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Follow-Up
October 16, 2003
Saw the surgeon today. He was amazed at
how "small" my scars are. I tend to heal pretty, but I told
him about the scar therapy type of bandages by BandAid and Curad.
I think they helped a whole lot. They have no pharmaceutical
component. The pads themselves make the difference, however.
they do contain natural rubber latex. Maybe he will suggest
it to other patients.
I asked about follow-up diagnostics. He
said that part of the problem is that insurance does not cover the
MRI's and PET scans. He says there is also a blood test that
is being developed that will tell if there are cancer cells in the
body. What if I had a test that showed cancer cells but
couldn't find the cancer? There's a lot of heartache with
cancer diagnoses.
October 17, 2003
Saw the radiologist today. He went over
the possible side effects. So many of them were 1 in 100,
even 1 in 10. I became pretty depressed over the beginning
of another course of draining treatment. He said I would
probably become tired after the 4th or 5th week, but that since I
was wiped out now, what the hey? He was pretty goofy,
actually. I am set. They made my little cradle that I
lie in to receive the radiation. It's pretty cool. I
wonder if that setup could be useful for highly individualized
restorative yoga postures?
He talked about the chemo brain and told me
about his sister who had received treatment for breast cancer as
well. How she had to write things down to remember. I
told him I thought this was a temporary thing. Looking over
the literature I haven't found anything about this loss of brain
function - memory and process.
Today I am discouraged. I don't want more
treatment. I want to be left alone. Maybe a rest over
the weekend will help me get my enthusiasm up. I really see
that I have no choice but to approach this with enthusiasm, so it
is where I will be putting my energies.
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