I’m THREE days away from turning 47 yrs old. According to the statistics (and my Oncologists back in 2013) I shouldn’t be here to celebrate this birthday. But for those that know me in real life (or know me well enough ‘virtually’) know that I HATE being told what to do. In fact, I will go out of my way to do the exact opposite of what is being forced on me if I don’t like it or don’t want to do it. So, here I am! Suck it Cancer!
Yesterday, was a glorious day in Manhattan. The sun was shining down and warming everyone and everything. It was a perfect day to walk the streets and enjoy the day. Which I did. Between the PET Scan and seeing my Oncologist. They were in two different buildings a few blocks away! It was also a perfect day to meet my friend and Underbelly partner, Rebecca Scheinkman. We both had scans at Sloan Kettering and were able to meet after our appointments to chat and hang out for a bit.
OK, so without further adieu, here is the update: I received a call today from Sloan and my PET scan showed that I AM STILL STABLE. The nodule in my lung on my last PET scan did not light up as active cancer. This is the BEST possible news and quite frankly I am surprised and happy all at the same time. When your Doctor calls you and the message left is “When you call me back, have me paged”, well, you tend to think, “Oh, Shit, here we go”
However – I am still not out of the woods just yet. Both of my Oncologists have agreed that I need to have a Brain MRI and that will be happening within the week. There are some symptoms I have been having that they are both concerned with and want to rule out any metastasis. I haven’t spoken about these symptoms on Social Media because I didn’t want to make too much out of it and I figured I would wait and run it by my Doc’s before I started to push the panic button. I’m still not, but when they both agree that they want to look at your brain (thankfully, they actually feel I have one!) you can’t put the Xanax away just yet. They also want me to re-visit my Cardiologist due to some palpitations (or fluttering as I call it) that have been happening that cause me to cough. I do have two minor leaky valves that everyone knows about so they are erring on the side of caution and having him check this out.
So, there you have it. Over all, good news. So far. I just need to get through these last few tests and appointments and THEN maybe I can relax until the next scan in November. Wait, did I say relax?? Silly me, there won’t be any of that just yet with Adam’s Graduation next month, Adam’s Graduation party, Adam’s 18th Birthday (Holy Crap! Where did 18 years go??), getting him ready for College and moving Adam into his dorm.
Thank you for following along on this roller-coaster with me. I leave you today with a picture of Bella because she’s so darn cute.
Hi Susan,
Fantastic news about the PET scan. I hope the MRI brings more good news. There’s a lot going on at your house these days with Adam’s upcoming graduation, among other things, so relaxing for any length of time anyway will have to wait, I guess. Hopefully, you can at least snatch moments of relaxation here and there cuddling with that adorable Bella. I love seeing pics of her, btw. What a face. Thank you for the updates. xx
Thank you Nancy. I’m hoping too. I haven’t any time for anything other than good news so… 🙂
Nicely done on the check up….now if the brain MRI comes back clean,you’ll be able to have a decent summer and take lots of pictures of your adventures. Where is your Adam going to school at?
Yes..fingers crossed! He is going to The University of Rochester. He recieved a full scholarship to boot! Very proud Momma!
Great news Susan! Praying whatever you’re experiencing that triggered the MRI testing ends up not concerning 😊
When you started off your post stating you are stubborn, I thought, “must be a prerequisite to be a carrier of this disease!” Stubborn is my middle name sister 😁
Hugs from California 🌴
Ha! I believe it is. So many of us a very stubborn. I’m hoping to be able to share good news again once the scan is done. Hugs from NY ❣
Great news! And Bella really is cute!
Thank you!
That’s really, really good news! So glad to hear it!
Thank you!
Good news on nodules! I too have several we monitor with scans/.. and leaky valves-.. You can just exhale and give yourself a minute to just be… all the worrying and stress we do is so hard on our heart, anxiety and palpitations wreak havoc on our souls -.. fingers crossed fora all clear brain scanbut best to stay on top of things! So happy for you 💕Xo
Thank you. It is hard managing the anxiety and stress but hopefully it will all calm down..for a while anyway. 🙂