Oncologist appointment

So I saw my oncologist today. Apparently my bone and CT scans were exactly the same as last time in the mets areas, which is to say that the mets in my sternum are very stable. Yay!

My tumour markers were 35 which is up from last time's 24, but they're still within normal range.

I talked to her about the headaches I've been getting lately, and about the other weird memory things that have been happening. I don't know if I've mentioned the headaches - mostly I talk about how tired I am :) - but I've been getting them a lot lately. They're sort of like migraines but they're not my migraines (or my usual sinus headaches), and they've even gone so far as to wake me up in the middle of the night! They tend to start early on in the day and go on for what seems like forever.

I've only had a couple of weird memory things happen; one was that I lost how to insert a zipper into the dress. The other was when I borrowed Ian's phone thing to post my blog and I couldn't figure out how to work the keys. It had a qwerty keyboard and was set up much like a full qwerty keyboard on the blackberry, but I couldn't figure out how to add characters like dashes, commas, and periods. And then when I went back to my blackberry, I had no idea how to work it, either. It was like I'd never seen one before.

My headaches could be some weird stress thing or some new migraine thing - who knows? And the memory things could just be me getting old. However, these things could also be signs of brain mets, and so to be safe my oncologist is requesting an urgent brain scan. I don't know whether she'll schedule an MRI or a CT - I hope an MRI - and she'll see me the day after the scan to go over the results.

While the thought of having brain mets is scary, I figure that the chance of me actually having them is probably not that high. As Ian says, I'm a bit of a hypochondriac...  and some of my friends have recently been diagnosed with brain mets. Like medical students who "develop" the diseases they study, it wouldn't be a huge surprise if I ended up with symptoms that suggest brain mets, too. So I'm trying not to worry about it or focus on it, and I'm actually feeling ok overall.

I did do a little retail therapy and bought some tops after I finished seeing my oncologist. It gave me a chance to wander around and look at new stuff. The tops are quite lovely :) And I also went out and got my handicapped card thingy for the car so I'm ready for intense shopping in a crowded parking lot.

We watched Snatch tonight. That Guy Ritchie does direct an awesome grifting/con move. This one is quite good with lots of funny and silly bits. Even better, Brad Pitt does an amazing accent, showing more talent than I'd previously given him credit for. This was definitely a good way to spend an evening.