Just a quick one for you all to put your minds at ease :).
The
CT of my chest came back fine with no evidence of the nodule or any
metastasis, however I did have a small bacterial infection in one lung. I was
already on antibiotics for a small infection in my tooth extraction site
that my periodontist found the beginning of that week, so no additional
treatment was needed. I will have a repeat chest CT in December to make
sure the infection in my lung clears. I see my periodontist next week to make sure
the infection in my tooth extraction site is resolved.
I
saw my physical medicine doctor at Penn last week to continue problem
solving my pain management plan. I have gotten some great results with
physical therapy for my jaw, but continued to end the day with headaches
because of the tightness in my neck. We chose to try something called
trigger point injections. Essentially they inject a combination of
lidocaine and saline into the “knots” that are resulting from or causing
spasms and pain, which can inhibit the headaches. She gave me around 20
or so injections throughout the back of my head (eeek!), both sides of
my neck, upper back and right shoulder. Some of them were tough to pin
point and get the needle into place because of how fibrotic my muscles
are from radiation. Imagine sticking a needle in to a block of wood,
slow and steady wins the race apparently. She would inject a small
amount and massage the area to allow the muscle to detach from the
surrounding tissue and loosen up, making it easier all around to inject
the rest. My results so far have been positive, fewer and lower
intensity headaches at the end of the day. Now we wait to see how long
they last. I go back at the end of October to continue trialing whatever
we need to.
Otherwise life is all wedding all
the time right now! Which is probably why I forgot to update all of you
when I got my CT results!
Nothing else new, fingers crossed it stays that way for the next month :)!
