New city, new oncologist. And I hate to say, but at the same time am happy to say, the first Dr I met with, I didn’t like. He didn’t call me with my CEA level results. And his scheduling person is the one who mentioned he wanted a CT scan and a chest x-ray. Wtf??

So I looked further. Fortunately, Jeffrey’s preschool teacher connected me to someone with referrals. The dr ended up only seeing Breast Cancer patients but I researched the practice and met with my new dr at the Simon Cancer Center downtown Indianapolis on February 14, 2017.

Great appt. (as great as one can be when you are meeting with an oncologist). But he was positive on my diagnosis and that after my 2 yr scan is clear, we are in for a huge win. He said if this scan is clear, there is less than a 20% chance of colon cancer returning. And if it does return, I would respond nicely to immunotherapy. Which means possibly no chemo!! 

Now, this doesn’t mean I won’t get breast cancer (I will have a mammogram later this year) and I don’t want to know about percentages and how they apply to a 33 yr old female of average weight, non smoker, gets the big c in the first place. 

I was also impressed with my new dr, when I had my labs taken at 2:15pm and he called me at 3:55pm with the results. My new CEA baseline is 2.6. Mine was at 3.4. But I have a PET scan scheduled for 2/24 and we are just praying I’m someone with a high CEA.
Nikki commentary: 

The nurse was taking my labs after my appt. and after she wrapped up my arm and stuck my arm with the needle, I winced. She questioned, “are you ok!?” I responded, “yes. But no matter how often you get poked, you never learn to enjoy it.” And after a pause I added, “but you know. I’m always thankful it’s me. I’m the one getting poked and not my kids. Or my husband.” 

She agreed but added with a light hearted sense of humor ” but I would be ok if it were my husband.”  And I said,”yeah, on some days, I think I would agree.  Ha!”
2 years. Let’s do this. 

© Nicole Szymonik and This Is the Pause Button, 2017. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicole Szymonik and This Is The Pause Button with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.