I saw my oncologist last week for my routine lab work and check up. Naturally I asked her about having MRI without contrast. Apparently they want to see the veins and all the intricate details and that is the job of the contrast. She thinks I'm fine for a while and perhaps skip every other year. I'll just have to be pre-medicated and squeeze (literally) in mammograms too. As you know, I'm not too thrilled about doing mammograms since it did not detect my initial tumor but I'll entertain the idea.
The following day I received a voicemail about needing to call them back to talk about ordering in a prescription. Whoa! A prescription? What??!!?? My potassium level has been low or in the low range since the summer of 2008. The range is 3.5 to 5.1. I've been dancing around 3.6, my highest, to my latest and lowest one of 3. Usually my lab sheet has an L for low on my potassium. This last lab sheet had an L with an exclamation following it! L!
Potassium is vital for many things but it's very important for nerve, muscle and most importantly my heart muscle. I was given four doses of Adriamycin and a year's worth of Herceptin back in 2006 and 2007. Both are known to cause cardiac issues. I'm currently on potassium supplements 20 MEQ but I also have many unanswered questions. WHY do I have low potassium? Never Google because it can freak you out. I'm waiting to hear back from my oncology office concerning my questions and we'll go from there. My diet is pretty potassium friendly but all the research I've done states that low potassium is usually not from what you eat. Either way, I'm downing my bananas, organes and coconut water!
My vitamin D3 is pretty stable in the 40's which really surprises me since we've had very little sunshine in Austin with El Nino. I've been placed on 50,000 IU once a week for the next four weeks to boost it up. My insurance does not cover these 4 supplements but thankfully they were less than $20.
So, hopefully I'll know more with my next post. Live long and prosper!
