First and foremost, Thank you Doherty family for putting us up in Boston Thursday night, and as always thank you Uncle John for organizing it all!!
Just a quick run down, there isn't anything you all haven't read before. We arrived, went for vitals, blood, saw Dr. H, then we were off to the treatment area. The skin where the port is located looks a bit irritated, but everything still looks good and is working smoothly! Once I was all hooked up I received a couple hours of anti-nausea meds and a few hours of chemo; we were out of there around 3:30p. I was given additional anti-nausea meds for tonight, so that unlike last time hopefully we can keep the nausea & vomiting under control and tomorrow morning John will give me the neulast to boost my white count.
Have a Happy Halloween Everyone!!
UPCOMING APPTS:
Fri. Nov. 5th - possible blood work
Wed. Nov. 17th- pre-chemo blood work
Fri. Nov. 19th- chemo (if blood counts look good)
Friday, October 29, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Excellent News
Today we met with Dr. H to get the results of my post 6th treatment CT Scan... excellent news! The carbo/taxol combo is still working it's magic!
The liver has no visual tumors, the mass in the spleen has not changed- they are beginning to think is an unrelated mass (meaning that it is possibly not cancer), the spot in my mid chest shows significant shrinkage - what is left could be just scar tissue from the surgery, and the tumor on the pleura has shrunk down to 8mm!
We discussed this "positive dilemma", as Dr. H called it, thoroughly. It is unknown whether or not receiving two additional treatments after the standard six will actually be useful; but we're going to find out! I refuse to not receive treatment when the uncertainty of additional chemo could equally be positive as it could be negative. When I say negative, I am referring to the beating my body takes during each chemo treatment, including my blood levels; but I am convinced that if I'm willing to accept this extra fight, then so is my body! Following these next two treatments I will get another CT Scan to hopefully learn that things are looking even better.
I asked Dr. H if revisiting the idea of radiation was a possibility. When we first found out the cancer had returned in full force radiation was not a feasible treatment, due to the fact that I had tumors in multiple areas; now that I am down to only one known visible cancerous tumor it makes sense to me to zap this thing with all that we have available. I however, am not a doctor (shocking I know), evidently hitting my lung with radiation could have several negative side effects that would out weigh the benefits. Dr. H did say that he would speak with the radiation oncologist to get his views on the situation.
Upcoming Appts:
Fri. Oct 29th - Chemo
The liver has no visual tumors, the mass in the spleen has not changed- they are beginning to think is an unrelated mass (meaning that it is possibly not cancer), the spot in my mid chest shows significant shrinkage - what is left could be just scar tissue from the surgery, and the tumor on the pleura has shrunk down to 8mm!
We discussed this "positive dilemma", as Dr. H called it, thoroughly. It is unknown whether or not receiving two additional treatments after the standard six will actually be useful; but we're going to find out! I refuse to not receive treatment when the uncertainty of additional chemo could equally be positive as it could be negative. When I say negative, I am referring to the beating my body takes during each chemo treatment, including my blood levels; but I am convinced that if I'm willing to accept this extra fight, then so is my body! Following these next two treatments I will get another CT Scan to hopefully learn that things are looking even better.
I asked Dr. H if revisiting the idea of radiation was a possibility. When we first found out the cancer had returned in full force radiation was not a feasible treatment, due to the fact that I had tumors in multiple areas; now that I am down to only one known visible cancerous tumor it makes sense to me to zap this thing with all that we have available. I however, am not a doctor (shocking I know), evidently hitting my lung with radiation could have several negative side effects that would out weigh the benefits. Dr. H did say that he would speak with the radiation oncologist to get his views on the situation.
Upcoming Appts:
Fri. Oct 29th - Chemo
Saturday, October 2, 2010
# six & sick
Thank you again Mum & Dad P for putting us up in another wonderful Boston hotel (this time was the Onyx) and for dinner the night before chemo, it means so much to us and eases our stress by millions!! xoxo As always, thank you Uncle John Nyhan for organizing everything.
Even though I had my blood work done a couple days before chemo, it was necessary to recheck my counts before administering chemo - everything came out right where it needed to be - thank you neulasta!
The big surprise of the day was that my nurse wasn't in! She did however set us up with my second favorite nurse, but that poor thing was having a tough day on her own, so we ended up having 5 or so different nurses throughout the day. I am convinced that one of my pre-anti nausea meds were missed, or maybe thats me just looking for an excuse, because everytime I count the ones administered, they all seem to be accounted for; nonetheless, I say this because I was nauseous all day and throwing up ALL night. I am still very sick, but at least for now the vomiting has stopped. (knock on wood)
Dr. Hubby will again give me the neulasta shot to keep my counts up. The plan is to then get a CT Scan and figure it out from there, which will either be: go two more rounds of chemo, or give my body a break for a while, which we won't know until the 19th of Oct.
UPCOMING APPTS:
10/16: CT Scan
10/19: Results w/Dr. H
Even though I had my blood work done a couple days before chemo, it was necessary to recheck my counts before administering chemo - everything came out right where it needed to be - thank you neulasta!
The big surprise of the day was that my nurse wasn't in! She did however set us up with my second favorite nurse, but that poor thing was having a tough day on her own, so we ended up having 5 or so different nurses throughout the day. I am convinced that one of my pre-anti nausea meds were missed, or maybe thats me just looking for an excuse, because everytime I count the ones administered, they all seem to be accounted for; nonetheless, I say this because I was nauseous all day and throwing up ALL night. I am still very sick, but at least for now the vomiting has stopped. (knock on wood)
Dr. Hubby will again give me the neulasta shot to keep my counts up. The plan is to then get a CT Scan and figure it out from there, which will either be: go two more rounds of chemo, or give my body a break for a while, which we won't know until the 19th of Oct.
UPCOMING APPTS:
10/16: CT Scan
10/19: Results w/Dr. H
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)