160. Woohoo, yaaay, trumpets, krumhorns, bagpipes, whatever...

Time at last to celebrate. Dr D saw me for all of 5 minutes (the phlebotomist took longer than that) and was only 50 minutes late. MRI clear of everything. No sign of cancer anywhere. A thingummybob by my spine which I may have had since birth so let’s not worry about it (something like a blister/lump of congealed blood???). I still have to be referred to Neurology because of the chemo side effects but no more oncology visits till JUNE. I am FREEEEEEEEE.

Even better, I can stop taking the dreaded anastrozole till the joint and muscle pain goes (4+ weeks) and then restart with the brand I got from the hospital. This from Dr D who last time insisted changing brands would make no sense. If that doesn’t work, then we can consider a different form of HT. Interestingly, Den and I had bumped into T, the senior oncology nurse, and she said brand made a huge difference to some of her patients and to keep her updated. Nurses are so different from specialists!

Yet again, I failed the Vampire Test.

           

 The poor phlebotomist was taking it personally that she could get a needle in but no blood would come out. Eeeek. She explained that it’s a hardening of the veins from overuse - no danger to my blood flow, just harder for them. And, since one arm is out of commission permanently, they have limited options. So having gone through three needles in my inner elbow, she resorted to my hand and got her required samples. I just got a nice lump and bruise.




Dennis and I decided to celebrate by going out for lunch. You’d think a nice posh restaurant would come to mind. Eventually we whittled it down to fish and chips at the Fox & Hounds or a sandwich at Cookridge Hall. Oh we really know how to push out the boat. I decided on the pub, headed for the post office and then drove straight up the drive to Cookridge Hall (I also left what I’d bought in the post office on the counter - don’t anyone ever challenge the concept of chemo brain!).

Celebration? An egg/mayo sandwich and chips and a bacon and mushroom sandwich. In fairness, Den did have a Peroni but I toasted with a mug of tea!

Only 2 pills tonight. It’s looking good. I used to have 8 or more at one stage.