It’s now two weeks to the day after my surgery, and at this point I’m feeling almost normal again–for values of “almost” meaning, my energy’s still a little wonky, and also, I think I may be beginning to feel the effects of not having any ovaries anymore.
(Medical deets behind the fold.)
And by “the effects of not having any ovaries anymore,” I mean, I may have started feeling hot flashes. I’m not a hundred percent sure of this yet, but I have been feeling weird things happen to my internal temperature for the last day or so. Which is about in keeping with what my oncologist has said about when I’d likely start feeling the effects of surgical menopause.
I have in fact now seen my oncologist, Dr. Kohn, and we had a discussion about whether or not I should go on estrogen support. She’s actively recommending against it, given that she did have me on Tamoxifen for a while back in 2008. So we’re going to keep a look out for any menopausal-type symptoms I might experience, and if anything gets bothersome enough that it interferes with my quality of life, then we’ll revisit whether I need any estrogen support.
Tomorrow, I go in for the first followup with the surgeon, Dr. Isbell–the first basic checkup to make sure I’m okay. Which I am, wonky energy and possible hot flashes aside. My pain’s practically gone, and I’m going to see if I can deal without any Vicodin today. I’ve still got a bit of lingering rash that I think is a side effect of what I had previously thought was a reaction to latex bandaids–and which I think now is possibly actually a reaction to the triple antibiotic ointment Dara and I had been using, some stuff from Rite Aid. My GP, Dr. Debelak, says she’s heard of people being sensitive to Neosporin before, so this seems plausible. But at least the rash is healing okay. I backed off using the antibiotic and that pretty much fixed the problem.
I think I should be pretty much fine by the end of this week, and hopefully by Thanksgiving, I’ll be able to drive again, and have cider if I want it.
Moving forward, I’m going to have to be more assiduous about my weight again. Just because if I’m going to have to deal with surgically-enforced menopause, this does mean my metabolism is going to start changing, and I need to be on top of that. Joy.
