessary. She wants Wanda's white blood count to get to 1000 and stay at 1000 or better for a year, then she will take her off the Methotrexate. She said the dosage Wanda is taking is very, very small and will not hurt her. Wanda has gone back to work. She has stopped taking the Lyrica and steroids. She still has pain from the shingles but takes Ibuprofen for it. Sometimes the pain may take a year or more to completely go away. So, thank all of you for your prayers for Wanda. It was all good news and her life can get back to normal. I feel like what I went through in comparison to Wanda was a piece of cake. We have both been blessed, are both on the mend and have a bright future to look forward to.
May god Bless you all. I will continue to update this blog periodically if things dictate a need to do so. But, for the most part, I hope all the drama in my life is over with. ;-)
Hugs and love,
Glenda
