Trickier to treat

Yesterday I met with my rheumetologist again. We went over the treatment options he and the pulmonologist discussed last month one more time. He explained again that my recent cancer makes me a poor candidate for the immuno-suppressant drugs he'd prefer to use to get the sarcoid under control.

I thought I was doing ok. The new inhaled steroid with the prednisone seemed to me to be ok. The cough is back, but not terrible. My chest hurts and I'm out of breath a lot, but I told him I can live with this. Unfortunately, the doctor doesn't think it is a static issue. I'll continue to get worse if we can't get the sarcoid under full control, so we need to try something else.

My options are to increase the Prednisone again or to try a low-dose chemo drug. I won't do the Prednisone; the side effects are just not worth it. I already have to have another bone density check to be sure the Prednisone didn't give me osteoporosis! So, on to chemo. The drug he wants me to try has fewer side effects than the immuno-suppressants, in that my cancer recurrence risk won't go up, but I do have to have blood tests every 2 months to be sure my liver is not being damaged.

I've done a little reading on the new drug, and I'm hoping it goes well. The results, when it does go well, can be very good.

Right now, I'm tired of having so many doctors and I'm tired of so many tests and so many people telling me I'm sick. I just want to get to the point where I can put all of this behind me.

The rheumetologist and I talked for a long time about everything; symptoms, work (he is surprised I'm still working full time, as if this was a choice!), kids, and cancer. He summed it up with, "breast cancer and sarcoid back to back, to put it colloquially, this just sucks."

I think he summed it up very well.