Yesterday was my routine follow-up exam appointment with my Gynecologic Oncologist. I had not seen my doctor in six months so it was nice to catch up on things. First up were the non-medical questions beginning with "So where are the pictures of those grandbabies? Then she asked about my son's upcoming wedding, where my daughter and her family are living now and lastly about my advocacy work. By asking those questions about me first she has over the years gotten to know me as Dee not just some woman with Stage 3 serous epithelial ovarian cancer. She has been "patient-centered" for as long as I have known her.
When we got down to the business of how I was doing medically, the first thing on the agenda was my CA-125. I have posted here about the up tick in my CA-125 result recently and how the method to determine CA-125 was changed at the lab where I have my blood work done. We discussed how though my recent numbers were higher than with the other test method, they where stable ( 21, 20 U/ML) and she was comfortable with those results.
We then turned to discussing the results of my recent CT scan. She turned to me with a big smile on her face and said - all clear. I had read the results two days after the scan on my patient portal but it was still great to hear her say it.
The internal exam, not my favorite part of the apointment, ended with "You're good". Hurrah! So while there was some concern that there was a different cause for my rising CA-125 it appears that based on the clear scan and exam , the method change is the true cause of the bump up.
With so many exciting things happening in the next month or two I am happy that I can put my recurrence worries back on the shelf for 6 more months.
Dee
Every Day is a blessing!
No comments:
Post a Comment