I think today was the first time I felt like my monthly Lupron appointment was a burden. I guess I had gotten so used to weekly appointments for chemo, and then Herceptin infusions every 3 weeks, that when I got down to only Lupron appointments every 4 weeks, it felt luxuriously infrequent by comparison. Normally I don't mind going in, but it's school vacation week, and a snowy day; I would have preferred to sleep in, and not drive in the snow.
There's been a lot of chatter about upgrading your masks for COVID-19 protection. I recently bought some KF94 masks, and I wore one for today's appointment. In the past, I would wear a surgical mask. The Cancer Center provides surgical masks for people to use instead of cloth masks, but if you already have a surgical mask, they just like to confirm that it's a new one. I was a little confused today when the person checking me in handed me a surgical mask along with my screening sticker and identification tags, without asking if my mask was new or not. Maybe she thought it was made of cloth? Or maybe they have a new procedure to hand out new masks to everyone. I decided not to swap out my mask since a KF94 is supposed to be better than a surgical mask, but I think if it happens again, I will wear their surgical mask on top of my KF94. That way they can be assured that I am wearing a new mask, no matter what other mask I may be wearing.
(As an aside, I wonder if they want to be sure that everyone is wearing an actual medical grade surgical mask. All the surgical masks we have been able to purchase since the pandemic started look like surgical masks, but none are labeled with ASTM standards. By contrast, the surgical masks I bought from CVS for myself during chemo, before the pandemic, were clearly labeled as meeting ASTM Level 3 standards.)
Anyway, the shot went smoothly, and I was glad to have the nurse who I think gives the best shots.
Here are some other updates:
I have been diligently applying the scar cream to my port scar every night. It's part of my routine now, I put it on after brushing my teeth. It doesn't seem like it's doing anything, though; I think the scar looks the same, but it's hard to tell on a day-to-day basis.
I think I'm doing fine on Tamoxifen. I have side effects, but they don't disrupt my activities of daily living, so I figure they are manageable. I expected the joint stiffness in my fingers to go away once I stopped exemestane, but this page lists joint stiffness as a "less common" side effect of Tamoxifen. I wonder if already having joint stiffness made it more likely for it to stick around when I switched to Tamoxifen... Very sadly for me, my hair is growing back thinner than it was before chemo; hair thinning is listed as one of the "more common" side effects. Also, my vision is poorer, but it's been a little blurry ever since chemo, so it's hard to know what to blame. Getting my eyes checked is on my list of things to do after the pandemic.
Meanwhile, the first three fingers on both my hands continue to feel very mildly numb and tingly. Most of the time I don't even notice it anymore, but if I tap my fingers together, I can feel it.
