Done with chemo #9. Only 3 more to go. Feeling sort 0f crappy. Feet and hands are numb still. I was told by my DR it could last 2 years. Ugg. Fatigued, a little nausea but not bad. Just all around feeling weird.
Hopefully I feel better tomorrow. The boys are going hunting, and the girls and I are having a girls weekend.
Feeling a little discouraged today. Tomorrow will be better.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Latest news....
I just got back from Meridian, seeing Dr. Handley.
It looks like for now, we will put the Y-90 (Y-90 microsphere radioembolization ) on hold. Until the chemo no longer works to control the cancer. As soon as it starts to grow instead of shrink, we will do it.
I will discuss this with my oncologist, Dr. Swerdlof on Tuesday. He may want to push it forward and have me do it sooner than later. The two Dr.s are going to consult with each other and then decide for sure, but Dr. Handley thinks we should hold off.
BUT it looks like I am a candidate for the procedure, which is wonderful news. And they can do this procedure more than once! And it is minimally evasive, and causes only a few bearable side effects. I am excited. But hopefully the Chemo works for a long time and I won't be doing this for a while. But if it's sooner, I am ready for it.
First they do a special kind of CAT scan. They map my veins. Second I come in and they do an angiogram type procedure, They go in my femural artery, and travel into the hepatic artery. This artery does 90% of the tumor feeding, while the liver receives most of its nutrients through the portal vein. They give me a small dose of the "test beads". They make sure they are going to travel to the right place. They also block some blood vessels so that the beads don't travel to the intestines, stomach or lungs. They are 1/3 the circumference of a human hair. During the actual procedure they inject millions of beads.
This should increase my time before tumors grow again by 6 months, compared with Chemo without this procedure.
"a median time to disease progression, as measured by tumor size, of 15.9 months vs. 9.7 months for those receiving Chemotherapy alone. Survival rates for the patients receiving SIR-Spheres microspheres were higher at various intervals than for those just receiving Chemo.
I still don't like the survival rates:
"72 percent vs. 68 percent at one year; 39 percent vs. 29 percent at two years; 17 percent vs. 6 percent at three years; and 3.5 percent vs. zero percent at five years."
But those are statistics for other people. Not me.
Here's a little video (cartoon) of the procedure. http://www.sirtex.com/video/usa_see_how_sir_spheres_video_flash.cfm
I'm doing good. The only side effects I feel are Fatigue, numbness in my hands and feet, dizziness. Other than that I have a little bit of nausea. Still haven't thrown up yet...YAY ME!
Prayers are always great. I'm gonna beat this. Then I will be a "poster child" for Kicking Cancers Butt.
It looks like for now, we will put the Y-90 (Y-90 microsphere radioembolization ) on hold. Until the chemo no longer works to control the cancer. As soon as it starts to grow instead of shrink, we will do it.
I will discuss this with my oncologist, Dr. Swerdlof on Tuesday. He may want to push it forward and have me do it sooner than later. The two Dr.s are going to consult with each other and then decide for sure, but Dr. Handley thinks we should hold off.
BUT it looks like I am a candidate for the procedure, which is wonderful news. And they can do this procedure more than once! And it is minimally evasive, and causes only a few bearable side effects. I am excited. But hopefully the Chemo works for a long time and I won't be doing this for a while. But if it's sooner, I am ready for it.
First they do a special kind of CAT scan. They map my veins. Second I come in and they do an angiogram type procedure, They go in my femural artery, and travel into the hepatic artery. This artery does 90% of the tumor feeding, while the liver receives most of its nutrients through the portal vein. They give me a small dose of the "test beads". They make sure they are going to travel to the right place. They also block some blood vessels so that the beads don't travel to the intestines, stomach or lungs. They are 1/3 the circumference of a human hair. During the actual procedure they inject millions of beads.
This should increase my time before tumors grow again by 6 months, compared with Chemo without this procedure.
"a median time to disease progression, as measured by tumor size, of 15.9 months vs. 9.7 months for those receiving Chemotherapy alone. Survival rates for the patients receiving SIR-Spheres microspheres were higher at various intervals than for those just receiving Chemo.
I still don't like the survival rates:
"72 percent vs. 68 percent at one year; 39 percent vs. 29 percent at two years; 17 percent vs. 6 percent at three years; and 3.5 percent vs. zero percent at five years."
But those are statistics for other people. Not me.
Here's a little video (cartoon) of the procedure. http://www.sirtex.com/video/usa_see_how_sir_spheres_video_flash.cfm
I'm doing good. The only side effects I feel are Fatigue, numbness in my hands and feet, dizziness. Other than that I have a little bit of nausea. Still haven't thrown up yet...YAY ME!
Prayers are always great. I'm gonna beat this. Then I will be a "poster child" for Kicking Cancers Butt.
Friday, August 10, 2012
Chemo #8
So I get my Chemo ball taken off in a few hours. It hasn't been too bad. Just a bit of light-headedness and some fatigue.
I should be getting a phone call today from Dr. Handley's office. He is the surgeon who does the y-90 procedure I talked about in a previous post. You can look him up here.... http://www.boiseradiology.com/Radiologists/InterventionalRadiology.aspx
He is last on the list.
I will have a face to face consultation with him, and find out if I am a candidate for y-90. I hope I am. I would love to get it done, and finish my 12 rounds of Chemo, and maybe have some off time for the holidays. I would love to go home to California and visit my mom and the rest of my family. My mom is 81 and I really need to go see her. You never know what tomorrow brings.
The kids start school on the 22nd. Luckily we are all done with school clothes and school supply shopping!
I am having a party on the 17th. Scentsy, jewelry, pigging out, bunco. Everyone is invited. 6-10 at my house.
I am planning on having a coming off Chemo party in the future too!
Thank you for all the prayers/ meals/ positive thoughts. They help more than you will ever know.
I should be getting a phone call today from Dr. Handley's office. He is the surgeon who does the y-90 procedure I talked about in a previous post. You can look him up here.... http://www.boiseradiology.com/Radiologists/InterventionalRadiology.aspx
He is last on the list.
I will have a face to face consultation with him, and find out if I am a candidate for y-90. I hope I am. I would love to get it done, and finish my 12 rounds of Chemo, and maybe have some off time for the holidays. I would love to go home to California and visit my mom and the rest of my family. My mom is 81 and I really need to go see her. You never know what tomorrow brings.
The kids start school on the 22nd. Luckily we are all done with school clothes and school supply shopping!
I am having a party on the 17th. Scentsy, jewelry, pigging out, bunco. Everyone is invited. 6-10 at my house.
I am planning on having a coming off Chemo party in the future too!
Thank you for all the prayers/ meals/ positive thoughts. They help more than you will ever know.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Chemo Tomorrow....
Even though I haven't had a full dose of Oxaliplatin in a month, I am still experiencing numbness and tingling in my hands and feet. I had a couple of times when I thought I was going to throw up. Not sure if it is due to the Chemo or if I was coming down with a stomach bug, but whatever it was, my nausea medicine helped it go away.
I also had a reaction from my 5-FU that I have never had before....little blisters. I had a few in my mouth, but not too many. I also had them on the palms of my hands and the bottoms of my feet. They were painful, but still not terrible. Usually I would have Chemo today, but this week it is Wednesday for some reason. I hope that I hear about the Y-90 procedure soon, and whether I am a candidate for it.
We were at the Oregon coast for a week. The weather was wonderful, and we had a great time. I'm glad to be home though.
I also had a reaction from my 5-FU that I have never had before....little blisters. I had a few in my mouth, but not too many. I also had them on the palms of my hands and the bottoms of my feet. They were painful, but still not terrible. Usually I would have Chemo today, but this week it is Wednesday for some reason. I hope that I hear about the Y-90 procedure soon, and whether I am a candidate for it.
We were at the Oregon coast for a week. The weather was wonderful, and we had a great time. I'm glad to be home though.
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