9/15/23

Today is Friday. I had a very busy week. I can see a little bit better now, but my vision is 20/50 in my left eye and 20/60 in my right eye. It needs to be 20/70 to be legal to drive. I cannot read street signs. So, driving my usual routes, is fine. But, if I have to go anywhere new, it’s bad. I went to my eye doctor here on Tuesday and he said he cannot do anything to correct my vision for another month. We have to wait for my right eye to heal completely. I will have another laser surgery done to try and correct my vision. This has been a nightmare for the past six months, and the saga continues. I still cannot possibly drive at night. The car lights blind me. I still have to put drops in my eyes, and that will continue till the end of the month, when I go back to Dallas to see the retina specialist.

Yesterday, I went to the orthopedic surgeon and had two more injections in both hips for my bursitis. Those are painful, not any fun at all, but the pain is gone today, and I can walk.

Wednesday, I went to the oncologist. I’ve been nauseous for about four weeks, craving salt, and my gut has been in turmoil. He wanted to do a CAT scan of my abdomen, but I turned them down. I’m going to try some other remedies before doing that. They gave me some suggestions, so I’ll give it a little more time. Apparently, I’m craving salty things because of the nausea. I had no idea. I have ongoing yeast infections on my abdomen, armpits, etc. Apparently, I can’t do anything to avoid them. My immune system still sucks.  They took about a gallon of blood this time and explained why they did that when I saw the doctor. My white count is still low, and so is my red blood count. Perhaps that is why I’m tired all the time. Eat protein. Yada, yada, yada. Same old, same old.  They told me when I first began this journey that infections would be my nemesis. They said the cancer wouldn’t kill me, it would probably be an infection. I have always known this. Now that I’ve told you the icky news, I’m going to tell you some good news. They took so much blood  Because the lab got my tumor specimen and now they can perform that new magical blood test. They will mix my blood with the tumor DNA, then compare it with my blood today. This new test will tell them if I have any cancer cells in my blood now.  All this time, they told me they don’t really know for sure, but undoubtedly cancer cells were traveling on my lymph node freeway. This will be a definitive test and I will get the results in about 10 days. If it comes back negative, they will declare me in remission. Not too far in the future, they will be able to use the same blood test after people have their surgery completed. Perhaps a great many people will not need to have chemo, or radiation. Is that wonderful, or what?!? Son, I will be coming up on my three year anniversary of my diagnosis. I may get a phone call, saying I am in remission. What a wonderful anniversary present that could be! 

I see my pulmonologist on Monday and my regular doctor on Friday, next week. Doctor visits fill my social calendar, but the first few weeks in October are looking good.


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