It's a Battle Worth Fighting!

The fight against cancer takes everything you've got...and then some! Although I have been cancer free for 2 1/2 years, the results of the battle are felt in my body everyday!

In the past several months I have been dealing with frustrations of physical limitations in my body. Is it a result of cancer treatment? I'm not really sure! I have had incredible joint pain, stiffness, and swelling, along with the chronic headaches. I have seen a foot specialist and received shots in both feet, a hand doctor and had multiple shots in my finger joints, and a neurologist has tried a few medications for the headaches.

In the fall, I was referred to a rheumatologist for evaluation and had my first visit with her and her staff. I must say, I don't know when I had a more thorough physical examination! The exam was followed by lots of bloodwork, and MRI's of my hands, wrists, feet, and ankles in December. On a side note, can you believe that insurance won't pay for MRI's on connecting joints on the same day. Seriously! So, one day I went for MRI's of the hands and feet and the next day for the ankles and wrists.

My original follow up appointment was rescheduled, so I didn't learn about the results of the tests until a couple of weeks ago. The diagnosis...Erosive Osteoarthritis or EOA. It's just like it sounds, I have warn spots and holes in my joints. She is treating the EOA with a medication called plaquenil. The medication has several unpleasant and scary side effects that I won't talk about now. They will monitor me on the medication to try and prevent any serious side effects.

The rheumatologist also said I have Fibromyalgia Syndrome, which wasn't a surprise because I was told I had that several years ago. In my case, it's caused by a lack of estrogen because I had a complete hysterectomy at age 21 due to severe endometriosis. Now the post cancer medication I take prevents my body from producing any estrogen and the result, as she said, is that my body is estrogen starved which results in Fibromyalgia Syndrome. Honestly, the Fibro is the least of my concerns!

Of course, my BIG question to the doc was..."is this a result of cancer or cancer treatment?" Why this matters, I don't know! It just seems to be a logical question! The doc went on to give me a couple of excellent analogies. For example, she explained the treatment against cancer, like fighting a battle. The oncologist is waging war against the cancer and his main focus is destroying the cancer, to save my life. However, just like in any other wars, there are innocent civilians injured. So it is, we have the ongoing fight against cancer that started in my breast but the casualties are felt in the rest of my body. Not everyone experiences the same effects from cancer or cancer treatment, but in my case, this seems to be the outcome.

It is a battle worth fighting!!