Pain, Pain, Go Away! (Cancer Update)

As I mentioned 2 weeks ago, I made the decision to head back to Philadelphia instead of continuing on my road trip to California. There were many medical reasons why I made that decision but mostly it was an extreme pain issue. If you remember back in January, the test results indicated that I had pleural effusion, which I needed to keep an eye on.

Reminder: pleural effusion is a build up of fluid around the lungs. And it is effing painful. For the past two weeks I've experienced everything from mild to severe pain - with occasional pain so bad that I've either vomited or burst into tears. The pain takes the form of a stabbing pain - like someone jabbing me continually with an ice pick with the occasional axe to my side. Adding to the pain is a chronic cough which developed thanks to the lung irritation. Pretty much the past two weeks have been hell.

Today, I met with a new oncologist. The doctor I saw in January was not covered under my new health plan. Let's not discuss what those visits and tests are going to cost me! Anyway, I met with my new oncologist who seems to be an understanding sort, but also a bit stubborn. So stubborn meets stubborn. Yay! Wanna guess who'll win this contest? Once again, I had to review my cancer history and my thoughts on moving forward. While he completely gets the desire to travel, he is also advocating the use of chemotherapy and Tamoxifen. <sigh> He means well and he did talk me into getting a prescription for Tamoxifen. Even though I have the pills, it doesn't mean that I'll be taking them. He may think the minor chance of a stroke or blood clots is worth trying it, I do not. Right now though, we're both focused on getting rid of my pain

Here's what's on tap for this week: (i) a chest x-ray (which I did after leaving the oncologist's office), (ii) another CAT scan of my chest, abdomen, and pelvis, (iii) a thoracentesis, which is a fancy word for draining the fluid around my lungs (see photo) - hopefully that will help with the pain, and (iv) meeting with the oncologist at the end of all this to see where we go next.

A busy week of medical stuff and I'm already bored with it. Stay tuned for further updates.