CANCER: Consult, Blood-work, Next Chemo Round....Update on Orthopedic




WOW.....Where do I begin!?! God has been so amazing to me in my cancer journey and His awesomeness continues to pour blessings upon me and lead my journey. 

Today, I had a consultation with my Medical Oncologist, Dr. Kara Bondly. Also, I had my blood-work drawn from my port. As I was having my blood drawn and vitals taken, I was able to minister to my nurse. I shared with Daniel some of my cancer journey and how God has led every step from the onset of diagnoses. God always opens doors and blesses us with opportunities to share the Good News of Jesus if we will step into the role of a disciple and take advantage of the provided opportunity. 

 I am so thankful and have been so blessed to have been guided to the St Vincent Hospital network and the Alabama Oncology at the Bruno Cancer Center. Every step along the way has been filled with loving, compassionate, and professional....yet personable....medical professionals. My family and I have been loved on and have even had doctors cry with us along the way. The care I have received has been beyond any expectations that I could have fathomed. When we are traveling a new path and are completely unfamiliar with the territory or where the journey will lead, it is so comforting to have those around us who we can completely trust and know that they truly have our best interest at heart. They fight right along side of us to help us survive and beat the disease that wants to take our breath away. 

 My consultation with Dr. Bondly went exceptionally well. She felt that my swelling of feet and hands is coming from the new anti-inflammatory medicine that I recently started. She said that my blood-work was excellent. Also, she said that my lungs are clear and my kidney function is on point. All great news! 

 Although I have had some tiredness and a bit of labored breathing, it is just from the build-up of chemo that sometimes has a negative effect on me. Because of my knee issues, I cannot currently walk or put a lot of pressure on it so she suggested me walking in the pool for low-impact. I have also got to wear my knee brace....although I haven't been doing it.....she said that Dr. Elkus wants me to wear it to help my knee not to collapse. So....guess I will be wearing it more cause I sure don't want that to happen. I will begin rehab therapy next week at BenchMark and hopefully that will also help with my knee and shoulder. 

 Dr. Bondly checked my chest and all is still looking good....no issues. Also, she mentioned the NO CANCER in my knee and shoulder. She didn't suspect cancer in my knee, but was concerned about my right shoulder. The concern came from my right arm being where I had cancer lymph node involvement. One of the places it would travel first could potentially be into my shoulder and upper arm and that is where I have been experiencing pain...sometimes excruciating pain. But, PRAISE GOD....just a torn rotator cuff and bone spurs. I can deal with that anytime over cancer for sure. Dr. Bondly wants me to also wear compression socks to help with swelling and she said it should also help some with my knee pain. 

 Dr. Bondly asked about my Hand-Foot Syndrome and saw that I still have some redness and peeling; however, I told her that my cases now are not nearly as bad as what I have had in the past. The worst usually only lasts two to four days and I can handle it. Some days I do have problems walking and have to sit a lot. 

 Dr. Bondly said that I have been a champ throughout my entire journey and she was very proud of me. I told her that I thought I had done quite well for a 65 year old girl. She laughed and said I was a young 65 and that 65 was getting younger all the time. That gave me a bit of a boost. LOL 

 Overall, I am doing so well that she started me on another round of chemo. I will actually begin on Saturday. I will take it for two weeks and on the third week....that is my off week, I will go back to Dr. Bondly for blood-work and consultation. We are on schedule right now for me to be completed with chemo in mid-December. That is earlier than we had initially thought so I am excited about that. I should be in great shape for the Christmas Holidays. YAY!!! 

 I have started the Letrozole hormone/estrogen suppression that I will be on for life. So far, no side-effects. YAY! After the first of the year, I will have another Pet Scan and EKG/ECG to see where I stand overall. 
Orthopedic Update:

I received a call today from my Orthopedic Specialist that my knee injection medication - Euflexxa: Sodium Hyaluronate Acid has been approved by my insurance. Therefore, I will have my first treatment on October 18th, my second in the series will be on October 25th, and the last treatment on November 1st. I might have further injections, but we will see how the initial treatments work for me before going any further. 

 Please pray that this treatment will offer some relief of my knee pain and feeling of collapsing. 
If you feel led to make a "love offering," all 
assistance is appreciated. 

GoFundMe Account:

https://www.gofundme.com/patricia039s-cancer-fund?



"Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” 
Psalm 100:4-5

 I certainly want you to continue to lift me in your prayers, but lets pray with a heart of thanksgiving for my healing. Help me claim this in the Mighty Name of Jesus. Amen and Amen!

 I am happy, I am thankful, I am blessed. I look forward with a joyous anticipation for what is yet to come. My year is 2020....Cancer FREE....No Evidence of Disease!

#GodisLeading   #BreastCancer  #DoubleMastectomy   
#GodisHealing  #PrayforaCure   #PrayerWarriors
#BilateralBreastCancer  
  #WhereHeLeadsIWillFollow  
#GodisinControl #PrayingGrands   
#PraiseGod   #ThankYouJesus
 #MyCancerWarisOn  
#CrushingCancer  
 #Orthopedic  #2020CancerFREE

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Update: Liver Biopsy - PET Scan - Treatment Changes

Image
  As most of you already know, I had a Liver Biopsy, a PET Scan, and a Bloodwork Profile and I have waited to get all results prior to writing a blog post update. I also had a lengthy consultation with my Oncologist, Dr. Bondly, yesterday.  First, I want to start off with a Super Praise God moment! My Liver Biopsy confirmed that my cancer has not changed to Her2-. It remains ER+ Her2+. That means we have been on the right treatment path. There is a strong possibility, however, that the Femara, Letrozole, that I took for 18 months did not work. It is a hormone based chemotherapy taken orally. It was to help lower my hormone and estrogen levels which in-turn was to help fight my cancer. We will find out more about that from the genetic portion of the Liver Biopsy when the results come back in about 3 weeks. The Liver Biopsy did show, according to Dr. Martin, that some of my cancerous lesions had got larger.   Because of the tremendous set-back that I had with my last treatment on May 28t
Read more

CANCER: A New Complication.....My Heart

Image
I met today with the Cardiologist, Dr. Monica Hunter, at the Southview Cardiology, that I was referred to by my Medical Oncologist....Dr. Bondly. About three weeks ago, I did not feel well all day. I started to feel pressure on my chest and then had pain in my left arm. I took an aspirin, but never got to feeling better. I felt nauseated most of the day. I went to bed a bit earlier than usual and around 4:00 I woke up throwing up profusely. I threw-up a few times and then it stopped. I thought that maybe it was a virus, but also knew that it could be a heart issue.  When I met with Dr. Bondly last week, I told her what had occurred and she suggested that I see a Cardiologist. Since chemo and radiation can potentially cause heart issues, she did not want me to let it go unchecked. She put me on a low-grade adult aspirin until we know more.  Today, Dr. Hunter asked a lot of questions and I basically brought her up to current about my last 17 month journey with cancer. I shar
Read more

CANCER: Dark Days with the "Demon" Cancer....BUT God Shines Through! Amen!

Yesterday was a day filled with so many different emotions, senses, and information over-load....yet, so many unknowns. I had a scheduled appointment with my Oncologist, Dr. Cara Bondly for my follow-up since my last chemo treatment on January 23rd. She gave me a brief check-up and did lab work. Since I was only one week out from my bilateral mastectomy, there wasn't much for her to check physically. She did go over the pathology report from my surgery with me.  I was very disappointed to learn that following chemotherapy treatments there were still "live/active" cancer cells in one of the five lymph nodes that were removed during surgery. They were only 2 mm; however, they were active and the report could not definitively tell me if I have a live cell/cells that could have moved outside of the lymph node. At this point, we know that IF that has happened it would be very small and might not show up or be detectable for some time.  I further learned that I had a second
Read more