A Cough Equals A Dark Cloud of Doubt

Yesterday was my 3 month PET scan. I had the usual scan anxiety. But the rational part of my brain was trying to rule my thoughts to a good outcome. I've been feeling great. Two weeks ago, I even had my best mental and physical day of the last 12 months. I had no pain. I had energy. I was feeling good. I even had thoughts of, it could be possible to have many, or most of my days, pain free and without a care.

Encourage your hopes / Not your fears

But then I crashed. I felt like I was getting sick. I never did get full on sick. I did get a cough. At first it was annoying. But this last weekend and the beginning of this week it was bad with congestion. I decided not to wait until my already scheduled appointment to report my cough. I called the Dr. on Monday.  They said it probably was just the start of an upper respiratory infection and called in an antibiotic prescription for me.  

The combo of not feeling 100%, anxiety about my scan and the sound of my horrible cough got me down. I just needed that cough and my fears to go away!!!!

How do you overcome the fear of the unknown?

The bracelet in the photo was given to me by an acquaintance that is a pancreatic cancer survivor. I don't wear it all the time. But I put it on when I feel the fears overpowering the hopes. I wore it yesterday.

The scan results reflected how I was feeling before the cough set in. No active cancer is visible on my PET scan! There will be no changes in my current treatment plan. You don't fix something that isn't broken.

My next set of follow up scans will be at the end of October, 2016. Instead of a, more detailed, PET scan, it will be a CT scan with contrast. I will also have a brain MRI. This is just a routine one year scan. There is no current reason or concern that requires an MRI.

Here's to the First Day of the Rest of My Life

It's so hard, mentally, to switch my targeted therapy, chemo pill.  I know the first pill is what helped shrink my tumors and nodules to nothing.  But physically, I have been uncomfortable and in pain.  Physically, that old pill can go away and never return.

Leave it to me to be the only person on record to have the muscle aches, tightness, fatigue and pains that have occurred as a side effect of Tarceva.

This is my current alternative.  Iressa. My new pills arrived last night.  It came with this file box with a very inspirational quote and a pretty decent looking cancer cookbook.

My oncologist described the change like going from Pepsi to Coke.  It's more than likely if I don't have GI issues with Tarceva, I may not with Iressa.  I took my first dose before bed. Let's just say, I'm noticing a slight side effect this morning.  But I would think that's expected anyway when switching meds. All in all, so far, so good.

On the plus side(s), I can take it with or without food.  No more waiting 2+ hours after eating to take my pill.  I don't have to to avoid the sun, which has been a challenge with an outdoor job. No more staying covered and out of the sun. I'm going to give it a couple days to get the Tarceva out of my system.  But I can't wait to be outside in shorts and short sleeves again.