Best Of

@EddieJ Juliana, I just returned from my ECHO and BRAIN MRI tests (3 hours round trip to/from hospital) and the results were already in the portal. GOOD NEWS: ejection fraction of 60-65% and no tumors or anything in the brain.

However, I did have "mild periventricular and subcortical white matter areas of T2/FLAIR hyperintense signal consistent with chronic microvascular disease." This was not mentioned in my brain MRI a year ago. Apparently, chronic microvascular disease, also known as small vessel disease, is a condition affecting the tiny blood vessels (arterioles, capillaries,and venules) that supply blood to tissues. It results from damage to these vessels over time, often due to chronic conditions like hypertension, diabetes, or aging. This damage impairs blood flow, leading to reduced oxygen and nutrient delivery to organs, particularly the brain, heart, kidneys, and eyes."

Sounds a bit scary to me. Could explain my mild headaches, although I had these last year when I had my first Brain MRI done. As far as I know I have none of the factors that might contribute: diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, etc. It makes me wonder if my treatments, especially the anastrozole, might be a contributing factor. Will have to discuss with my MO next week. Also, there is a chance my cholesterol has gone up since last year due to anastrozole as well. Another drug? Yay! 🙄 However, if my constant mild headaches decrease it might be worth it. Now I need to get cholesterol tested again. It's been almost a year.

Have any of you had Brain MRIs with these finding? I may have to start a new thread to see if others have had this finding on their Brain MRIs. Overall, very happy with my results. Now just waiting for PET next Monday.

Have a wonderful evening, everyone!

Hugs, Pam 💗

@livinglifenow Pam, Great news about your echo and brain MRI. Will be praying your PET scan is great. Also @EddieJ Juliana, will be thinking and praying for your PET scan to be great as well! I don’t have another PET scan until September but do have regular appointment next Thursday to see oncologist and get Xgeva shot. Hope you all have a wonderful evening ❤️

@EddieJ Juliana, I know what you mean about seeing scan results before your MO appointment. That happened with my PET the end of March. I knew the results meant either changing my treatment or having radiation. I immediately called my MO and asked for her to call me. My appointment with her wasn't for another week. I also called the RO to see if I could get an appointment with him. My MO then called me and recommended radiation. The RO got me in the next day and we we discussed all of the options. It was a crazy few weeks, but everything got done very quickly.

I scheduled my next PET (July 14) for the day before my MO appointment and infusion treatments. I don't like having PET and infusion back to back, but felt it best to have the results prior to my next infusion in case there needs to be a change in treatment. Fingers crossed that everything is stable and I can continue with what I am doing.

Not sure if I mentioned that my PCP strongly suggested I take Pantoprazole (40mg) 2x/day for 8 weeks. I was just tapering off 20mg/day of Nexium for 7 weeks. He thought my heartburn may need extra protection. I have now been on the Pantoprazole for just about 10 days. The first 3-4 days I felt really rough, like all my anastrozole side effects were greatly intensified. However, now that I've completed 10 days, I think things are normalizing a bit and I am feeling a bit less heartburn. (I believe the heartburn is caused in large part by the anastrozole!).

Anyway, praying both of our scans show good results! I will be thinking of you.

Hugs, Pam 💗