Coping with a new prolonged series of tests

PurpleCat
PurpleCat Member Posts: 358
edited March 2020 in Mental Health: Because Cancer Doesn't Just Affect Your Breasts

Five weeks ago I went in for what I thought was going to be a simple birth control appointment. Since then I've had four blood draws, two CAT scans, an ultrasound, a chest X ray, and an endometrial biopsy. I'm scheduled for surgery next week to remove the ovaries and tubes, which are expected to be benign, but whatever the outcome, it's been getting harder and harder to go in for those tests without having some kind of anxiety attack. They tell me that the results are good, and I breathe more easily , but then find out there are MORE tests I need and I can just hardly stand it. I find myself wanting to bolt from the room and run home. Then little things trigger me, like finding the bottles from the dye contrast I had to drink and not wanting to even rinse them out to recycle them, just toss them straight into the trash. I even had a hard time going for a routine dental checkup earlier this week in the midst of everything, and the dentist has always been the ONE medical situation that has never made me feel anxious. But I feel like this is going to be my life now. Even if this particular episode ends with a speedy recovery and no further treatment required ... this is going to happen again with some other symptom that leads to testing which leads to more testing.

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  • MinusTwo
    MinusTwo Member Posts: 16,634
    edited March 2020

    PurpleCat - yes exactly. We can get sooooo sick of doctors & tests. See if you can get your PCP or MO to prescribe an anti-anxiety med. I have Xanax in my tool box. So far I've only taken it before MRI or PET/CT tests, but I'm glad to know it's there.

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  • AliceBastable
    AliceBastable Member Posts: 3,461
    edited March 2020

    Lets see, in 2018 I had all the preliminary tests for a lumpectomy, including a non-contrast CT because I was a smoker then, and that found a kidney growth. So between the lumpectomy and re-excision, I had a contrast CT, then a nephrectomy because of kidney cancer, then I finally got to do radiation. That got me to the end of that year, and by then it was time for another contrast CT, a few months later a PET scan, then a CT-assisted biopsy the next month (scar tissue, whew!), then the annual diagnostic mammogram, a few months' break and another CT scan, and then a break until an uh-oh moment at an MO appointment that led to another mammogram and ultrasound (luckily just shifting scar tissue), and now no tests until my next CT and annual mammogram in June. I feel kinda lost! But after the first few tests, I started thinking of them as routine maintenance instead of something scary, and it really does help. Remember those scans are to help us and our medical team find any aberrations early and get them taken care of!

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  • PurpleCat
    PurpleCat Member Posts: 358
    edited March 2020

    Thank you, MinusTwo and Alice. MT, I asked my doctor for a prescription during the initial diagnosis last September, and she gave me an Ambien prescription, saying that being able to sleep would help me cope. It's been somewhat helpful, but I would have given a lot for a Xanax over the past couple of weeks. For some reason this has been even more stressful than the original roller coaster ride. Alice, I like the idea of thinking of things as routine maintenance. I'll have to work on that ... and will probably have plenty of opportunities to do so in the future, ugh.

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