Good labs

The good news is that my blood work looks FANTASTIC, so far, on the Verzenio.  

The bad news is that I now have to take anti-diarrheal medication every day.  Oh well.... it's helping, so it is what it is.

I see doc on Tuesday, and will ask if the side effects DO actually dissipate over time, of if he was mistaken about that when I saw him last. 

After another week of heat, it looks like there was a shift yesterday.  It was supposed to be 95, but there were clouds all day, and a little drizzle, and it only got up to the mid 80s. 

 

Now, looking at the forecast, there are no 90s for the coming week.... SO....we are hopeful that the equinox got it's message across to the weather!

Two of my co workers have been promoted to supervisor positions.  I did not apply, so I can't complain about that part....however, they are being given ALL of the credit for our survival after the mass exodus.

Excuse me, but ALL OF US who stayed are responsible for that survival.  ALL OF US.

But do they say anything?  No, of course not.  They take all of the credit and run with it... so they look better to the new director.

Whatever.  

In other news, there really isn't any other news....I am starting to consider posting less frequently... or maybe only when something important happens, HAHA.

Out of the frying pan....

 The cool front gave us exactly 2 days below 90, and they were lovely.

It's to be 100 and higher this coming week.  I'm back to watering everything every day.  

The one day of rain that we had, the shorter daylight hours, and the break from the heat have resulted in my begonias FINALLY blooming, and my rose bush sending out new shoots and buds, and the native sunflowers, spindly and sickly as they look, are blooming.  

I'd like that to continue.

After 5 days on the Verzenio, the diarrhea started.  Imodium locked it back down, though, and after a couple of days, it seems to have stopped and I am back to normal.

I messaged my nurse, and she said nothing about what most people experience, so my guess is she doesn't have a point of reference.

We got our newest covid boosters on Friday evening.  Yesterday, we both felt quite fatigued, and had arm pain.  Dave had never felt the fatigue before.

We wanted to get them done at least 2 weeks ahead of our concert in Dallas on Oct. 1st.

Nothing much else to report.  I have to go get labs drawn tomorrow, so I will work from home, and go to the office on Tuesday.

I have a zoom meeting in a couple of hours, and need to prepare my portion.  Better late than never, but the event kept getting postponed, too, HAHA!

Have a good week.

Cool front!

 It's a glorious 58 degrees this morning!  Ahhhhh!!!!  

We sat out in our little hot tub last night, as the weather front came through, and a light, cool drizzle fell on our heads.... It was SO refreshing and wonderful.

Slept with the windows open, which was worse for our allergies, but so be it!!

We will have temps BELOW 90 DEGREES for two days, but then it's back to the mid 90s after that for who knows how long.

Once the afternoon sun has dried the grass, Dave will be mowing today, and doing some weed whacking.

I hope to do a little reading for my course.

So far, so good on the Verzenio.  

There's really nothing else going on.... the biggest news in our world right now is the weather shift. 

Have a good week!

Hmmm....

 Well, my doc wasn't as happy with the genomic results as we'd hoped.  The suggested therapies were not what he would prefer.  They DO exist, but he wasn't thrilled with them.

So, he and my nurse (let's face it, mostly my nurse) are still doing more research, and have ordered the test results from my very first genetic blood test, done in December of 2014.  

For some reason, that was not transferred over to them when the breast center referred me to Dr Hollen after my biopsies.  They sent all other records, just not that.

SO, that being said, I am not going to be on a specific, targeted treatment plan yet.

Instead, we are going to the next immunotherapy type pill, Verzenio. 

In the past, I took Ibrance, and it worked for a couple of years... Then Kisquali, and it worked for a couple of years.... so we are doing this now.

In the meantime, things will progress with research, and there may come a time when something else is available that will work longer.

So, I start the new medication on Wednesday, as doc wanted to give me the week off that I normally had on the schedule with the Ibrance, and then the Kisquali.

Verzenio is daily, with no breaks, and still requires a hormone blocker. Ugh.

The main side effect of Verzenio is diarrhea.  Yay.  That means that I will also be taking an anti-diarrheal medication for a while.  Doc said that it gets better over time, but my nurse said it can be severe, and may cause dehydration.

Just great!  

I will go for labs after 2 weeks, so we can see if it my numbers are still okay.  If they are "tanking," we will have to come up with an alternate.  Fortunately, there are already alternates, but doc wanted to try tis first. 

Once they obtain my original genetic test results, we may decide to re-do it, since the technology has changed so much since 2014.

The only other news around here is that it has finally been raining.  

Dave mowed and edged the front yard yesterday, and had hoped to do the back today, but it rained again overnight.  The crabgrass is sure happy, and growing like crazy back there!

If the sun comes out later, and the back gets dry enough, he'll be able to mow with the mower set up high, then go over it a second time.  Thankfully, we have tomorrow off, too, and it's supposed to be sunny, so it may have to wait until then.

No fun plans for Labor Day.... our friend who was going to join us for burgers has canceled, so it will just be a quiet day at home.  Maybe we will get up early and go to the woods.... I'll take my muscle relaxer and ibuprofen, and see how it goes.

Have a good week!

A new plan is being made

 My nurse FINALLY got word from the lab on Thursday.

They found two specific mutations that have multiple targeted treatment options.

One of the options is to return to the chemo chair.  That one covers both mutations, but is going to impact quality of life, with increased pain and sickness being likely.

The other two are pills, but she didn't go into detail about if they would work for both mutations or not  (If she did, I was having an adrenaline rush, and didn't hear her).

She suggested that the testing took so long because they were reviewing both types of cancer. That makes sense.

All of the information is on my doctor's desk, and we will see him on Tuesday to talk about all of it.

I will also get my monthly injection, and my port flush, that day.

In other news, the new director took away our overtime hours.  She wants to monitor our productivity, and get a 40 hour week baseline.  This means we are returning to being scrutinized... Yippee.

This seems ill-advised, at best, but we have no choice.  We are still trying to get caught up from everyone leaving, including all of the coders.  We are only just now getting claims for June out the door.

Oh well... we had no say in the matter.

SO, I will re-set the alarm for 6:30 (except for my office day), and will go back to taking my lunch breaks.  I guess it will be nice for a while....but the pay checks will be a lot smaller.

This way, I can see what my raise did to change my regular pay, because I have been working overtime since the raise took effect.

This loss of overtime pay just means that it will take longer to pay off the windows, since my overtime pay has been going toward that.

It's drizzling rain right now...not enough to do any good...but is supposed to rain tomorrow.  We shall see.

Oh!  I found the mild muscle relaxer medication that the doc I saw for the car accident in 2020 prescribed.  I have started taking it, half a table at a time, and it's transforming my leg pain!  There have been a couple of days when I could walk without any limp at all!

I am not going to return to dance class yet, but I am very hopeful about this change.

Going to a yoga class tonight, and will pace myself very carefully.

Have a good week!

Still waiting

 I messaged my nurse this past week, and found out that the lab wasn't finished with testing my tissue samples yet.

What was supposed to have taken two to three weeks, did not.  By the time I get any news, it will have been two MONTHS since my initial CT scan that showed the return of cancer.

I'm trying not to think about the fact that my scan was clear in December, and how fast "it" seems to be coming back.

She said that the date they gave her for final results was today's date, a Sunday.  Hopefully, I will hear something in the coming week.

The high temperatures finally broke, here.  We got a little rain the other night (it rained for about 4 minutes). It's supposed to rain on and off for the next few days, but, so far, all we are getting is drizzle here and there.

So, we wait.  We wait for news about my treatment, and we wait for desperately needed rain.

The rain will be too late for many shrubs, trees, flowers, and lawns in this part of the country, ours included.

The pain in my lower body and leg continues to fluctuate, and move around. 

I DID get out and walk several times this past week, limping, and slowly.  It was very helpful to get outside into the less-hot air and sunshine.

If I hear anything mid week, I will make another post. 

Relief

 They are saying that we only have a few more days of temperatures over 100 degrees.  This pattern should break some time in the coming week.

It could rain a bit, too, which is desperately needed.  

My leg pain is also behaving differently, with more frequent pain free moments.  

After doing all of the chores, errands, and cooking a fabulous dinner last night, I had virtually no pain last evening, which is surprising, given all of the activity of the day.  

Stiff this morning, but not too bad.  I am starting to think that it's just one of the "traveling pains" that I have had for years, due to the hormone blocking medication. 

I was looking back at my Facebook Memories the other day, and this time last year, it was my LEFT leg!

Anyway, I just met up with a new friend who lives nearby, and took a 3 block walk outside.  It was a little difficult, but felt OH so good to be out.

Maybe next weekend, Dave and I can get back to doing a woods walk on Sunday morning.

In other news, there IS no other news.  

My nurse was on vacation last week, so ... maybe that's why I still have not heard one word about a new treatment program.

It will soon be TWO MONTHS since my CT scan results came back.  I had to wait a month to get my MRI and bone scan, and the next day, Doc and Jamie told me that it would be two to three weeks for the genomic test results, and a new plan.

This past Thursday was three weeks.

I know, everything is taking longer than expected these days, but... this is my life. It's only cancer, right?

Ugh.  It's hard to just be patient and wait for news, when it's your actual life at stake. 

Not much else to report.  The heat has kept us inside most of the time.  It's supposed to be record-breaking today and the next couple of days. 

The new boss is sitting with me at the office tomorrow.  I'm a little nervous, as an older person (the oldest in the office, to be honest), I really need to show her that I am still on my game.

She is quite young, but also 100% inexperienced in the world of AMBULANCE billing.  She came over from the hospital system I used to work for, where I did physician billing.  I have had my feet deeply planted in BOTH worlds, so maybe that will help.

Maybe I'll drop it in her ear that I was a medical billing operations manager for 8 years back in Illinois.

Anyway, I'm already showered, and ready for more coffee....breakfast soon, too.  Have a lovely Sunday!