The last two days have been strange, and today is starting off the same.
First I will talk about the oncology appointment Wednesday morning. I am doing well. That's the short version. The bone scan came back normal, which is excellent because the Arimidex can cause bone loss. It was, indeed, their fault that they forgot to put the tumor marker test on the order form. They also meant to put kidney and liver function tests on there. So I have a new order for that, and the blood draw is scheduled for Monday morning. I will see her in six months, December, and then I get to go to annual visits! That's a huge milestone. She also said there is no evidence to show staying on Arimidex for more than five years is an advantage unless there is family history, stage III cancer, or more than four lymph nodes involved. I do not have any of those, so I will stop the drug on Valentine's Day, or after the current bottle is used up. That's all good news.
She did mention one thing that I had not known. She said if breast cancer returned, it would be considered a recurrence and stage IV. I thought that if it came back after five years, it was considered a new cancer and treatment started over, including staging. Mark found a very recent article that confirmed what she said and that what I believed was no longer the accepted theory. That caused me to think hard for a little while and then move on. I am not dwelling on a recurrence! That's for SURE!
Second, as you know Tuesday morning I saw the gastroenterologist for my pre-colonoscopy appointment. At the time I told the PA that I did have any problems or chronic diarrhea. Be careful what you say. Starting Wednesday evening, I had diarrhea. It persisted all day Thursday and is still here this morning. Yesterday I also just felt weak and sick all day. Despite that, I drove to the NARFE meeting and back. As soon as I got home, I went to bed for about five hours. I got up, watched some TV, and went back to bed. I slept nearly 10 hours and woke up to find that I still have diarrhea this morning. Weird. Fortunately, I feel less fatigue than yesterday, at least so far.
I am blaming it on food poisoning from some suspicious raw carrots that I ate in a salad for lunch on Wednesday. It was the only thing that Mark did not also eat. Needless to say, I threw the whole salad out just in case. I ate virtually nothing yesterday except toast, oyster crackers, and later in the evening I ate the grilled tilapia and steamed veggies that I bought at the meeting at Outback but couldn't face eating at the time. I drank some Sprite with sugar, too, and drank a lot of water. It was a terrible day yesterday.
This morning I have no time for this illness. I felt better when I first got up, so I ate a normal breakfast of three sausage links and a yogurt. I hope it settles down well because right now my stomach is hurting and I've been in the bathroom three times already in an hour and a half. UGH.
Mark's cousin Robert (now deceased) and his wife Mindy are celebrating their son's wedding tomorrow at the Disney Wedding Pavilion, located next to the Grand Floridian. The reception will be at the Boardwalk Villas. When we got the invitation, we were able to get two nights on our DVC points at the Boardwalk. We've been looking forward to this a lot since we have never attended a wedding at the pavilion. Also we haven't stayed at Boardwalk since the day it opened about 20 years ago. It should be a lovely, family affair. Now I'm also worried that I won't have the strength to enjoy it.
On top of all of this, Mark started to feel sick yesterday evening and ran a low grade fever. He took Tylenol and went to bed early last night, too. He doesn't have a fever this morning, but he doesn't feel very energized either. Fortunately, he has not developed any diarrhea. If he does, I will think it wasn't the carrots after all! LOL!
Meanwhile, the best thing about being sick like that is the weight loss! I dropped five pounds since Monday, from 274.5 to 269.5. Now if it would only stay away. HaHa! Of course, it doesn't work like that.
We are leaving to check into Boardwalk as soon as we get ready this morning, but no rush. I'm not going to take my laptop, so no blogs until we get home Sunday night. Tonight we have a dinner reservation at the new Italian restaurant at the Boardwalk, Trattorio al Forno. We think it sounds a lot better than the two restaurants they had in that same location before. With any luck and some health, we plan to swim and laze about the pool this afternoon before dinner and maybe even tomorrow morning before the wedding.
Have a great weekend wherever you are. I will be posting pictures of the Boardwalk Villas Resort and the Wedding next time.
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