5th September - I am happy to sat that my CT scan came back all clear! This marks 1 year of being Cancer free! Woohoo! He was happy with everything except my vitamin d level which is still a little low, so I have uped my dose. I see him again in December with another CT scheduled for March 2015. We spoke about the fact my GP thought I had AVN, he said it is very common in patients that have been treated for blood cancer.
Avascular necrosis or AVN - is the death of bone tissue due to a lack of blood supply. Also called osteonecrosis, avascular necrosis can lead to tiny breaks in the bone and the bone's eventual collapse.
11th September - I got in pretty fast to see the Orthopaedic surgeon, which surprised me. I had to have another xray on my hip before my appointment with the surgeon. In the appointment he showed me on the X-rays that the bone is starting to chip away and also has quite a large crack in it! Explains why it's causing a lot of pain. He requested an MRI and then said we would make a decision based on those results. I was rebooked to see him on the 23rd October.
19th September - I was booked in to have a gated blood pool scan (heart scan). My oncologist requested this because the chemotherapy I had has a high risk of damaging the heart.
This is how they do it:
- The “in vivtro” method: a cannula or thin plastic tube is inserted into a vein in your arm. The medication that prepares the blood for labelling (stannous pyrophosphate) is then administered via this tubing. About 15 to 20 minutes later about 10 ml of blood is removed through this tubing. The blood is then labelled in the laboratory. About 10 minutes later the patient’s labelled blood is injected back through the same tubing.
The scan it self only takes about 10 minutes. I will get the results back of this scan with my next oncologist appointment in December. I presume its all good because if anything came up wrong I think they would have called my by now!
25th September - I had my first ever MRI, something I was terrified of! I took a pre med of lorazepam to relax me which helped. I was also lucky as it was only my hip that needed scanning I was allowed to go feet first, so the whole time if I tilted my head back slightly I could still see the roof which was good! Having headphones and being able to listen to music also definitely helps. I get the results from this on the 23rd October.
22nd October - I met with the Orthopaedic Surgeon to get the results of the MRI and make a decision as to where we go from here. He pretty much repeated what he said at my last appointment. He gave me 2 options. Option 1 - Wait and let it take its course until the pain is too much and then go in for a hip replacement or Option 2, do an experimental operation by trying to save the hip bone. This is only experimental surgery so they aren't sure if it would work or not, if it doesn't it will bring on the need to have the hip replacement sooner. So naturally I said I would wait. He mentioned that sooner rather then later the joint will develop arthritis and when it gets to this stage thats when I need to go back and see him and they will do the hip replacement. So at this stage I am booked in to see him again in 1 years time, if the pain gets too much I am too go and see him sooner. I am limited to what I can do, simple things like putting on socks & shoes hurts, sitting down hurts and walking up and down stairs hurts!
So aside from the AVN I feel good! The pill has made the hot flushes from the menopause go away! I have increased my hours at work to 30+ in the last few weeks, so my body is still getting used to early mornings and long working days.
xxx
25th September - I had my first ever MRI, something I was terrified of! I took a pre med of lorazepam to relax me which helped. I was also lucky as it was only my hip that needed scanning I was allowed to go feet first, so the whole time if I tilted my head back slightly I could still see the roof which was good! Having headphones and being able to listen to music also definitely helps. I get the results from this on the 23rd October.
22nd October - I met with the Orthopaedic Surgeon to get the results of the MRI and make a decision as to where we go from here. He pretty much repeated what he said at my last appointment. He gave me 2 options. Option 1 - Wait and let it take its course until the pain is too much and then go in for a hip replacement or Option 2, do an experimental operation by trying to save the hip bone. This is only experimental surgery so they aren't sure if it would work or not, if it doesn't it will bring on the need to have the hip replacement sooner. So naturally I said I would wait. He mentioned that sooner rather then later the joint will develop arthritis and when it gets to this stage thats when I need to go back and see him and they will do the hip replacement. So at this stage I am booked in to see him again in 1 years time, if the pain gets too much I am too go and see him sooner. I am limited to what I can do, simple things like putting on socks & shoes hurts, sitting down hurts and walking up and down stairs hurts!
So aside from the AVN I feel good! The pill has made the hot flushes from the menopause go away! I have increased my hours at work to 30+ in the last few weeks, so my body is still getting used to early mornings and long working days.
xxx
