Experiencing a downer week...

This hasn't been the best of weeks. While I have been getting decent sleep, I am weighed down with heavy fatigue and dealing with a pretty sore chest with occassional labored breathing. I have developed a more frequent cough and the lung has been wheezing and fizzing more than normal. While I haven't been able to cough up anything, I have that background taste of blood, that metallic taste. Yesterday (Tuesday), I managed to get into the office by lunch time but couldn't really get anything started. After talking to boss for a bit, I ended up calling the clinic to see if Dr. Chen was available. He was so I set an appointment for 3 PM.

When Dr. Chen came into the exam room, he seemed quite concerned. I think I have developed a reputation of not bitching and moaning at every little thing yet not with holding those little things during my weekly exams. So for me to come in, something must not be right. George ran the vitals and everything was normal with blood O2 levels at 97%, I felt like that would be lower. I told Dr. Chen how I was feeling and the troubles I have been having and he spent considerable time listening to my heart and lungs as I breathed both deeply and normally. He reported everything sounded fine and that the blood taste is probably coming from popped capillaries from the cough. He asked if I might have been exposed to a cold and I said I wasn't sure. However, we both agreed that the seasonal allergies could be much more difficult on me now and its taking its toll. That's probably the case since my recent CEA test came in at 27 ng/ml, down from 44 in January. While that sounds good, I have no idea what it really means! Dr. Chen decided to have me do an immediate CT scan. We got with Rebecca and she called Seattle Radiology (SeaRad) to set it up. They told her there were no openings until next week. Dr. Chen got flustered and said he wants results by my chemo treatment on Thursday at 1:15. When she told SeaRad that, they told her how about Wednesday (today) at 7 AM? (Needless to say, I reported to SeaRad this morning at 6:30 AM, ouch!) Dr. Chen sent me home telling me to hang in there, get some rest and we will talk more come chemo treatment 2.8.

While it was pretty painful to get up that early and get to SeaRad, the CT scan went relatively painless. Unlike the PET scan, I only have to pass through a ring where as the PET scan sends me through a tube. Dr. Chen used this opportunity to scan me head to toe. Actually, the scan stopped about mid-thigh. The CT order was also to compare it to the PET/CT scan done in January. I am not sure if there will be any information gained from all this, but with my insurance denying paying for another PET/CT scan until after April 4th (one scan per quarter, apparently) this is all we can get at this time. Last September when I was in the hospital for that one week, all the CT scan showed was the enlarged lymph nodes in my right arm pit. I was told it didn't show any tumors in the lung or elsewhere. Only the PET scan revealed cancer activity. Dr. Chen sent 2 letters to my insurance explaining this but you know how insurance companies can be. So I guess we will see what the CT scan can give us and do a PET at the end of this cycle.

It was good to see Dr. Chen get upset with SeaRad. He certainly meant business. During the exam, I asked if he had received the results from the echocardiogram that was done over 3 weeks ago. He checked and did finally have them. However, Dr. Sytman didn't do a comparison to the last echo and that ticked off Dr. Chen! So his buttons were already getting pushed, as where mine.

Regardless of what the results reveal, I should be getting them with the next chemo treatment. In the meantime, I will just have to hang in there and get plenty of rest, at least when this wedding planning business is not killing me...