Harvey and I drove to Houston for a 90 day follow up at MD Anderson Cancer Center. On 10/16/19 I had a CT Scan and MRI. I also had extensive blood work done. There is nothing but great news we found out at the doctor appointments on 10/16/19 and 10/17/19.
Later in the day after the scans we met with the Radiologist to review the status of the brain lesion that was treated with Gamma Knife radiation. The spot continues to look better and shrink. It is expected that there is only dead tissue left that is being slowly cleared away. The second day we met with the Endocrinologist to review blood counts related to the endocrine system. I had discontinued taking the cortisone steroid a couple days before having blood drawn so that we could see how my various endocrine related glands were doing on their own without help from the steroid. It was great news that "ALL" of the readings were completely normal. My body has returned to producing cortisol at regular levels on its own and all other endocrine functions are working normally, The last appointment was with the Oncology team. I received a great report there too! Three for three...yahooo! There was no evidence of new disease and the spots on the liver remain stable or shrinking. Stomach pain, typically very early in the morning, is the only hardship that really exist at the moment. The Endocrinologist was only able to offer that he doesn't think the stomach pain has anything to do with the endocrine system and the Oncologist didn't have any idea as to what could be the cause. Just have to nurse it and we are considering making an appointment to test food allergies to see if that shows any red flags. It has been a little rough discontinuing the cortisone steroid. Some strange headaches have popped up over the last week since stopping taking it. I attribute the headaches to my body adjusting to coming off the steroid. The headaches have already slowed down in frequency and intensity. The next follow up appointments are in 90 days, so mid January 2020. Will update then! Thank you for all the love, support and well wishes! Happy Holidays to everyone ; ) - Erica
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Harvey & Erica BradenJournal of our journey with a Metastatic Melanoma Diagnosis. Erica was diagnosed Stage 3 in January 2010 and then Stage 4 in April 2018. Archives
October 2019
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