Testing

Hi everyone
I thought this title would be an appropriate one to see if anyone is still looking to see if I will ever post again and also to provide an update, especially in regards to the cardiac and genetic testing progress.

Life is very busy and I think I have mentioned in the past that all the documentation that is required for work often leaves me fairly brain dead by the time I go to try to put two words together and make any sense on here. I do find that I miss blogging - it really helped with keeping positive and was very therapeutic in so many ways as I went through my cancer treatments.

A quick recap on the cardiac testing - there was a decrease in my left ventricular function from prior to treatment but it was still in the very low normal range. With my low blood pressure the physician did not want to put me on a beta blocker and I agreed - I do not like taking medicine but it was good to know that some of the blame for fatigue levels could be attributed to this.

Rod and I had a wonderful vacation to San Jose del Cabo, Mexico in mid-May - I think I may officially have the travel bug now!We used my rest strategy when planning our activities and that worked very well. We would spend a quiet day at the resort every second day and some sight seeing activities on the other days. We had a bit if an adventure on the way home at the Houston airport - who knew that 1 1/2 hours between flights might be cutting it very close - we just made our connecting flight home.

In late June I was trying to hurry too quickly between meetings that were on opposite sides of the city and ended up falling, turning my left ankle both inwards and out wards (eversion and inversion). I had it looked at and was told there were torn ligaments laterally and an avulsion fracture on the inside ankle. I had to look up avulsion fracture it had been so long so I will share what I learned. It means that the ligament tore off the bone but in doing so it took a piece of the bone with it.

Physio and the typical RICE protocol has not helped so I had more testing late August that included another set of x-rays, an ultrasound of the foot and a complete body bone scan. The ultrasound and bone scan involved extra pictures and the radiologist being consulted. They still aren't sure about a few things so an MRI was booked but I don't know if there was a misunderstanding or if it really takes that long to have one here - the date I was given by the clerk who booked it was February 5th, 2015 with a time of 11 p..m. One of my on-line friends cheerfully suggested that it will either be fine by then or my foot will have fallen off from gangrene - let's hope for the former! I did make an appointment with my own GP who is a sports medicine specialist for September 22nd so hopefully she can get things back on track for me.

The next update is on the genetics testing. I had an appointment in August to discuss BRCA 1 and 2 results which were negative, as was suspected. With that ruled out we could proceed to looking at Cowden's and Lynch as possibilities. I saw the geneticist on Wednesday of this week. I had a stereotype of a geneticist and she did not fit it, I will have to watch those stereotypes. She was a very young, personable and attractive doctor.  After reviewing my family history and doing a physical exam she is going to go ahead with asking the province to approve testing for Cowden's. My dad's and aunts tumors are being tested for Lynch syndrome and if that is positive I would be tested for that also. So definite progress in that area.

Lastly, I met with the plastic surgeon late May regarding reconstruction. I would need flap reconstruction and if I decided due to genetic test results to have prophylactic mastectomy on the left side I was told I did not have enough abdominal fat to use for both sides so I would need an implant on the left side. Who would ever have thought I would be disappointed to be told I did not have enough abdominal fat - life is strange sometimes! That surgery, should I go ahead with it probably wouldn't be until early New Year.

Take care everyone!