Had an oncology appointment yesterday. (With Dr. Lemon’s nurse named Barb.) They wanted me to get a radiation therapy consult appointment, but I decided to cancel it. I just didn’t feel right about it. I did radiation therapy in the past, and I ended up in a lot of pain. I had to stop it early. The lump on my back might not be related to the cancer. It might not even help with the back pain. I thought she would be disappointed in me for cancelling it, but she wasn’t. She asked how my back pain was right then, and I said it was around a 3 out of 10. It was noticeable and irritating but not too distracting.
I told her about my lip twitching. I noticed it recently and told my palliative care doctor, Dr. Ha. Both of us were worried that I might get TD (tardive dyskinesia) from Reglan. Reglan has helped tremendously with my nausea and stopping me from throwing up. It’s the only thing that worked. One of the side effects is TD, and it could be irreversible. I had a phone appointment with Dr. Ha on Tuesday. She wants me to ease off of Reglan, then try another med. She wants me to try 2 pills a day of the Reglan for 2 weeks, then we’ll have another phone appointment and go from there. I was taking 3 a day. I’m worried that I’ll end up throwing up again.
Barb asked if my eyes twitch too. I said I’m starting to notice my left eye twitches occasionally. The left side of my lip twitches. She asked about numbness or tingling in my hands or feet. My left hand gets tingly lately. With all this, she’s concerned it might not be TD or even related to Reglan. She thinks it might be something to do with my brain. Like there’s a tumor pressing on it somewhere. It’s all on my left side, which she seemed even more concerned about. So, she wants me to get another brain MRI. Just to make sure. Since it’s been a while, she wants me to also get chest, abdominal, and pelvis CT scans. I forgot to ask about the bone scan. I usually get it with the CT scans. She thinks I should have the CT scans and MRI on the same day in June. I think they have both in Port Orchard. I wouldn’t have to go all the way to Tacoma. Radiology should call me soon to make an appointment.
I told her about getting sores in my mouth when I take Ibrance. It’s been annoying. Even though I’m not on it right now (I take it for 3 weeks, then off of it for a week. It’s like my chemo), there’s one stubborn one near the left corner of my lip. She tried to look at it but didn’t see it. It’s definitely there. Again, I have a lot more while on it. I remember trying Magic Mouthwash in the past and it didn’t work very well. I remember getting something from Amazon that worked a lot better. She’s going to try to prescribe a lidocaine thing. She said it should be better, since it’s prescription strength, than anything on Amazon. It has to get a prior authorization with Molina, my main insurance. Hopefully it’ll work. I’m willing to try something to help with the sores. Even if it just numbs it.
I was told the day before my appointment to get lab work done. I was only able to get 2 of the usual 3 then. My oncologist had apparently put in that I’d have the cancer marker (CA-15-3) done every 3 months. When I talked to him, he said he’d keep it as monthly. So that was weird. I told Barb, and she changed it to getting it done that day and once a month until December. I didn’t like that I had to be poked twice so soon together. I got all of the blood test results. White blood cell count was low, red blood cell count was low, neutrophils were low, glucose was right in the middle of normal, and alk phos was high again. The cancer marker was on the high end of normal. It hasn’t been this high since the beginning in April 2020. I’m a bit worried about it.
They’ll make a phone visit right after my scans’ results come back, and an in-person visit in 3 months. She did a short physical exam. Listened to my heart/lungs a little longer than usual. I thought she found something off, but didn’t say anything. My blood pressure was better than usual.
The last thing she wanted to go over was my weight. She said I look like I lost some since the last time she saw me. I stopped weighing myself back in January, because I was tired of losing so much through throwing up. Lately, I’ve felt like I gained a lot of it back. However, I didn’t fill up the ‘chair’ I was on (turns into a table to lay on) like before. I had room for my purse next to me and then some. I feel like I’m bigger than I actually am, which is a weird feeling. I told her I didn’t want to know how much I weighed. So, she ended the appointment there.
