Lots of Scanxiety & Opening a Can of Worms - 8/14/21

I have been seeing my Oncologist every 3 months instead of the typical 6 months and had a check-up appointment scheduled on 8/4. The week before, I sent a message through “My Chart” just letting her know about some of the bone/joint pain that I was having since our last appointment. I mentioned that it had started in other places and had become more persistent than it was before. A few days after sending the message I received a call from her nurse telling me that instead of doing the bone density test that I was scheduled to have, Dr. Bisi wanted me to have a full-body bone scan to investigate the issues to make sure nothing was going on. I love that she’s proactive and does not dismiss my concerns. While I feel like I’m paranoid sometimes about aches and pains, she takes them seriously and makes me feel heard. So, before my checkup, Tim and I headed to the Center for Advanced Medicine for a bone scan and blood work. Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait long for the results and they had them by the time we got to Dr. Bisi's office for my check-up appointment. The bone scan showed that the issues that I have been having are not signs of recurrence but degenerative disease but an area on my sternum was noticed and the recommendation from the radiologist was that it needed to be checked out further due to my breast cancer history, so I was scheduled for a Chest CT which I had done last week. Again, not too long of a wait for results but enough to make us nervous – cue the Scanxiety. While the spot on my sternum is just more degenerative disease, a 4mm lesion on my thyroid was found so guess what? I’m having that checked out next week with an ultrasound and finally having the bone density test done too.

Dr. Bisi had warned us that scans can not only create what they refer to as Scanxiety in cancer patients but can also be like opening the proverbial can of worms finding things that were not what was being looked at. As far as I’m concerned, we can open that can up, dig through it, get our hands dirty and get to the very bottom to make sure that there is nothing hiding anywhere that could go unnoticed. I don’t mind at all.

I have been taken off my Aromatase Inhibitor; the medication that I am taking to help prevent a recurrence, for a month to see if my bone & joint pain goes away. Sometimes a break from medication helps the body to reset and side effects are not as hard to deal with. We will decide at the beginning of September if I will go back on the anastrozole or switch to a different medication. That has yet to be determined. Regardless, I need to be on SOMETHING for at least 5 years (possibly 10 based on what some of the new research is showing as far as the benefit of the additional 5 years).

We have a big day coming up in a few weeks! August 31 marks my 1 year NED cancerversary, our 19th wedding anniversary and “Warrior” tattoo day!

Stay tuned!