Palliative care visit, oncologist appointment, and bone-strengthening infusion

I'll begin by saying I am WORN OUT from back-to-back days of appointments. And I feel rotten.

The past two days were tough, mainly because the weather has my knees really hurting. I'm having to lean very heavily on my walker because my right knee especially is super painful. It even hurts just sitting still, and that's unusual. We have a big weather change coming, so I feel sure that's why the extra pain.

I saw the palliative care nurse practitioner after a LONG wait on Tuesday. I felt bad for my next-door neighbor who drove me to the appointment, that she had such a long time in a waiting room.

The N.P. was apologetic, saying one of her patients needed extra time. I get that. But it still made for a very tough day for me. Waiting room chairs aren't exactly comfy. Part of my long wait was in an exam room, so I tried to adjust the table so that I could lean back more. It kind of worked, except that the table is too short even with the foot part pulled out. But that did relieve some of my back pain.

That was my last appointment with this particular nurse practitioner as the practice is changing the palliative care folks' "territories." I'll have an M.D. next time. One that my oncologist especially likes, so that may turn out really well (even though I really liked the N.P.)

That palliative care appointment dealt with medication side effects, and we decided to continue with the same pain prescriptions and with my continuing to try to figure out the best balance of laxatives to help with the pain-med-caused constipation.

Nausea has also been a big challenge. It's very unpredictable. Some days I don't have any. And some days (like today so far) it's pretty severe. I hesitate to take Zofran because it contributes to constipation, but on days like today I take that chance.

Yesterday a former student took me to my appointment with my oncologist. I really enjoyed her company and the conversations we had. My oncologist saw me pretty quickly, and it was a short visit because there just wasn't a whole lot to discuss. Palliative care takes care of the most challenging things (like side effects).

We did discuss my breathing, which is much improved since stopping the Kisqali. She decided to hold off a little longer on starting Ibrance.

And she surprised me by saying I'd have the Zometa (zoledronic acid which is to strengthen my bones) infusion that afternoon. It wasn't on my schedule as it had been the time we postponed.

She also told me that I'll be having a CT scan with contrast on January 23rd. That is to find out if the cancer meds are working. Other scans have indicated that they are, so I hope this one confirms that.

I had a long wait for the infusion, as my lab results had to determine the dosage. It took the lab a while to get to my blood, but I had good company with good conversation and didn't get frustrated with the wait as I might otherwise have. I got stuck twice to get the IV in (why oh why do I have to have bad veins??!) and then waited quite a while for the actual infusion to start.

The infusion itself went well. They set it at 30 minutes because people seem to have fewer side effects at that time period versus 15 minutes.

I was worn out when I got home. Back-to-back days of appointments when the weather has my aches on overdrive...well, that's almost too much!

Today I kind of feel like I have the flu. That's a side effect of the Zometa. It's interesting that it's to help my bones but now has my joints hurting.

I did wear a mask when I was near people at both appointments because the actual flu has been hitting this area hard. I sure don't want the flu on top of everything else I'm dealing with!

A positive for me today is that my brother-in-law is bringing my sister up to be with me for the next week plus a couple of days. He'll spend the night and go back home and then come back to get her. I'll sure be grateful for her help! When my knees hurt this much it's a blessing for me not to have to go through pain to get a drink or some food or a med because she can fetch things for me.

So even though today is an especially rough one, I know help is on the way!

And I'm grateful for the help I've had this week from friends and neighbors. It really does take a village. And I have a kind, considerate, helpful one!

So even though it's been a tough couple of days, I'm grateful overall. Last week was a mostly good week with a LOT less pain than this week. Heck, there was even one day when I had hardly any pain.

I really appreciate those days. And I have these painful days but still expect to feel a lot better the next day.

And tomorrow I'll have my sister's help.

So, as I said, I have a LOT to be grateful for!