NED!!!

This is going to be a long post. I got home about 20 minutes ago and just got on the computer and saw the postings wondering about me. Thanks so much for your concern (and prayers.) Guess what. They worked. I feel you as real, tangible people although some of you look like dogs and cats!

So here is a snippet of my day. I live 6 miles outside of a town (the county seat) of less than 900 people. There are only 2 towns in our whole county (maybe three if you count Indian Valley). When folks from here go "down below" we're talking 1 1/4 hours to the nearest small city and 2 1/4 hours to the nearest real city (Boise). Since my appointments were near the 1 1/4 hours away small city, a friend and I decided on celebrating my good doctor visits and tests by.....going shopping ("down below")! But, first I had to get a tire with a slow leak fixed at Les Schwab in the small city. Then we drove about 45 minutes to our nearest Sierra Trading Post where my friend, who is also a breast cancer survivor, bought new Sauconys. We were unsuccessfully looking for a dress for her next class reunion in August when we landed at Savers (a big thrift store) where we found all kinds of goodies - including a Steven King pop-up book (who knew?), football cleats, a china rice bowl, a Hoover vacuum cleaner (14.99) and (the BEST)a DAK bread machine. And my friend found a beautiful two piece top and skirt outfit. We also went to a big grocery store where I bought flax, basmati rice, and bran from big bins; such stuff is unavailable in the provinces.

Now for city folk, this is hohum and I know that because I grew up in Chicago, but when you live almost an hour and a half from the nearest movie theater, these things are important and joyous occasions! We forewent ( is there such a word?) Harry Potter to shop. (Never fear, I will be down in Boise all next week for some teacher training, so I will see it then.)

Everything looked good to the docs - even my lymphedema is not measurable. I have some joint pain and stiff fingers from the Arimidex. This is just what Arimidex does and I can live with it for now. I asked about the markers and my oncologist strongly discouraged me from going there. He feels that they are very unreliable for someone who is 3a and often cause a lot of needless worry and tests. There are many false positives; sometimes the medical folks can't figure out why the blood work comes back so high. At one point he said that the markers are only reliable 66% of the time. I jumped on that and said "Well, what if I am one of the 33%?" Later he admitted that he pulled that statistic out of the air. He also said that he wouldn't have the markers done for him if he had breast cancer, nor would he have them drawn for his wife. I like him and trust him, so I have decided to go without the markers for now unless there is compelling evidence otherwise. He really is fastidious and keeps up on the research. I know he orders tests for markers for people with ovarian and colon cancer; these, he feels, are reliable. I would be interested in hearing about your experience, RE (if you are still with me here ).


All in all, a very satisfying day. Again, thanks for your wishes, prayers, and rays of scintillating golden light. I am one happy camper. Lynn