6 Month Checkup

I've crossed another landmark - my 1st 6 month checkup. To say I was nervous is an understatement. The mind can play terrible head games. I tried to overcome that this morning when I was working out. The morning workout girls were complementing my "new" hair cut. They don't know what I have been through the past year and sometimes I wished I had told them because they are such a wonderful, strong group of women. But even though they do not know their energy was enough to give my head a shake. As I worked out I kept looking over at the Curves workout philosophy. The one that has always stood out is "visualize it". One of these days I must get a copy of the entire thing because it's an inspiration. So this morning I decided to go back to my visualization. I was still nervous at my appointment but managed to relax a bit.

I had Dr Russell, again, a wonderful woman. This woman oozes warmth and care. She checked my breasts, lympoids under the arm pits, groin and throat areas. She said everything felt fine and normal. *whew* Of course it is still up to me to check on a regular basis and I do. We chatted for a bit and I asked a couple of questions. One of which involves the drug I am taking for the excess estrogen my body is producing called Tamoxifen. I asked how we would know the drug was working, through a blood test? Will a blood test show my levels lower? The drug actually acts as a blocker and since I am having hot flashes etc... then we know it's working. I told her my periods returned on Nov 11th and she mentioned that is good because when I have my period my estrogen levels decrease. I'm sure all this was told to me months ago but this just proves to always ask even if you've been through it numerous times. You are bombarded with so much information that you tend to forget answers. Or bring a friend along to write everything down. One of the things the doctor told me to do was to relax. It's natural to feel scared especially months after treatment ends. She said a lot of women think of themselves that first year as a boat being set adrift to sea. She said to me to think, "I'm better now and will stay that way". Her pep talk helped me today, I'm so grateful I saw her today. Again, something was looking after me. I found out that I lost another 6 lbs even with all the Christmas over eating so I was quite pleased with that.

My mammagram has been booked for January 19th in the morning. Once again the doctor told me to keep in mind this mammagram is to get a new baseline as to how my breast looks. My breast has gone through many changes due to the surgery and then radiation. She said not to get stressed out when they come back and say they need to take more pictures of the breast. She said chances are it doesn't mean they see cancer but because of the radiation changing the breast so much they need to get more pictures. I know she has told me not to worry but it's only natural to worry a bit. I see it as another emotional hurdle to get over. To say I won't worry would be a lie. I was also told that for breast cancer patients they like to see us every 3 months not 6 months the first year which suits me just fine. My next appointment will be in March and prior to the appointment I will have to get blood work done to check my liver. Tamoxifen can cause damage to the liver so they like to keep track of it.

As I mentioned several times, my life will never be the same but it's all good because I have a great team looking after my well being. And the key word is "well". That is my focus for 2007. One step at a time each day.