Waiting for tomorrow

I guess I'm a little nervous about seeing my oncologist tomorrow.

My back was bad yesterday morning - bad enough that I spent the morning lying on my back on the floor after taking Celebrex and Percocet. After a few hours (and some sleep - yes, I can sleep flat on my back on the floor), my back felt better. I'd done some stomach crunches the night before - was that what made my back hurt? The last time I went to the gym and was on the bike and the elliptical, my back hurt like it did yesterday - but for days.

The pain is in my sacrum, most likely around the sacroiliac joint. Sometimes I get pain and muscle tightness down to the middle of my left hamstring (and once in a very long while, in the same spot on the right), and sometimes I get pain and aching down the outside of my left leg. My left leg also feels weaker, especially when rotated - and of course it collapsed under me last week for the first time.

The pain seems to be worse after I do some sort of exercise and it often hurts when I'm sitting down - lying on my back feels better. Lying in a hot bath feels even better :)

I've always had some back pain, but it's a lot worse now than it used to be. I first went on Celebrex a couple of years ago because my lower back hurt in the mornings - I couldn't roll over to get out of bed. It doesn't hurt like that now, of course, but then again my overall painkiller intake is so much higher now. The fact that I still need breakthrough painkillers on top of what I normally take should tell you how much my back hurts.

So is all this additional pain just because I'm old? Has the Femara, after 2 1/2 years, finally got to the sacrum and that's why I have pain there? Or is it mets?

I'll get some answers tomorrow: I had my tumour marker taken a couple of weeks ago and I'll get that number tomorrow. Three months ago my tumour marker number was in the normal range.... so what will it be tomorrow? If it's normal, then the problem is more likely old age as opposed to cancer. I expect that no matter what happens tomorrow, I'll end up with more questions than answers.