Today I had a check-up with the PA at my oncologists office to see how I am doing on Anastrozole. I have been taking it for about 5 1/2 months and I have been doing well. I was having problems with dizziness in the beginning so I changed the time of day that I take it from right before bedtime to when I wake up in the morning. I haven’t had a dizzy spell in a few weeks so it seems that my body has adjusted well.
First we went over my labs from the blood that they drew today. My white blood cell count is finally in the normal range, on the low end, but that was good to see as it means that my immune system is getting back to normal. My red blood cell count is still out of range, just a little low, so that goes along with me still fighting fatigue. I had one other value that was high but she said that it indicates that I have allergies to which I said “I don’t have allergies.” She laughed and said that as far as I know I don’t have allergies but I could be developing them….I hope not.
For the first time ever, she actually mentioned my weight but in a good way. She was happy to see that I have lost weight since the end of chemo, which was at the beginning of October last year, 27 lbs lost in total so far. She said that she knew it upset me to gain so much weight during chemo but she said that while going through chemo it is good to gain some weight because my body needed me to eat well. We agreed that my gaining weight helped me get through chemo as well as I did. She was also happy that I have been losing weight while taking Anastrozole because most women complain that they gain weight while on it, which for me will be 10 years, so I will keep doing what I have been doing to get to my goal weight.
She also asked me how everything went with the second part of my reconstruction surgery that I had 11 weeks ago today. She was happy that my surgeon was able to get me on his schedule so quickly before my medical insurance ran out due to being laid off. She reminded me that it has only been 11 weeks since that surgery and since I have had so much surgery in the last year, it will still take some time for my body to recover from all of the trauma I have been through.
I asked her when the 5 year count starts as it is the main focus now that I am done with my treatments and surgeries. She said that in their office they start the count from when I completed all of my treatments, both chemotherapy and radiation, which was this year at the end of January. I then asked what the next steps are in their care for me as a cancer patient. I will continue to have check-ups every 3 months for the first 2 years after completing treatments, then every 6 months until I get to 5 years after treatments and after 5 years she said that most patients go back to seeing their regular doctor once a year. My chances of recurrence are at their highest until I get to 2 years, then it will drop a bit until I get to 5 years and then it will drop substantially after 5 years without recurrence.
We also talked about my next mammogram which is coming up in August. I am nervous about it and she assured me that especially with this being the first imaging done in over a year, it is completely normal for me to be worrying and nervous. I told her that am paranoid about the cancer coming back so I am checking my breasts often for anything that feels abnormal. But, I also told her that I am well aware that I have been through the maximum treatments for my type of cancer, having had both chemotherapy and radiation, plus having an excellent surgeon who removed all of the cancer; so keep reminding myself that there should not be anything visible in my mammogram.
So all in all I am doing well and getting healthier and stronger as I get further away from having ended chemotherapy, radiation and 4 surgeries. Here’s to another 3 months of continuing to improve! 🙂