by StarrySky » 11 Jul 2020, 13:54
Just a quick update:
I saw my CRS yesterday and he told me it will just take longer for me to fully heal due to the thin skin in the area. He told me he was shocked when he saw how damaged and thin my skin was when he used the scope during my LIS. He said I had the skin down there of a 90-year-old woman. : ( That made me want to cry and made me feel completely hopeless.
He told me it will get better in time as my body recovers from the chemo last year. It seems like that isn't really the culprit, though, since I healed just fine from my fissures right after chemo was over (within about a month or two). I told him I was on Lupron (stops production of estrogen in the body) and right away he told me to get off of it, at least temporarily until I fully heal. Apparently not having any estrogen in my body can cause thin skin in the area and make it very hard to heal. He said we need estrogen for good, healthy skin and healing.
Unfortunately, I had a 3-month shot a month and a half ago (due to Covid and not wanting to come into the cancer center so often, plus I didn't want to deal with it during surgery recovery), so I have to wait it out for another month and a half until I see my oncologist to talk about this. : ( I guess I will just do what I can in the meantime and research this a bit more. Perhaps there's other medications I'm taking that might be contributing to it.
He did say the area looked better and that the surgery incision was almost completely healed, so that is some good news.
He gave me some Calmoseptine ointment, which is safe to use for the area and will at least help the pain somewhat. It's also good for protecting the skin.
So, that's where I'm at right now. I hope and pray I can heal by the time I see my oncologist in September, but if not, I will definitely be stopping the Lupron injections. I will probably stop them anyway since I want my body to have the best chance to recover from this. I told my CRS that I CANNOT live like this anymore. I am DONE.