Christmas Biopsy #2

Let's see.....the last week has been a little action packed.

Last Tuesday I was called by a nurse at my new breast surgeon's office. My surgeon was scheduled for surgery on Friday at the Royal Jubilee Hospital so I was booked at a clinic for 07:45 to get the little bump biopsied. Uhhhhhhh.........07:45? I haven't been out of bed before 10 am in about 2 months. It is one of those suck it up, buttercup, and get it done moments. At least I am getting the biopsy done really quickly.

Later on Tuesday my wonderful bestie, Keetah, arrived for a visit with her mum, a couple of super cute pooches, and her long lost brother. It was a couple days filled with lots of food and drink and laughs. Orchid was awfully glad when they left. Miss Satori, the puggle, really wanted to practice her cat chasing skills much to the amusement of the humans.........our entire house is hardwood. There was a lot of running with no forward movement from the puggle.

Thursday afternoon I got a call from my oncologist. She had received the results of my biopsy (!!!!!). That was unexpected. The biopsy showed that the enlarged node was due to breast cancer. Yay! I haven't suddenly got lymphoma or melanoma. But, there was not enough sample to confirm the estrogen receptor and Her2 status. It is possible that the cancer has mutated and one or both of those markers has been lost. Fingers crossed that isn't the case.
If the cancer becomes ER negative then the letrozole will be ineffective and if it becomes Her2 negative the herceptin becomes ineffective. If the cancer loses both there will be a lot of chemo in my future.
So, because there was not enough sample to complete the testing, I am booked for a repeat biopsy on Tuesday afternoon. Joy.
My onc also told me that she has been in touch with my radiation oncologist and most likely I will be going for radiation on the lymph node at the beginning of January. The question now is how many treatments will I need?

Friday morning, dark and early, and rainy of course, I trundled off to the Jubilee. I got to the clinic where the biopsy was to be done and it was all closed up. The clinic was actually not supposed to open until after my scheduled appointment time. I waited a couple minutes and my surgeon showed up. She told me to just take a seat and she would be back to get me in a few minutes after she had set up.
A clerk showed up then and called me up to confirm my name and birth date then I waited a few more minutes.

My surgeon came back and showed me to the procedure room. Normally there is a nurse in the room to assist but the appointment was so early there were no nurses yet so we were on our own trying to figure out how to turn on the big light needed for my doc to see what she was doing. I had to change into a gown and my doc came back with a resident. He got to be the assistant.
The area around the bump got frozen with lots of freezing but I barely even felt the needle for the freezing go in. Goes to show just how numb I still am from my mastectomy.
Then I got sliced open and the bump was cut out. My surgeon was nice enough to show me the piece of tissue she removed. There was a clip attached from when my mastectomy was done. Possibly the bump was just due to me reacting to the clip. Sure hope that is the case.
I got sewed back up, the end result was a 2 cm incision in my chest. I got a few dissolving stitches, a few steri-strips, and a bandage on top just in case there was any residual bleeding. Results should be back in a week or so.
I felt alright when I left but I suspect that I was just slightly in shock. I had a little bit of lightheadedness and felt just a little icky. On the whole scale I was ok though.

I went home and went back to bed for a couple hours. After I got up for the second time that day I stocked up on fluids and got myself ready to back to the Jubilee, to the Cancer Agency to be precise, for my herceptin. Ahhhh, such a good day.
Only 1 poke was needed to get the IV and I was in and out pretty quick. Needless to say I was in bed before 8:30 that night.

I spent the weekend relaxing and socialising and enjoying the Christmas season. Next week the medical fun continues.

A Christmas biopsy

Last Friday I received a phone call from the medical imaging department at Victoria General. Would I be able to come in Monday morning for a mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy. Ummmm.........yea......of course. Such a silly question.

While I was waiting for that phone call I did manage to put up my Christmas tree. And I even fit in a Costco adventure with my mom and Aunt Gwen and the three of us got our Christmas baking done. The baking is a little late this year but it sure is tasty.
And Jasper is super lucky, I seem to have lost, or I may have thrown out while packing, his Christmas antlers so no Jasper wearing antlers picture this year.

The weekend was pretty uneventful and then it was Monday morning. The medical imaging scheduling person had told me to expect some delays once I was in the department. They are trying to fit as many people in as possible before Christmas. The mammogram should be on time but there could be a wait for the ultrasound and biopsy so I should expect to be in the department for a while.
With that advice in mind I arrived at the hospital and had to decide how many hours of parking to buy. I figured 3 hours would be enough. Turns out I can only buy parking in 2 hour increments. Glad to know hospitals like ripping sick people off.

In the medical imaging department I had to follow the pink line to get to the breast imaging area. Once there I was the youngest person by about 10 years although I could hear a child somewhere in the department who was definitely in the depths of despair. Poor little tyke.
With the warning that I could be sitting around for a while I came fully prepared with ebook and phone for entertainment. I only made it a few pages before I was called in for my mammogram.

It was a little strange, the radiology tech asked me some questions about my medical history, any history of breast cancer in the family, when was my last mammogram, what treatment I currently on, did I have chemo and radiation, were any lymph nodes positive when I had my surgery? Except for the current treatment question I really had to think about everything else. I don't think about the past stuff any more. It is just that, in the past. Can't do anything about it or change it so there isn't much point in thinking about it.
So the mammogram was quick and easy. A little squashing and body contortions and it was done. Certainly one of the easiest things I have to deal with so far.

Then, it was back to the waiting room. I only made it another 10 or so pages in my book before I was called in for the ultrasound. Not bad, I had barely been in the hospital for an hour at this point. The ultrasound tech repeated most of the questions the mammogram tech had asked. Much easier the second time through.
The tech also asked if I had any other concerns other than the enlarged lymph node. I mentioned the little lump above my surgery scar so the tech decided to ultrasound that first. Ultrasounds are another wonderfully uneventful test. I lie about and stare at the ceiling. Easy.
Part way through the ultrasound another tech popped into the room to see if we were ready for the radiologist to do the biopsy. We weren't. That meant the radiologist would do another case first so there might be a delay before my biopsy was done.
The ultrasound was finished up and the tech reminded me that there might be a wait for the radiologist. Turns out the tech doing my ultrasound was the supervisor of the department. She was the one that had ensured I got in really fast because my oncologist had supplied enough information in the ultrasound request to demonstrate the need for rapid testing without needing further information. I have to remember to tell my oncologist to keep doing what she is doing. It truly is a service to her patients.

After a short wait the tech and the radiologist came into the room. The biopsy was just going to be fine needle aspirates and not core biopsies. Yay! For those in the know, we are talking 25 gauge needles. Barely feel those going in. I did feel the next bit where the radiologist uses a combination of mushing the ultrasound wand into the lymph node and jiggling the tip of the needle around in the node to collect as many cells as possible. Then it was done 3 more times.
On the upside, the tech commented at one point that this radiologist was the best one in the department at fine needle aspirates. The radiologist always got bigger samples than everyone else. That is always a great thing to hear while you have a needle stuck into your armpit.

Altogether, the sample collection only took about 10 minutes and once it was done all I got on the site was a couple band aids. Getting this biopsy done does make me think of that day in July of 2012 when I had my original biopsies done. That time it was fine needle aspirates on a couple nodes plus 2 or 3 core biopsies of the lump in my breast. I remember the radiologist was called in from some other task to do my biopsies so she was wearing opened toed shoes, they may have even been heels, in the procedure room.
The other memorable thing about those original biopsies that were done late on a Friday afternoon was that the following Sunday morning I thought I would pass out while standing in the immigration line at the Vancouver airport. I was on my way to Rochester, NY for training for the job I had just started. I suspect that I was still in shock at the time and that trip was an adventure involving transfers in Denver and Chicago.

I'm getting so bad about tests that I totally forgot to ask when my oncologist will receive the results. Kinda makes the waiting easier. I'll expect the results some time in January.

CT scan #.......um.......I don't know

After much digging on my part I was finally able to feel the enlarged lymph node that I knew had to be in my right armpit. When I saw my oncologist last Thursday I was able to show her where it was. Turns out it is really deep which is why it has been so difficult to to feel during a physical exam.

Friday was CT scan day. It was the full meal deal, abdominal CT followed by head CT. 2 for 1 is nice since it saves me an iv and yet another dose of the contrast dye. Although, I am hoping that I end up having so many CT scans I eventually start turning purple from the inside out.
With scans done I was told I'd wait about a week for the results.

Bright and early Monday morning, or at least at 9:30, which I think is early for a Monday, a message was left on my phone from my oncologist. She already had my CT results. That was really fast so I couldn't decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
When I returned the call I found out it was a good thing.

As expected, there was an enlarged lymph node in my right armpit. No surprise there. The splotch on my skull is shrinking. Yay! There is nothing in my liver. Yay! And everything else remains stable. Yay!

With all these results it was decided that I would continue the current drug regimen of zoladex, letrozole, and herceptin. I am also going to be booked for an ultrasound and biopsy of the lymph node to confirm if it is breast cancer and to see if there has been any change in the estrogen receptor and her-2 status.  I am also waiting for a consult with my radiation oncologist as the plan is to use radiation to treat the lymph node.

On Tuesday I met with a breast surgeon. My greatest dream is to have a mastectomy on the right side and a double reconstruction. By doing a double reconstruction I don't have to worry about the problem of one perky boob and one floppy boob as I age. Unfortunately, I doubt I am a candidate for reconstruction since I am currently not stable. Even if reconstruction is off the table I would still like the right side mastectomy done. I have to say that I find the imbalance right now annoying and rather inconvenient.
If I get the second mastectomy and no reconstruction I am going to get a mastectomy bra tattoo. If you haven't seen one before, here is the general idea
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2281345/Photo-breast-cancer-survivors-tattooed-chest-shared-thousands-Facebooks-attempts-ban-it.html.

Hmmmmm.......I have digressed slightly. On Tuesday I saw a breast surgeon.  She is very concerned about 2 things. First, the lymph node. She finds it odd that the original tumour was on the left side and now the right lymph nodes are affected and there is currently no sign of any tumour in the right breast. Because of this she really wants the ultrasound and biopsy done as quickly as possible.

Second, I have had a small bump just above my scar at my mastectomy site. The bump is about 1 cm but after it initially showed up, in February???, it shrank a little and doesn't seem to have changed since. There is a slight red tinge to it which is apparently not good. Of course, I have no idea if it has always looked like that. I sometimes think I should reread all my blog entries occasionally, all the details start running together after a while.
Anyway, the surgeon thinks the bump should be biopsied as well so now I am waiting for that appointment as well.

And that is my life right now, endless appointments. At some point I need to find the time to put up my Christmas tree.

Another year older

November 10th was my 39th birthday. The third birthday I have celebrated since my diagnosis.  So far I have been travelling this road for 28 months. Apparently the median life expectancy for MBC is 26 months so I am doing good so far.
I celebrated my birthday early with a trip to Vancouver. I didn't get to see nearly as many people as I would have liked, but there will be more visits. The actual day was celebrated by getting my favourite, a zoladex injection, followed a couple hours later with a herceptin treatment.  I did get my free birthday beverage from Starbucks to add a little joy........mmmmmmmm........peppermint mocha...........

Two days ago I noticed the stiff neck and head pain from the splotch on my skull is finally really disappearing. Yay! Yay! Yay!!! I'd jump up and down with joy but I don't want to push my luck quite yet.
Of course, this happens as a weird pain is starting up in my right armpit.  I was finally able to sleep on my right side for a little bit before my skull would hurt and now my armpit starts to hurt. Go figure 😛
My last couple of CT scans have shown enlarged lymph nodes in the area but when I had an ultrasound nothing looked like a possible target for a biopsy. Plus, both my medical oncologist and my radiation oncologist have been unable to feel any abnormal lymph nodes when digging their fingers into my armpit.

I see my onc again next Thursday and my next CT scan is scheduled for the following day. Perhaps there will be some explanation for the pain with those appointments.

In the meantime I am continuing to recover some energy after my travels. My fatigue was back in full force when I got home. Perhaps I had not recovered quite as much as I had hoped from my radiation in September.
Somebody on one of the MBC email lists I belong to posted an interesting journal article about cancer fatigue. I am attaching the link http://m.jco.ascopubs.org/content/19/21/4180.full. I found it so interesting to read because it finally made me feel less crazy about what the fatigue does to me. There were two aspects of the fatigue description that I found particularly true, one was the fact that sleep has no effect. There are days I think I could sleep for 25 hours and I still won't have the energy to get out of bed. The second thing was talking about "empty being empty".
I remember when I was working evenings at St. Paul's, I walked to work, a couple of kilometres, then depending on where I was working I could be on my feet running for almost 8 hours then there'd be a sick call so I'd stay and work another 6 hours before walking home again. I'd be exhausted but there was no question I'd be able to make it home. Now, I can be mid-activity and blammo, I hit the fatigue wall, and quite literally, if I don't stop whatever I'm doing and sit down immediately I will fall down because I don't have the energy to stay upright. It really does make me feel better knowing I am not the only person who deals with that.

Alrighty, that is enough for now. CT scan is in 8 days. I'll post when I get the results.

Radiation to the Base of the Skull Really Sucks

In fact, I think it may have caused the worst side effects I have dealt with during this entire cancer adventure.

The last couple weeks have been a bit of a write off so I can't remember quite where I left off.  I know I posted about my head CT scan results being positive for skull mets but negative for anything in the brain.
Since then I have been dealing with headaches that were not too bad but often were accompanied by nausea. Generally unpleasant. And the pain was so nonspecific. It was inside the skull so I never could really pinpoint where it was coming from, just that the right side of my head ached.
And any sudden head movement or jarring cause instant, nauseating pain. All in all super fun.

On the Saturday of Labour Day weekend we gained possession of our house in Central Saanich. So awesome!!!
The view from the front of the house.....

The view of the backyard from the deck.......

The deck.......

We even have outbuildings!!

........we just don't have much to put in them yet. 😝

Because the thingamabob (did you know that is actually recognised as a word by my spell check ?!?) in my skull was causing me pain I was being referred for radiation. On the Wednesday after Labour Day I went for my consultation. Turned out to be a really good appointment.......
I really liked my new radiation oncologist for starters. It is always great when you like a new doc. She was only recommending ONE treatment rather than the five that is often suggested for bone mets since the location was not close to anything important like the spinal cord or major nerves. Apparently the brain isn't very important, who knew?? Since it is only one treatment there is much less risk of my hair falling out in the area the radiation would hit! Good news since I am not prepared to lose my hair right now, I am still loving my extensions.
Other potential side effects include headaches and nausea. Since I'm already dealing with those the radiation didn't sound like a big deal. Usually people get prescribed dexamethasone for head or brain radiation to help control any swelling and for nausea. I absolutely hate the stuff.......turns me into a raving carbohydrate junkie.......so my rad. onc and I agreed to only do something if the side effects were a problem.

Conveniently there was a cancellation in the radiation planning department so immediately after my consult I went directly to planning.  The planning session involves getting a plastic mesh molded to my face........

and a CT scan.
They do cut out the eyes and mouth before you come in for the radiation appointment so it isn't quite as claustrophobic.  Although they do actually snap the mask to the bed I have to lie on so my head is totally immobilised. For some reason it made me think of the Saw movies. I'm glad it wasn't closer to Halloween.
The planning scan only took a couple minutes all together so I was actually in and out of the Cancer Agency in less than hour. Not bad at all!

On Friday morning I received a phone call from the Cancer Agency booking office, my radiation was scheduled for Monday morning at 10 a.m. Wow! Really wasn't expecting it to happen so fast. Friday afternoon I had my Herceptin treatment and more great news......only 1 poke was needed!!!

Monday morning it was back to the Cancer Agency for my radiation. During the prep talk by then radiation tech she mentioned that she was a little surprised I didn't have a dexamethasone prescription but she totally understood why I was being resistant.
The treatment was quick and easy. Two zaps to the skull, one from the left side and one from the right side, and I was all done. In and out in less than an hour again!

I was planning to go to Costco after but I had forgotten my list and my cash so I headed for home instead. Boy, oh boy, was that ever fortunate.  Within a couple hours my head was hurting way more than it had ever hurt before and the nausea was horrendous. I took myself to bed but lying down did not help.
I phoned Ian and asked him to come home and to pick up some Tylenol on the way.  I couldn't find the Tylenol amongst all of our stuff so it is possible we didn't even have any.
Next I phoned the radiation nurse line to report my symptoms. Of course, I had to leave a message and wait to be called back. The wait seemed to be forever but I'm sure it wasn't actually that long. The nurse okayed me taking some gravol and she said to take whatever the maximum dose was suggested on the package.

I took my gravol and went back to bed to wait for Ian and the Tylenol to get home. That was not the most pleasant wait, the gravol did not seem to be doing much.  As soon as Ian arrived I took 2 Tylenol and continued to feel like crap. Then my fingers started to go numb. I wasn't sure if it was due to the gravol finally kicking in but it was a side effect I was supposed to report immediately so I phoned and left another message on the nurse line.

The call back was much quicker this time. The nurse said she had seen my rad. onc. recently so the nurse said she would go talk to my rad onc and request a dexamethasone prescription be faxed immediately to the closest pharmacy. The nurse said it would be at the pharmacy in a maximum of 10 minutes so Ian could leave immediately to pick it up.
Ian was home within half an hour with instructions for me to take one pill immediately and one in the morning. If I felt the need to take any more I was to phone the nurse line again. So.....I took a pill and I swear within 5 minutes I was feeling better and within 10 minutes I had passed out.

Since it was one of those totally drugged sleeps when I woke up I had no idea where I was or what time it was. Turns out it was 8 pm so I had slept for over 3 hours. Guess my fatigue was pretty bad since dexamethasone is supposed to make people hyper. I think I ate something then and then I passed out again, but I really don't remember now.

Tuesday morning I was still feeling pretty awful so more steroid down the hatch. I don't remember much but I'm pretty sure I did nothing all day. I still didn't feel great in the evening so I took yet another pill.....oops, didn't phone the nurse, but I figure all they would have told me was to take another pill.

Wednesday I was still not too functional but I had to get to the Cancer Agency to see my medical oncologist. I downed one more dexamethasone and then I went to wait for the bus. No way I was driving in the state I was in. Shoulder checking was out of the question and the general feeling of utter crappiness was not conducive to being safe on the highway. Fortunately there is a bus stop just down the street so it wasn't a big deal.

I saw my onc. and she said my side effects weren't a big surprise. If, however, they had not improved by the following we I was to notify her and my rad. onc. We also discussed my next scan date.......near the end of November, far enough away to give the new drug, Letrozole, a chance to actually do something.
I had to stop in at the Cancer Agency pharmacy to pick up more pills. Very annoying, the pharmacy actually closes for an hour for lunch every day. Seriously?? Could you imagine if the lab in a hospital closed for an hour? Some ER doc would have a total conniption. Any hoo, that meant that after my onc. appointment I had about 40 minutes to kill before I could pick up my pills........just enough time for a London fog (it made me think of Beyond.......I will try and make it to Vancouver soon for sushi and another London fog) and a honeybun. Time well wasted 😁

Once the pharmacy was open again I learned they had not received the updated prescription from my oncologist that would let me take home 3 boxes of pills, so I took the 1 box I could get and scaddled. Enough time wasted for the day. Then it was back on the bus and home again. Good to know the bus trip isn't too bad to the cancer agency, I don't know the next time I will have to do that.

Since then the nausea and headaches have been improving and the fatigue is very slowly improving. It is now 2 1/2 weeks post radiation and the nausea is totally gone and the carbohydrate cravings are slowly decreasing. I still have the occasional flash of pain but nothing like I was getting and it continues to get better. Now I just need the fatigue to go away. One activity a day still wears me out.
I did eventually make it to Costco though, and spent gobs of money. Even more important I made my first visit to Lee Valley.......so excited, I'm now on their mailing list so I should get their catalogues in the mail. Can't wait for my first one!!

I had another visit to my medical oncologist today and since it appears things are stabilising I am back to appointments every 9 weeks instead of every 3 weeks. I had my blood work done, no tumour marker results yet but apparently everything else is looking fantastic.......I decided to take a break from being a lab tech and didn't ask for any specific values. Usually I always want to know my platelets and haemoglobin. Must be a sign that the fatigue has totally gone away yet.

So for now I am taking things slowly as I deal with the fatigue but I am loving getting outside everyday to play in my garden. And pretty soon we will be allowed to have fires in our backyard fire pit..........mmmmmmmmm..........toasted marshmallows........

Now it is late, time for bed. Have an awesome Friday everyone!!!! And at 2:30 I have my herceptin so cross your fingers it is only one poke again 😉

A Little Bump in the Road

Portland was awesome! I will post pics and talk more about it next post but right now I am posting on my phone and pics are a pain in the butt.

I got the results of my head CT and it turns out the spot found on my skull is a new spot of metastasis. Grrrrr. That means the spots on my spine that seemed a little brighter last time really are brighter and it is not just machine variation. On the plus side, because the contrast dye was used they can confidently say that my brain is currently not affected.
Still, that means a change to my treatment.

I saw my wonderful new oncologist on Wednesday.  We both commented how we felt bad for each other. She said she felt bad because I had just had 2 successful years of treatment in Vancouver then as soon as I was officially in someone else's care all hell starts to break loose. I laughed and said that I felt bad for her, my new oncologist thought she was getting a stable unexciting patient, then as soon as she is in charge all hell starts to break loose. :-P
After that we did discuss my new treatment plan. Lucky for me the new plan doesn't involve chemo.
I am continuing on the Herceptin IV every 3 weeks, the Zoladex injection every 4 weeks, and the daily Chlodronate pills. The daily Tamoxifen pill is being stopped and switched to Letrozole which is an aromatase inhibitor.

Yay! The hot flashes will continue........and the insomnia.......and I might get joint pain......and my risk of osteoporosis goes way up. I'm so excited!!!

Basically, what the treatment change does is switch how the cancer is starved of estrogen. The Zoladex stops my ovaries from producing estrogen and chemically puts me into menopause. Other tissues in my body still produce low levels of estrogen.
The Tamoxifen worked by blocking the estrogen receptors so the estrogen had no where to bind. Now, the Letrozole stops the production of the rest of the estrogen so the receptors just hang out with nothing to do.
I wasn't sure about switching to an AI, but a quick scan of some literature told me that it is pretty common for Tamoxifen to start failing after about 2 years. I was on it 17 months. A generally very successful route to go after Tamoxifen failure is AI with ovary suppression so it seems worth trying.

I am starting out with a trial month. The side effects can be really horrible and difficult to tolerate so there is no point in prescribing several months of the drug if I'm going to have to drop it in a few weeks. It has been 5 days and so far so good. Besides, I had my Zoladex injection on Friday and that gives me such brutal hot flashes and a few days of really bad insomnia that I wouldn't notice any other changes right now anyway.

I was scheduled for my routine abdominal CT scan in mid September so it is going to be bumped up to some time in August to make sure there aren't any more new spots or reactivation of the splotch in my liver.

The stupid spot in my skull is also giving me headaches now. In particular I notice it if I have to turn my head to the right very much or when I lie down on my right side. It was probably at it's worst Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. It seems to have improved a little bit today but that might just because I didn't do as much yesterday after having my Herceptin infusion on Friday. Maybe I'm getting a really awesome placebo effect from the new drug as I think it is highly unlikely that it is already causing the new met to shrink and stop causing pain.

Because I am now having symptoms I am going for a radiation consult at the beginning of September......I had to move our moving date around as the consult ended up being scheduled for the same time the movers were going to arrive, of course!
I am hoping that the new drug really does kick in and my headaches go away so they decide radiation isn't needed.  Since my brain isn't affected it wouldn't be whole brain radiation but it would probably still hit at least some of my hair and I really don't want to lose ANY of my hair right now.

I think that is all for now. I should have my CT some time in the next couple weeks, we get possession of our new house the end of August, and then radiation consult the beginning of September. All in all things just seem to keep carrying on.

I promise to post about Beerfest soon! Right now I think it is time to try and get a little sleep.

Have an excellent Monday, everyone :-)

Waiting

I am on the ferry on my way to Tsawwassen, the first leg of the adventure to Portland. A quick update on my head CT.......I got a phone call Friday morning from the scheduler at my oncologists office. The scheduler could not get me in last week and she didn't want me to wait until I was back to be scanned. The requisition was faxed to the medical imaging department at Saanich Peninsula Hospital so I could go out there as a walk in patient.Yea

Turned out to work well, I only had to wait about 10 minutes before the tech called me in. He was really nice and had apparently been working in the department for about 20 years. The disturbing part was that I had a suspicion that he felt sorry for me. An odd feeling, that.

The head CT is pretty similar to a regular CT except there was a specific head rest used. Also a strap went across my forehead so my head doesn't move and my eyes get covered with a folded Kleenex........I guess in case I open my eyes I don't stare right into the laser beam.
Since I have never had my head scanned before the tech started an IV on me so he could use contrast dye. By using contrast he can also scan my brain which is probably a pretty good idea right now.  Unlike my experience last week it only involved 1 poke to get the IV in. Yay! Improvement!

The scan itself was super quick, maybe 5 minutes. The tech said the results should get to my oncologist either the same day or by some time on Tuesday. So far I haven't heard anything.
If I still haven't heard anything by tomorrow afternoon some time I will call my onc. I kinda want to know before I actually leave for Portland so I don't have to dwell on the not knowing the whole time I'm gone.

Once I know anything I will post again. In the mean time I shall enjoy the awesome view ;-)