It's that time again. It's been roughly 3 months since Karen's last CT scan. Eventually we'll move to once every 6 months, but for now it's still every 3. When talking to other cancer survivors one thing we hear a lot of is how stressful it can be waiting for the results of the CT scan. Recently someone was saying that those 2 to 3 days between the scan and followup visit with the oncologist "were the worst." I guess it's lucky for us that it all happens in one day at Mayo Clinic. Especially since Karen has been feeling "off" and fatigued this past week or so, and had admitted to me she was worried that it could be cancer related.
We start our day by visiting the infusion ward. This is where Karen received her chemotherapy - they access patients' ports every day, and are the best at it. I found a short video on YouTube of someone having their port accessed. There's a lot involved before you get to this point - masking, gloving up, and cleaning the area - but this is the short of it. After Karen has her port accessed, blood is drawn for labs. Then we're off to the radiology department, which is two floors down and just a short walk away. They give her flavored barium sulfate to drink; this time the flavor was "orange cream." (She didn't seem impressed.) This makes your intestines show up much more clearly in the CT scan. She drinks this slowly over a 60 minute period and when time's up they put contrast into her port, and then do the CT scan.
It's about 10:30am at this point and we're off to a physical therapy appointment scheduled for 11. PT lasts roughly an hour, so it's a little past noon when Karen's done. We grab some food before heading over to the oncology department. There was enough time between everything that we didn't feel rushed, but there wasn't enough time to think or worry about the results. We can look at the results of the blood lab work on the website or through their mobile app, which we've done before while waiting, but we just took our time and enjoyed lunch. The appointment with the oncologist was at 2pm. We got there 10 minutes early and were ushered off into a waiting room.
The CT results were stable. This is what we want to hear. There are "nodules" that can be seen in the CT scan, and while some of them most certainly scar tissue, we are checking to make sure none of them are growing and that nothing new is growing. If we see any growth, then that's most likely cancer. The results of the blood work still put Karen in the "low" range in many areas - white blood cell count, platelets, hemoglobin, etc - but we are finally seeing improvements across the board. So that's great news as well. Karen expressed her concern over her sudden increase in fatigue. The doctor seems to suspect it's just a bug she's fighting, and thinks it will likely pass on it's own, but said to let him know if it persists or gets worse. Karen asked if a bone density scan would be a good idea, and the doctor agreed. If nothing else it would be good to have a reference point for checking bone loss in the future. He filled out some disability maintenance paperwork we brought, and we were done.
For the first time in a long time there have been no changes to Karen's medication. The new drug he gave her for the pain in her hands on our last visit, amitriptyline, seems to be working. The neuropathy is still there, but the pins and needles pain is gone, and with it, the last of her hot and cold sensitivity. With the exception of this latest bout of fatigue, everything seems to be moving in the right direction.
