Kicking cancer's ass - day 387

Yesterday was my three month check-up with Dr H.  You know what that means.  I arrived at 2:10 for my 2:20 appointment.  They called me back to the exam room at 3:25 and I walked out of there at 4:45pm.  What a fun way to spend the afternoon.  Not.  

I was hoping to "graduate" to six month visits, but not yet.  Apparently my blood counts are still rebelling from chemo and are still low - not dangerously low, but in the worrisome low range.  So I get to go back and repeat this fun in December and hope for better numbers.  The good news is that I got the ok to have my port removed!  I hate my port.  I'm thankful that I had it for chemo, but that's over and done.  I don't have a lot of extra padding in front of my shoulders so my port sticks out like an alien.  I can't wait to get rid of it!  Dr H told me I can ask if they'll remove it during my reconstruction surgery.  If not, I'll have to wait and have it taken out by someone here later on.

There is also a debate about which anti-cancer medicine I should be on.  For pre-menopausal women (which I was), Tamoxifen is the drug of choice.  That's what I take now.  For post-menopausal women (which I am now), Arimidex or one of its relatives is the drug of choice.  Some studies have shown the Arimidex family to be superior anti-cancer drugs when people are on them for five years.  But then there's another study that shows Tamoxifen for ten years is the better choice.  Is it a coin flip or just whatever works best for a person?  Since I'm BRCA+, my doctors in Dallas had mentioned Tamoxifen for ten years back when I was diagnosed.  Dr H seemed to lean that way, too, so (at least for now) I'll keep taking that and hope for the best.

Tomorrow I fly to New York to visit Dad and hopefully get some of his Medicaid paperwork squared away.  Wish me luck for safe travels.  And if you happen to know where Dad hid his most important papers, let me know!