8 Year Cancer Check Up!

I went today for my eight year cancer check up. My remission date is actually May 19th but my appointments are usually scheduled in either February or March.

I started the day off with a CT scan of the neck, chest, abdomen and pelvis. I was also participating in a research study where they were testing a new contrast that you drink. It was surprisingly much better than the white chalky type used years ago last time I had to drink it. Additionally, I am super impressed with the new CT equipment. A complete scan like this would have taken over an hour years ago and I was done in 5-10 minutes. It took longer to drink the contrast and get hooked up to the IV dye (for which I had to be pre-medicated with prednisone since it gave me hives once). The CT scan revealed no recurrence of Hodgkin’s Disease which is GREAT! It did find a 3mm node on my right lobe (lung) that they will check again next year. My oncologist is not worried as she said it could have been between “cuts” meaning where they actually slice and dice the images on the CT films. So we are going to have another low dose CT of that area again next year.

Had the blood work and didn’t hear anything about that. I assume they will call if they need anything. They got me in one stick which is always a plus. However the vein blew up really big under my skin and I have a really pretty bruise.

The mammogram was again a hassle because I’m so young. I don’t know why my doctor can’t send down permanent orders saying it’s okay for me to get one once a year. This took an additional 15 minutes and then the wait time was pretty long after I got changed so I took a little nap. The actual test was not as painful as I had remembered it being the first time. I will get the results in 14 days.

We are also going to do a digital breast MRI as the American Cancer Society and (now approved by the FDA) are recommending that digital MRIs be done for females who were treated with high-dose radiation for Hodgkin’s Disease when they were 15-35 years old. So I fit that profile exactly. We are going to wait until I get the mammogram report to schedule that.

So a great day! Jason spent the whole day with me and while we waiting for blood work we got to decorate some tiles that are going on a wall in the Siteman Cancer Center. I put the Relay For Life logo on mine.