My cancer journey.

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Tank-Girl said:
I have an Oncology/ Pallative Care doctor appointment today so I have an opportunity to go and get some groceries afterwards.
There are 2 sushi and a subway store in the same complex so I'm going to be ok for food over tomorrow which is a national public holiday.
Wednesday is when the organic food shop gets their fresh fruit and veggies in.
The store is close by so I'm not even going to bother with delivery even though they aren't a large grocery chain.
Click to expand...
Prayers for positive outcome for both your appointment and shopping 💕
 
Well the other shoe dropped with this doctor much to my disgust.

She showed her prejudice and her refusal to give complete and total care to her pallative care patients.
She has refused to schedule me for a PET scan at ANY time because I am no longer getting conventional treatment.
Even when I gave the reason of wanting to know how far it - the cancer- has spread or shrunk.
That reason wasn't good enough.
Talk about a kick in the teeth and the stomach all at once.
She did offer a blood test and a CAT scan as a consolation prize.
CAT scans are not as effective at showing the full range of the cancer as a PET scan.
In fact they are a very poor second option esp. when it comes to vital things like picking up distant mets
and figuring out staging.

I got to see the PET scan from Nov last year and I was very happy to see the imaging of the primary lesion on my cervix. Rather than round and filling the entire pelvic basin it was like a flattened, elongated jelly bean shape going from right side to left.
Much, much smaller than when I has the very first staging PET scan.
I also got to see the new demon lesion in my right side.
I still find it hard to believe that it has spread to the bones of my hip since NOV of last year.
The Large hospital I was air lifted to didn't do a PET scan to stage the disease in my hip
and lower pelvis so I'm calling a "foul" on that one.

I went to the shops and I got bread and milk.
I was utterly exhausted to get much else and it was a trial to get those few groceries up the stairs.
I ended up taking morphine tablets to squash the pain so I could get to sleep.

This Oncologist isn't my only option.
I'm still have a referral to the Genesis Care Radio Oncologist who refused to give me radiation.
Yeah, I know!!
Not the ideal choice but he has the curiosity about the disease and the protocol to schedule a
PET scan.
If not then I'm left knowing nothing of how my condition is.
And that is quite frightening.
 
Tank-Girl said:
Well the other shoe dropped with this doctor much to my disgust.

She showed her prejudice and her refusal to give complete and total care to her pallative care patients.
She has refused to schedule me for a PET scan at ANY time because I am no longer getting conventional treatment.
Even when I gave the reason of wanting to know how far it - the cancer- has spread or shrunk.
That reason wasn't good enough.
Talk about a kick in the teeth and the stomach all at once.
She did offer a blood test and a CAT scan as a consolation prize.
CAT scans are not as effective at showing the full range of the cancer as a PET scan.
In fact they are a very poor second option esp. when it comes to vital things like picking up distant mets
and figuring out staging.

I got to see the PET scan from Nov last year and I was very happy to see the imaging of the primary lesion on my cervix. Rather than round and filling the entire pelvic basin it was like a flattened, elongated jelly bean shape going from right side to left.
Much, much smaller than when I has the very first staging PET scan.
I also got to see the new demon lesion in my right side.
I still find it hard to believe that it has spread to the bones of my hip since NOV of last year.
The Large hospital I was air lifted to didn't do a PET scan to stage the disease in my hip
and lower pelvis so I'm calling a "foul" on that one.

I went to the shops and I got bread and milk.
I was utterly exhausted to get much else and it was a trial to get those few groceries up the stairs.
I ended up taking morphine tablets to squash the pain so I could get to sleep.

This Oncologist isn't my only option.
I'm still have a referral to the Genesis Care Radio Oncologist who refused to give me radiation.
Yeah, I know!!
Not the ideal choice but he has the curiosity about the disease and the protocol to schedule a
PET scan.
If not then I'm left knowing nothing of how my condition is.
And that is quite frightening.
Click to expand...
Don't give up T. You might also consider inquiring w/ the palliative care that was so helpful and ask if there are any resources (other docs) for a work around. You are sure learning who's for folks and who isn't! You are an amazing gal. This doc. is/was not the right one. "Exit stage left!" "Next!" There are still some good ones - we'll trust the Lord to put them in your path 🙏
Glad you were able to get some grub. Now to rest.
 
Today I have a GP visit to get scripts for fentanyl painkiller patches and more morphine tables.
I need to go to a special pharmacy for the morphine tablets because they're an extremely restricted
Schedule 8 (S8) prescribed drugs.
No other pharmacy in town stocks them because of the red tape it takes to stock them.
I also need to get a blood test and book the CAT scan.
I'm still praying that the Genesis Care Oncologist will schedule a PET scan for me in the next 6 months.
I also know that I will have to get a new referral to see him again because of the time that has lapsed since
our last appointment.
I figure 6 months between scans gives me the best idea about how well the protocol is doing.
Even if I have to go the hard way and get my GP to refer me to the Oby Gyn and she can schedule me
a PET scan.
You see only a obvious specialist like a Oncologist and or a specialist that is treating the area of disease can
schedule a PET scan in our medical system.
In other words only a Oby Gyn can schedule a PET scan for someone with female reproductive cancer but a Gastroenterologist - someone who specialises in bowel, can't.

I hope that makes sense.
 
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Last night was better because I took the morphine tablets along with my regular night time tablets.
I'm extremely worried about taking all these addictive drugs and I have to balance the need to get sleep
with the physical cost of these drugs.

I got a few little jobs to do this morning and one of them is paying my electricity bill and I have no reason to complain when it's $131 mainly because I had been away in hospital for over a month.

I have the CAT scan scheduled for Thurs. next week.
I had bloods drawn for cancer markers at the hospital yesterday and the lass was excellent!
She didn't bruise me and got it done first shot.

I missed the time slot for the second Ivermectin dose but I did get the second FenBen and sups taken for the late afternoon.
 
I got my little jobs done and came down with terrible cramping and diarrhea after lunch.
I went to bed and stayed there.
Woke around 7pm with pain in my right hip and had to take my night time meds plus the morphine for the pain.
I managed to get back to sleep.
The pain in my hip was pretty bad this morning and I took some Loratadine with my morning meds and it seemed to help calm it down.
 
Pearl said:
☹️♥️ you got something done before it hit! Hope the pain stays down! Praying for the cancer to leave you!! Praying you feel great soon!!
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I was hoping for an early night but the crackheads were on a tear - drinking, drugging and getting out their beat up cars and screeching the breaks and then fish tailing taking off down the road and bashing their glass beer bottles into the trash can as loud as possible to the cheers of their mates.
I don't know what time they went to bed to sleep it off but I ended up sleeping in til 10am.
Which is ok because I had nowhere to go anyway and no real jobs to get done.
I finally got the fridge out of the car and inside.
I then went and took some pain killers and laid down on the couch.
I'm going to take @Pearl's advice and stand the fridge upright so the gas can settle.
I haven't moved the old one yet.

I've been craving a Japanese golden lamb curry so I hunted down a leg in the freezer.
It's too much meat for a single curry so once it's cooked I'll slice it up into portion sized lots, bag it up and freeze it for when I'm craving another curry.
It has a leg bone in it so that will make the curry nice and rich.
I'll serve it with brown rice.
 
I woke with a bit more energy and I'm going to do a bit more cleaning and my brain is churning away on a Thai mango salad dressing.
Puree mango chunks and thin it with lime juice and pure coconut water.
Then I'm going to blend spring onions, red chili, lemon grass, lime leaf, coriander, garlic and ginger and a dash of VVOO to a paste and it and salt to taste add to taste.
Most Asian salad dressings have a huge amount of sugar in them in one form or another.
If I wanted to be authentic I would use coconut palm sugar but I hope the fresh mango will add enough sweetness
so it doesn't matter.
The mango puree in the dressing will help it adhere to the salad.
 
Tank-Girl said:
I woke with a bit more energy and I'm going to do a bit more cleaning and my brain is churning away on a Thai mango salad dressing.
Puree mango chunks and thin it with lime juice and pure coconut water.
Then I'm going to blend spring onions, red chili, lemon grass, lime leaf, coriander, garlic and ginger and a dash of VVOO to a paste and it and salt to taste add to taste.
Most Asian salad dressings have a huge amount of sugar in them in one form or another.
If I wanted to be authentic I would use coconut palm sugar but I hope the fresh mango will add enough sweetness
so it doesn't matter.
The mango puree in the dressing will help it adhere to the salad.
Click to expand...
That sounds so good and fresh. I am sure you will be able to enjoy it!
 
Yesterday my back yard got done and when the crew laeft I went to a big hardware store and brought a spray pack and blackberry strength roundup, rat poison, herb seeds, starter pots and some higher grade potting soil.

I then went to the grocery store and managed to forget to get half of my list.

My pain was screaming. If you have been reading my journal you know I had a lot of pain in my knee before I got airlifted to the major state hospital - well it has returned with friends.
My tail bone and my left hip.
I'm taking morphine every night now and not once in a while which is upsetting.
At least I can sleep because of it.
 
Patchouli said:
But yet, you still get up and drive and shop.
I don't know how you do it, your pain threshold must be very high.
Sending hugs, prayers, love and comfort.
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Thank you very much for the nice compliment but I'm living with a lot of pain daily.
I take the morphine tablets with my night time tablets but last night it was so bad
I had to take them again at around 2am. That wasn't to get sleep.
That was just to get comfortable. I did manage to get back to sleep though.
The pain was real and biting when I woke up and I refused to take more morphine
because my morning meds are made up of pain killers for nerve pain and loratadine.
Once again still having to keep a weather eye on my bowels when I'm taking all this pain medication.

I'm beyond pigheaded and stubborn and I've fought long and hard in my earlier life for my independence
so I'm familiar with the cost and the pain keeping independence requires.
 
Tank-Girl said:
Thank you very much for the nice compliment but I'm living with a lot of pain daily.
I take the morphine tablets with my night time tablets but last night it was so bad
I had to take them again at around 2am. That wasn't to get sleep.
That was just to get comfortable. I did manage to get back to sleep though.
The pain was real and biting when I woke up and I refused to take more morphine
because my morning meds are made up of pain killers for nerve pain and loratadine.
Once again still having to keep a weather eye on my bowels when I'm taking all this pain medication.

I'm beyond pigheaded and stubborn and I've fought long and hard in my earlier life for my independence
so I'm familiar with the cost and the pain keeping independence requires.
Click to expand...
I didn't put love because you are in pain. I would love to hear that it's subsided and you are able to sleep pain-free.
I put love, because I love pig-headed and stubborn 😍
You are awesome in my book and I think we could use a few more like you!
Peace and prayers my friend.
 
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