Vitamin D

I mentioned in my last post that my Vitamin D levels will be monitored now through my blood work, and the oncologist's office called yesterday to say that those results came back later than the rest of the labs ... and that my Vitamin D level is very low. They prescribed a mega-dose Vitamin D pill that I'll take once a week for 8 weeks, and then we'll do another blood draw and check the level.

Checking your Vitamin D level is not a regular blood test when you go in for lab work, the Dr has to specifically request it. So I'm glad my oncologist is on the ball and monitoring things outside the box. I've read lots, and she shared quite a bit of info ... but there is research that shows maintaining the proper levels of Vitamin D fights cancer, and especially important in my case ... fights off recurrence. Chemo probably reduced my levels a lot, and then I stayed out of the sun last Spring and Summer while undergoing chemo, and sunlight is our major source. It's hard to get enough Vitamin D through food consumption, and those of us living in colder climates don't get the right amounts in the Fall and Winter from reduced UV rays. So after the super-dose of Vitamin D gets me into normal range, I'll probably just need to take a regular multi-vitamin each day to maintain it.

Once again, I feel very blessed to be in the capable hands of an oncologist who looks at not only the obvious issues, but the peripheral ones as well.

Next Friday is my appointment with the plastic surgeon, and we will set a reconstruction surgery date at that time. Feeling kind of anxious about that as it gets closer, it is a major surgery and the recovery time will be longer than my surgery from last fall ... but like everything else in this journey, I need to take that one day at a time!