Round 4 and Knowing Your Body

I started my 4th cycle of immunotherapy and abemaciclib yesterday. By now I am getting familiar with the ups and downs of each cycle. Documenting each cycle has been necessary for the trial, but also for monitoring things that the trial doesn’t necessarily track, but that my oncology team wants to know about.

My port was placed yesterday, and I was able to use it for my blood draw (yay for no more blown vessels!) and for my infusion too. In addition to my 4th immunotherapy infusion, I also received a Zometa infusion. This is only my second Zometa infusion. Hopefully, it goes a little better than the first. The side effects can be flu-like feelings for a few days, which is what I experienced in September. I am told that after the first one people usually tolerate the drug a bit better. So I am sticking with Zometa for now. If I get the ick again, I will switch to Xgeva, which is a monthly injection, no infusion. Xgeva has shown to be slightly better at doing what Zometa does, but its a very small significance, and I would love to avoid more shots, especially now that I have a port.

My bloodwork looked good yesterday. Part of it might be due to the fact that I had to pause the abemaciclib before my surgery and then restart it post-op. Taking a break from the meds is scary because I don’t know which drug is the one that working or if it’s the combo of all three. I am happy to be back on all of them.

Just when I thought I would have one less drug (Lupron) in my line up since I just had my ovaries removed, I found out yesterday that I am adding a new one for my thyroid.  It’s a synthetic thyroid hormone that I will take every day until we figure out the right dosage to keep my thyroid stable. I officially have a hypothyroid at this time. My oncology team predicted the trend, so this was not unexpected. Even without the bloodwork to tell me that my thyroid had finally slowed down, I could tell in how my clothes were fitting and at the scale. I was losing weight for a few weeks, then it stabilized, and now I have gained weight. Blood work obviously is the most accurate way to know what’s happening with my thyroid, but I like that I know my body well enough to know when somethings up. That’s how I found my tumors, both times.

If there is only one take away that you get from my adventures in CancerLand, it is KNOW YOUR BODY (the whole thing). Your body is beautiful, it is practically perfect, even when imperfect, and it is a vessel in which we add experiences and emotions we take from this world. When you know your body, you can advocate for yourself and move through this world with confidence.

One part of my body I don’t know much about right now is my thyroid and the mechanism of how it works. You know what that means right? I get to do RESEARCH 🙂 I know I am a nerd.

Thank you to all of the folks that reached out and told me about their experience with thyroid issues. You all have given me a lot of hope that it can be managed with regular monitoring.

In addition to being a nerd, I am fully embracing the post-menopausal old lady inside of me. The first item of business in my menopausal life? A pillbox. I want one that can hold 7 days worth of meds, AM/PM. I don’t want it to be plastic or lack beautiful design. I headed over to Etsy, and I found this gem. I like it!