Appointments with my oncologists

I had a couple of appointments with my two oncologists this week, so here are some updates!

I had another shot of Sandostatin, this time in the other “cheek”. I still have a lump from my first shot back on July 30, which is a known side effect, but I’m hoping this lump doesn’t hang around as long. I’ll have to get one of these shots every 28 days for the rest of my life. Because the shot takes 20-30 minutes to warm up to room temperature before they inject it, the whole visit takes about a hour.

My docs are happy with how the incision is healing, and I can start using ScarAway as soon as the scabbing clears up. That’s what I used for my other surgeries, and it works great. I had my staples out on Monday, and psychologically it feels really good to have them gone. They weren’t as deep as I thought they were!

Every day I feel a tiny bit better; a little less pain and a little stronger. This is really going to take a while, however, and I’m glad I have plenty of time off work to recuperate. I still have the hunched-over post-surgery shuffle, but my doc said that should clear up as my body heals. I still have a lot of inflammation, swelling, fluid buildup, etc. inside me right now. Showers are still exhausting (my shower stool is my best friend right now), and I take naps daily, but I’m definitely seeing positive progress!

Re: surgical menopause. Honestly it’s been great. I don’t miss my period AT ALL, and my complexion has cleared up! I had a couple of minor hot flashes while still in the hospital, but none since then, which is fantastic. I’ll have to start monitoring my bone density on the regular (yay more tests), but so far so good!

Another bit of good news is that when pathology reviewed all my specimens after the surgery, they found no other cancers or surprises! So, I just have neuroendocrine cancer and nothing else to deal with right now. Thank goodness for that!

We talked about next steps. Basically, I’ll get CT scans every six months. Hopefully we’ll see the remaining cancer (reminder: some on top of my diaphragm and some on the underside of my diaphragm) holding steady or even shrinking. If, over time, we start to see signs that my cancer has metastasized again, then she will order a DOTATATE PET scan and we’ll see for sure. If the cancer has metastasized and I’m eligible for surgery at that time, great, but if not, then chemo might be the route we have to go.

I had seven years between my first and second cancer surgery, so fingers crossed it’s at least that long before the next one. I asked some hard questions about life expectancy, and my doc said she thought I could have at least ten more years. Ten years is a lot longer than many cancer patients get, so I’m grateful for that much! I’ve been thinking about retiring early at age 55 (only 11 years away) for a while now, and this pretty much clenches it, even though it will be a big change in my income level. I’m incredibly grateful I’ve been at my job so long that that is an option. Now to start seriously thinking about what bucket list items I can get to in the next ten years…

I shared with my doc that I’ve been really thinking a lot about my mortality since I had this diagnosis this summer, and she suggested palliative care, which I think is sort of like counseling? I took her up on the referral, and I have an appointment next week, so I’ll find out more then.

There is still the question about the spot on my arm that the DOTATATE PET scan found, but since there was nothing shown on any of my CT scans and I do not have pain there or other symptoms, it’s probably just an imaging artifact. My docs will keep an eye on it.

I also got my flu shot today. Yay! Still trying to track down a Covid booster, but they are hard to find.