6 Months Later..

Hello again family and friends! Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season!

I thought I'd write a (probably long) post about my health, and everything that's been going on lately. Be forewarned, I'm not holding anything back, so this might be too much information for some people. :-)

So, I officially went into remission for my endometrial cancer in July '17. While I was coming off the cancer pills, I started a period for the first time in about 13 months. The cancer pills actually prevented normal periods, so I hadn't had one since I started taking them in June '16. And that period was horrendous. I was in a lot of pain, and couldn't leave the house for over a week from the start. I found out that although the cancer pills prevented bleeding every month, they hadn't prevented my uterine lining from building up every month, they had just prevented my body from shedding the lining every month for a normal period. So, when my body was completely off the cancer pills, it tried to shed all that lining in one long period. I ended up bleeding for over a month. At that point, my oncologist prescribed a form of estrogen to help my body stop bleeding. Thankfully, that worked!

In September, I started a medication to regulate my periods and bleeding. Then I had a 3 month check up with my oncologist in October, and everything looked good! The period pills hadn't worked yet, but I was told to just give them a few months to start working.

In December, I had a normal blood work check-up with my primary. Everything looked great, except my iron was back to being too low. Not too concerning, except that I hadn't been having normal periods, so he couldn't figure out where my iron was going in my body. Plus, he noticed that my white count had been elevated for a few months. So he decided to refer me to a hematologist (blood doctor), for more detailed blood tests.

At the beginning of this month, I went in for another 3 month check-up with my oncologist. After a long talk about my iron and absent periods, and period pills still not working yet, he agreed with my primary's hematologist referral. He also decided to refer me to a gastroenterologist to check for an ulcer. Next, I had an ultrasound to look at my ovaries and uterus. My oncologist saw then that my uterine lining was thicker than it was supposed to be. Again. He decided right then to do a biopsy. I'll skip describing how much fun that was.. I was sent home to wait for the results. And he sent me for more blood work, to rule out any other problems for my low iron. So far, those blood tests have come back normal.

I got the results of my biopsy last week, and my cells are pre-cancerous again. So, I'm having another D&C surgery on January 29th. 2 weeks from now! Once I have this next surgery, my oncologist will decide if I need to go back on the cancer pills, based on what my pathology says after my surgery. Best case scenario, I don't have to go back on the cancer pills after this surgery, and I can be prescribed stronger period pills to help prevent my body from building up a lining and not shedding it, which is how the cells become cancerous. Then I have a post-op surgery follow up with my oncologist on February 15th, to go over the pathology results and to decide on our next steps.

I have an appointment with the hematologist this Friday, the 19th. Hopefully, we'll be able to figure out why my iron keeps dropping, even when I don't have a period, and why my white cells have been elevated, even when I'm not sick. I'm ready for some answers! And then I have an appointment with a gastroenterologist in April. Seriously, April. That was apparently the earliest they could see me. But I'm hoping that the hematologist will be able to figure out my problem without going to the gastroenterologist, and I can cancel that appointment in April.

So, that's where I'm at right now. Hematologist on Friday, another surgery in two weeks, and then a follow up appointment for surgery on February 15th.

Thank you all for your continued support, thoughts, and prayers. I really appreciate them all! <3