I hate to bore you all with the same info. time and again, so I'll make this short.
When we arrived I was called up for a surprise blood draw, the downside of this is that they use up a vain that the oncology nurse could use... but it all worked out. If we waited for the oncology nurse to place the IV and draw the blood from that we would have had to waited around an extra hour and a half -- no thanks! It all worked out well anyways, my levels came back normal, we saw Dr. H, then began trying to find an IV vein. Second stab and we were in, I'll take it.
In addition to the Carbo I would be taking Taxol, which for some people causes an allergic reaction. To prevent this we started with a very high Benadryl drip, then a few other anti-nausea meds. Finally we began the 3 hour Taxol drip, no reactions that we saw (amazing!), following with the 40 minute Carbo drip. It all went smoothly; although I napped most of the time.
Leaving our house at 6:30am and not arriving home until 6pm, along with the chemo treatment in between definately took its toll. So, yes, I am writing this the following morning, as I sip my ginger tea (ginger supposedly helps with nausea). It was early to bed last night, although I was up a lot of the night feeling sick and very achy, both normal consequents of the treatment.
The doctors decided to hold off on giving me the Neulasta (white cell booster); I am going for blood work on Thursday to check my levels, and this will determine if I will begin receiving the shot the day after chemo.
Treatment session 2 is scheduled for Friday, June 18th.
We will re-scan following this second treatment, date/time TBD.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Miracle Where Art Thou?
Well, I'm still waiting for my miracle; have I not proved myself through this fight thus far? Alright, Round 2 it is. ding. ding. ding.
Biopsy results confirm that the lesions that are in my liver are in fact thymic carcinoma. Dr. Huberman, upon request, showed us the CT Scan results from a few weeks ago. I was surprised to see so many tumors. Not only do I have a 2cm tumor in my pleura, there are also additional tumors on the lung itself. The tumors on my liver are fairly decent in size as well and are spread in various areas, including deep within the liver. There is also a tumor on the lower part of my spleen. Well, I guess we sure pissed this cancer off the first time we tried to destroy it.
The plan... I will begin chemotherapy next week, Thurs. 5/27/10, every treatment after that will be on a Friday. This regiment of chemo will consist of one day of treatment every three weeks and a white cell boosting shot 24 hours after each chemo session. My amazing nurse Linda is willing to teach John how to administer the shot at home, but she needs to finagle with insurance to be sure they will cover an at home shot. If insurance is unwilling to cover the at home shot, then we will drive into Boston the following day to receive the shot.
Chemo. I will be receiving Carboplatin (as I did last time) and Taxol (a new one for me).
Side Effects Summary: Hair loss (in approximately 2 weeks after the first treatment), Nausea (shouldn't be as bad as before), Fatigue (is expected to be worse than last time) and Possible numbness and tingling in lower legs and arms.
Veins. Finding a vein for chemo is always a difficult process. We went over the option of inserting a port, and for now we'll continue to utilize any vein we can find manually. A port is normally surgically inserted under the skin into your subclavean vein (under your collerbone), is run down and ends up connecting to your lower heart. My history of infection deters us from the idea, along with the fact that I have already had a blood clot in each of my subclaveans, but the major reason is that the graft that had to be put in during my last surgery offers alternative complications. It is an option, but we will continue to put it off as long as possible. If a port is put in, I will have to be put on anticoagulants to prevent another blood clot.
As we actively fight this battle with the above mentioned chemotherapy, we are also researching and contacting various thoracic oncologist across the country to see what else might be available for treatment in the long run.
Thank you to everyone who has put us in contact with their connections and given us alternative places to search for a possible cure.
Biopsy results confirm that the lesions that are in my liver are in fact thymic carcinoma. Dr. Huberman, upon request, showed us the CT Scan results from a few weeks ago. I was surprised to see so many tumors. Not only do I have a 2cm tumor in my pleura, there are also additional tumors on the lung itself. The tumors on my liver are fairly decent in size as well and are spread in various areas, including deep within the liver. There is also a tumor on the lower part of my spleen. Well, I guess we sure pissed this cancer off the first time we tried to destroy it.
The plan... I will begin chemotherapy next week, Thurs. 5/27/10, every treatment after that will be on a Friday. This regiment of chemo will consist of one day of treatment every three weeks and a white cell boosting shot 24 hours after each chemo session. My amazing nurse Linda is willing to teach John how to administer the shot at home, but she needs to finagle with insurance to be sure they will cover an at home shot. If insurance is unwilling to cover the at home shot, then we will drive into Boston the following day to receive the shot.
Chemo. I will be receiving Carboplatin (as I did last time) and Taxol (a new one for me).
Side Effects Summary: Hair loss (in approximately 2 weeks after the first treatment), Nausea (shouldn't be as bad as before), Fatigue (is expected to be worse than last time) and Possible numbness and tingling in lower legs and arms.
Veins. Finding a vein for chemo is always a difficult process. We went over the option of inserting a port, and for now we'll continue to utilize any vein we can find manually. A port is normally surgically inserted under the skin into your subclavean vein (under your collerbone), is run down and ends up connecting to your lower heart. My history of infection deters us from the idea, along with the fact that I have already had a blood clot in each of my subclaveans, but the major reason is that the graft that had to be put in during my last surgery offers alternative complications. It is an option, but we will continue to put it off as long as possible. If a port is put in, I will have to be put on anticoagulants to prevent another blood clot.
As we actively fight this battle with the above mentioned chemotherapy, we are also researching and contacting various thoracic oncologist across the country to see what else might be available for treatment in the long run.
Thank you to everyone who has put us in contact with their connections and given us alternative places to search for a possible cure.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Liver biopsy 5/12/10
We got to B.I. twenty minutes early this morning (9:10am), the IV was put in with one stick... I was convinced it was going to be a good day, I was mistaken. We had to wait until 11am to take me up to Ultra Sound, where they would use sonography to find the liver tumor to biopsy. After getting up there, all gooped up and receiving a few bruised ribs, I'm sure, the doctors were not able to pin point the tumors well enough to biopsy. Back down to the Day Care Unit I go.
By the time I arrived back in the day care unit it was around noon. The radiologists felt that they would be able to get precise images in order to biopsy if they used the CT Scan, so we waited until about 1:30pm for an opening in CT.
I was brought to CT where they went through the prep steps, flooded me with pain meds,made a slice, placed the catheter, sucked out some tumor cells and put a band-aid on the incision. The cytologists were in the room to count the number of cells that were extracted, so there should be no reason for an "inconclusive" result. Because they flooded me with pain meds I ended up sick, sore and throwing up. I had to stay in recovery for three hours before we were FINALLY released at 5:20pm!
Biopsy Results: Thursday, May 20th.
By the time I arrived back in the day care unit it was around noon. The radiologists felt that they would be able to get precise images in order to biopsy if they used the CT Scan, so we waited until about 1:30pm for an opening in CT.
I was brought to CT where they went through the prep steps, flooded me with pain meds,made a slice, placed the catheter, sucked out some tumor cells and put a band-aid on the incision. The cytologists were in the room to count the number of cells that were extracted, so there should be no reason for an "inconclusive" result. Because they flooded me with pain meds I ended up sick, sore and throwing up. I had to stay in recovery for three hours before we were FINALLY released at 5:20pm!
Biopsy Results: Thursday, May 20th.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Liver Biopsy Date
The liver biopsy has been scheduled for Wednesday, May 12th. This is a full day outpatient procedure.
They feel that the one biopsy of the liver will confirm the diagnosis for both the liver and the lung; but, if the results show otherwise then we will schedule a biopsy for the pleura.
As always, this is a drawn out process; we will not have any results until we go back into BI on Thurs. 5/20
They feel that the one biopsy of the liver will confirm the diagnosis for both the liver and the lung; but, if the results show otherwise then we will schedule a biopsy for the pleura.
As always, this is a drawn out process; we will not have any results until we go back into BI on Thurs. 5/20
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Unexpected Disappointment
I wish I had better news to tell; hell, I wish I received better news today.
Three months ago I had a CT/PET scan done of my chest and abdomen, my first scan following the October surgery. A few new spots had appeared in this scan, but what they actually were, no one knew. The scan showed two new spots in my liver and one spot on the edge of my lung.
Today John and I went into BI to get the results of the CT Scan that was done this past Saturday. Unfortunately those mysterious spots turned out to be quite troublesome. In the past three months the two spots in my liver turned into five spots, and the spot in my pleura (lining of lung) has become significantly larger.
Both Dr. H and Dr. K are convinced that all of the spots are that of the original thymic carcinoma (cancer). I requested to have a biopsy done of at least one of the areas, if not both, just for confirmation.
Last March when John and I decided that we would approach this diagnosis aggressively we went at it with full force, I received an aggressive chemo, radiation and surgery. Because we had chosen the aggressive route in the first place, the doctors aren't sure where to go from here. It's not as if I received a low grade treatment and it came back, we went after it at full force, and it came back (or never went away).
So what options does this leave us? We talked about looking into various clinical trials and alternate chemo therapy treatments. Dr. H is going to do some more research on treatments for my very rare type of cancer. The biopsy will hopefully be set up for sometime next week, we will again meet with Dr. H and try to devise a treatment plan.
I for one do not like not having a plan of attack, and although the doctors at this point think a cure is very unlikely and are looking to slow it down as much as possible, we will do all we can.
Three months ago I had a CT/PET scan done of my chest and abdomen, my first scan following the October surgery. A few new spots had appeared in this scan, but what they actually were, no one knew. The scan showed two new spots in my liver and one spot on the edge of my lung.
Today John and I went into BI to get the results of the CT Scan that was done this past Saturday. Unfortunately those mysterious spots turned out to be quite troublesome. In the past three months the two spots in my liver turned into five spots, and the spot in my pleura (lining of lung) has become significantly larger.
Both Dr. H and Dr. K are convinced that all of the spots are that of the original thymic carcinoma (cancer). I requested to have a biopsy done of at least one of the areas, if not both, just for confirmation.
Last March when John and I decided that we would approach this diagnosis aggressively we went at it with full force, I received an aggressive chemo, radiation and surgery. Because we had chosen the aggressive route in the first place, the doctors aren't sure where to go from here. It's not as if I received a low grade treatment and it came back, we went after it at full force, and it came back (or never went away).
So what options does this leave us? We talked about looking into various clinical trials and alternate chemo therapy treatments. Dr. H is going to do some more research on treatments for my very rare type of cancer. The biopsy will hopefully be set up for sometime next week, we will again meet with Dr. H and try to devise a treatment plan.
I for one do not like not having a plan of attack, and although the doctors at this point think a cure is very unlikely and are looking to slow it down as much as possible, we will do all we can.
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