Update...Long Overdue

I have not posted a health update follwing my most recent round of scans and tests. Speaking to my sister about it last night, I realized I just wanted to be done with all of this. Ya know. No more blog posts. No more of your daily or weekly checkups on the blog. I am SO OVER all of this. And, albeit the cancer is gone, my health issues are not.

So here's the latest:

On Friday June 12th, I called my Nurse Practitioner, Sue Domico, because I - then and now - experience a great deal of fatigue on a daily basis as well as shortness of breath and light-headedness when I walk at a normal pace. Should I actually exert enough energy to participate in a normal days activites - equivilent to any healthy man my age - I am exhausted at the end of and all the day that follows. And in addition to being exhausted the following day, I also don't think completely clearly and have no motivation to the point that I have to force myself to do just about anything. My concern was that I had another Pulmonary Embolism.

So, Sue moved my CT Scan up from Wednesday June 17th to Saturday June 13th. I shared my concern with the CT tech and let her know I was going to wait until my resluts came back from the Radioloist before I did anything. The CT tech wasn't allowed to share the actual results with me, but she had shared my concerns with Radiologist and after reading my scan, he told her to send me home.

On Tuesday June 16th, Daniela & I met with my oncologist, Dr. Scioritino. He informed me that I did not have lung cancer. I was a bit surprised by his statement. Lung cancer had never even crossed my mind. He also informed me that the embolism had shrunk significantly and was not the reason for my symptoms. After some discussion about the possibility of lung damage - maybe permanent/maybe not - he scheduled me to have a Pulmonary Function test. However, since the CT scan revealed significant shrinkage of the embolism, he also referred me to the local Coumadin Clinic in Ithaca so I can eventually stop the Lovenox and take Coumadin for a few months.

Oh, Lovenox...how I will miss you and the joys of spiking myself in the abdomen with a needle twice a day. Ho-humm.

There is more about this appointment that I feel compelled to share with you, but that will be in the next post, so that I can complete this one regarding my current symptoms and treatment.

The day following my meeting with Sciorotino, I was back in Sayre, PA at my Pulmoary Function Test, sitting in a glass box blowing in and out of a tube.

Interestingly, the tech - who - again - can not provide a diagnosis, said for the most part, I did very well. That made the reason for my symptoms about as clear as mud...??? I have a consult with a Pulmonologist on Monday in Sayre. I hope to know more or schedule more tests at that meeting.

My Coumadin Clinic appointment was the other day - Tuesday June 23rd - and seemed pretty routine. Today is Friday and I have taken 5 mg of Coumadin for the past three nights. I will have my blood drawn early this afternoon, so any necessary adjustments to my Coumadin dosage can be made before my next scheduled dose this evening. Hopefully, all will go well.