Monthly visit to the oncologist time! First off, let me tell you that visiting a doctor's office in Trailer Town in this heat is miserable. Those tin can trailers SUCK in this insufferable heat, leaving you hot and sticky and more than slightly damp. And that's for those of us just there for an hour or two. I can't imagine having to work in there and be so NICE to everyone all day. I think the heat would make me snap.
Moving on, Dr. Croy started by asking if I had had any vaginal bleeding this time. I told him no, and that he would have been the first to know if I had had any. He then gave me a fairly thorough going-over, starting with looking in my eyes with his little lighty thingy (and yes, that's the technical word for it. I looked it up.). I need to ask him what he's looking for when he does that, but I'm afraid the answer is he's checking to see if my eyes are registering that I'm bat-shit crazy, and I just may not want to know the answer to that. He went over the side effects list: Hot flashes? Nope. Swelling in either arm or armpit? Nope. Mood swings? Nope (shut up, all of you). Difficulty swallowing? Nope (and not on any of my side effect lists, either - crap! More research needed!). My blood work was fine. My heart and lungs were fine. I'm really a very dull patient. He asked me if I were tolerating the heat all right, the only answer to that being, "No." (The only person I can think of who MIGHT be would be my friend Karen's son, who was adopted from Haiti. And that might be iffy.) He also told me (warned, maybe?) that he would do a breast exam next time. Oh, boy.
Next stop, the infusion center for my Zoladex injection. Same song, second verse from last month's experience, with me waiting 45 minutes for the pharmacy to deliver the goods. Still haven't been asked for my opinion on how to streamline this procedure....
Today, I was greeted by Lauren, the nurse who gave me my very first injection, but Karrie is the nurse who gave me the injection today. I picked the spot to receive the injection, closing my eyes and poking myself until I was sure I found a spot that was COMPLETELY numb this time. Karrie asked me if I had had the same procedure as SueAnn, the nurse I saw last time, and I told her yes, and we even compared incision scars and marveled at our matching belly buttons. I let Karrie know that I tend to bleed after my injection, and that SueAnn put pressure on it for a bit before sticking on the bandaid.
I most assuredly picked the right spot for the injection, because I didn't even feel the PRESSURE of the procedure, let alone any pain. (It's a strange sensation to see a spot on your skin being cleaned with an alcohol wipe, knowing it should feel cold and wet, and not feeling a blooming thing.) When she finished, Karrie smugly announced, "Make sure you tell SueAnn that I didn't make you bleed at all!" And by golly, she didn't! Karrie also got added to my "favorites" list when she said I didn't have any belly to pinch when she gave me the two shots. Hey, it's the little things....
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