1 Very Palpable Hit's Cancer Blog
5 Months Post-Chemo: No evidence of recurrence or metastatic disease
This is what I expected at yesterday’s visit. A clean bill of health. Well, can I say that really? No perceivable cancer… no evidence of recurrence or metastatic disease to be seen on the CT scans of the pelvis and abdomen. That hard inguinal lymph node from January is gone, too (my find). 5 months from the last chemo dose, and still no signs of return. This is great!
So, it was a happy visit. We were in and out of there after a 1-hour wait. I had other places to be. But, it turned out, so did my treating oncologist. I saw another doctor instead. Was she an intern? A new member of the gyne-oncology team? I forgot to ask. Wish I did. She was kind, and did an interesting exam, pinching the skin on the back of my hand and all the other stuff (except one minor uncomfortable thing). What does that indicate? She asked me questions and wrote nothing down. Do the things I report get recorded anywhere? Or do they just satisfy some curiosity and then they go back to the chart and write “patient ok” or something?
As I mentioned my gyne-oncologist was running an hour late. For a day of scheduled patients, this seems a bit much. The doctor asked if I was ok with Dr W not coming in to see me. At the time, I thought: “No problem. She’s clearly running late. If she doesn’t want to come in to say hi I totally understand.” At six am this morning, however, I had a change of heart. A hello to her in her day of hundreds of patients is quite a lot more to me as my 3-month check up still within the first six months following chemo. I know I ask a lot of questions, and last time I was bit of a mental case, but I wanted to show her I was doing so much better.
I also want to know: does she even look at the CT scan, or does she just read the radiologist’s repot? Is someone taking a second look? Can I see the CT scan and have her show me what all the globs on the screen represent? Can I get a CD of the scan and have someone else show me? Or take it to someone else for a second opinion?
I’m feeling a little under-serviced, here.
***
More great news: tomorrow I leave for 32 days in the Bahamas! I am going to a yoga retreat and will be undertaking the yoga teacher training course. This is not for a career change – I return to work in June. But I have been practicing yoga with fervour since February, as it was the best thing to ease my physiological side effects from treatment. It has been great for back pain, aching and stiff muscles and joints, neuro-agitation, increasing strength and stamina, and generally feeling about ten years younger.
I want to learn more about yoga so that I can design a program for myself that better suits my needs. I also want to be able to help other cancer survivors with their rehabilitation through yoga, so I intend to offer to teach wherever the opportunities arise. It seems yoga- teacher cancer survivors are not necessarily the ones teaching yoga to cancer survivors. I’d like to be part of that new trend!
Now, for a picture from the cruise: oops, need to update my Cloud first.
Congratulation on the clean bill of health! Always great to receive good news. My oncologist is always running behind but I am very understanding of that because when I have things I want to discuss he is very patient with me and doesn’t rush me so I know when he spends extra time with me it makes another patients appointment run behind as well. By all means ask for a copy of the CD with your scans on it. You are entitled to have a copy of all of your medical records. Enjoy your time in the Bahamas with your Yoga class.
Posted on Thank you, Penny! :)
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