It's been an 'interesting' few weeks one way or another as I come up to the first anniversary of when I found that dreaded lump. I've been through some of the first annual check ups, developed a problem shoulder, a worry about a shadow on my lung and to round things off nicely today I found out that I could very well have shingles right over my treatment site!
It's certainly true to say that I don't do things halves that's for sure!
I was very apprehensive about the first round of check ups partly because for one of them I was back in that same waiting room I sat terrified in awaiting diagnosis last year and it brought back all the old fears and worries. This was a meeting with my oncologist and when I mentioned that my shoulder has been troubling me (painful with a loss of mobility) she arranged an x-ray knowing that just a few days later I would be seeing my surgeon. This resulted in a hot ticket straight back into the 'have I got cancer?' game as the x-ray showed a distinct shadow on my lung that was not there before treatment. My surgeon was worried enough to order an urgent CT scan for the following week and right now the jury is out on whether it's something more to worry about cancer-wise or damage from radiotherapy. My surgeon is leaning towards the latter but is going to get some further opinions on the scan before deciding fully one way or another.
Meanwhile I am struggling with an ever decreasing range of movement in my right shoulder for which I am having steroid injections into the bursa in a bid to solve the problem. It's a tricky one - weighing up the benefits of the steroids against the risk of lymphoedema from the injections. Right now though it's so uncomfortable that I decided to take the risk of the injections.
The final straw is to discover today that I might have shingles and that if I do have it, it's too late for an anti-viral to make a difference. Just what I don't need!
Whilst I haven't been posting online for a while, I have still been writing and I hope to post some of that over the next few days. It's musings about the past year and observations on just how much breast cancer has changed my life.
Now what I need is a trip to the doctor that doesn't result in more tests, more worries or something new to be wrong with me!
