Good news from two doctors

Today I saw my oncologist and got a phone call from my new radiation oncologist. They were both incredibly happy with and encouraged by the results of my most recent scans.

I told both doctors that over the last three or four days I had a sharp pain around my right breast. I was beginning to wonder if not only was I a non-smoker with lung cancer, but perhaps I was also a guy with breast cancer. Wouldn’t that have been interesting? But my oncologist suspects it was caused by my (defiantly) lifting a 40-pound bag of fertilizer at about the time this started. She suggested that if it isn’t better in two weeks, I should call and she’ll schedule a bone scan. My new radiation oncologist pointed out that the pain is precisely where the metastatic lesion in my rib is. He agreed with my oncologist that I should get a scan in a couple of weeks if the pain isn’t better by then.

Concerning the three lesions in my skull and a new lesion on my C1 vertebra, they are tiny and they haven’t dramatically changed much. They could be just dead tissue. There’s no need for radiation therapy right now. I’ll get another brain MRI sometime mid-June through July and the doctors will reevaluate then. That was extremely exciting news for Joanie and me because we were both concerned about treating those lesions with radiation because one of those lesions is near both my brainstem and my throat.

Concerning the extreme fatigue, it is mostly caused by the immunotherapy drug Tecentriq. I am to continue Tecentriq infusions every three weeks for two years and the fatigue is something I will just have to deal with during that time. That was not good news because the fatigue is so devastating both mentally and physically at times that I can barely function. I almost certainly won’t be able to play pickleball or sing with our Vocal Sounds of Oklahoma barbershop chorus until I recover from that fatigue. But it is encouraging because there is a light at the end of this fatigue tunnel even though it may be two years away.

Not related to cancer: In my last post I mentioned that I had surgery to open a bladder neck contracture. That surgery was three weeks ago, on April 21. I’m still having occasional urethral pain that is sometimes so intense that I have to just stand still for a few seconds before attempting to walk. Our family doctor discovered I had a Urinary Tract Infection and put me on ten days of Amoxicillin. Today is Day 5 and the urethral pain is not as bad as it was five days ago but it is definitely still there. My hope and prayer is that by Day 10 of the Amoxicillin it will be gone.

Joanie recently gave me a daily devotional book titled "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young. I found the devotional for May 8 to be especially relevant and meaningful. It says, in part, "Do not long for the absence of problems in your life. That is an unrealistic goal, since in this world you will have trouble. You have an eternity of problem-free living reserved for you in heaven. Rejoice in that inheritance, which no one can take away from you, but do not seek your heaven on earth."