Cancer Journey – Part 5

If you would like to read part 4, click here.

Brain MRI Results

I am on my patient portal to view all my records probably more often than what is necessary. I keep looking for any new piece of information or report. April 18th is when my brain MRI results finally came in. Everything was normal with no issues except one thing, a 9 mm pineal cyst sitting all cozy in the middle of my brain. You know I was looking that up! From what I read it’s a pretty normal thing that doesn’t bother most people. If it grows bigger it can pinch off something and cause vision problems and slurred speech. About 5 to 10 percent of the population has them.

Sister named my cyst, “Todd.” Even though it is not causing any problems I am going to blame all my mistakes on him. Forget to add the cinnamon to the cinnamon rolls? “Dang you, Todd!” Spill my tea? “Dang you, Todd!” Leak top secret military documents? “Dang you, Todd!” That last one will not happen, but you get the idea.

Genetic Testing Results

Thursday, April 20th, I went in for results from my blood draw for genetic testing. I am sorry to say that no superpowers were detected. No genetic mutations were found in the 9 genes that they know to test for. If there had been mutations, then there would be new treatment options. The kids were relieved to know that they wouldn’t need to be tested also.

Life moved on.

Dinner

Brother is in a culinary program at school. They had a dinner event for the parents. The upper classmen were the head Chefs and the lower classmen, Brother, were the sous chefs. The kids did an amazing job! The food was so good from beginning to end. I ate way too much and was in so much pain.

Side Effects

The next morning, April 21st, I woke up around 2 am with a headache. I went downstairs to get some medicine and I had the weirdest optical experience of my life. When something would move in my field of vision, like my arm or a cupboard door there would be a shimmer of the object trailing behind it. It was like a water ripple when you move your hand just under the surface. I stood in the kitchen waving my arms and hands slowly in and out of my vision. I then realized that I probably looked like I was high on LSD or something. Since it was 2 am I figured no one would be looking in the house, so I was probably safe from neighborhood talk.

I woke up later that morning with my headache still there. Nausea and dizziness joined in. It was fairly mild, but noticeable. I still went to work, but I didn’t last long. On top of the original symptoms, I got really fatigued. It got bad enough to distract me from the most basic of tasks. I started to turn down the wrong hallways and getting the right words to come out got harder and harder. I let everyone know that I was going home. Once home I laid on the couch and slept for about an hour. I woke up feeling better, but still fatiqued.

You may be wondering if Todd had anything to do with the vision and speaking problems. I don’t think so. Those symptoms are different, from what I’ve read.

I wasn’t able to stay down long because I had a nurse coming to the house to do a blood draw for another round of genetic testing. I still don’t know why I needed to do another round. She came took the blood and left. I went back to the couch for another nap.

Life moved on.

Fiesta!

Ben and I went to a military Fiesta party Sunday afternoon. The invitation said Fiesta casual for the dress code. We took that to mean wear Fiesta clothes. Pretty sure only four others thought the same thing. Oh, well. The food was good there too!

Oncology Check-up

Wednesday, April 26th, we went back to Oncology for a two-week checkup. I was hooked up to an EKG. They needed to make sure my medications weren’t harming my heart and making it do funky rhythms. It was not. Heart is still beating correctly.

The lab results from my routine blood draw were in. Both my red and white blood counts were down. That was expected. What was surprising was both my tumor markers were down. These two tests measure the amount of certain proteins in the blood that come from the cancer cells. What is really cool about this is that it usually takes six to eight weeks for the medicine to take effect and get them down. The tumor markers should have continued to go up.

Was the medicine working or prayers? Prayers for the medicine to work? Prayers for me and nothing to do with the medicine? Do my cancer cells die more easily?

Dr. B asked what kind of side effects I was having from my medications. I told him what was going on with the vision, fatigue, nausea, dizziness and added in insomnia. I got more meds to help with the side effects of the other meds. Thankfullly, these ones are just taken as needed and I haven’t needed them very often.

He asked about hot flushes and nightmares. Neither of those have been an issue.

I asked to see my brain MRI images, partially to see Todd and partially just out of sheer curiosity of what my brain looked like. I got to see top to bottom, side to side and front to back images. I also got to see Todd. He was a lot smaller than I expected.

Dr. B then pulled up some really weird images that were metallic TV static looking. I could make out my skull, but nothing else. He made a comment that it looked like a scene from a ninety’s horror movie.

New Side Effect

I laughed but didn’t think anything about it again. That is, until the wee morning hours. I had a nightmare. I looked in a mirror and the person from the movie was behind me. I ran out of the building and into a street to get away from it. I was trying to yell for help, but it just came out as, “MmmmmMmmmMMM!” Just as it was about to grab my shoulder Ben actually did grab my shoulder to wake me up. Freaked me out even more! I then heard him saying, “It’s okay, it’s okay,” and I was able to wake up.

I was so glad to be out of that dream, but then I was too scared to go back to sleep. Getting up for work Thursday was hard. I ended up going home early again.

Having to leave work early has been happening quite often. Some days I can make it, but others I just have to give in and rest. Everyone at work has been really supportive and understanding. I work with a great team.

Well, I am finally caught up! From now on my posts will just be how my appointments are going and if there is any news to share.

Thank you for reading and for all your prayers.

To continue on to Part 6, click here.