Indeed I.N.D.Y.
Despite not having blogged in a while, I am, indeed, not dead yet. I had chemo this past Wednesday (start of cycle 4 for me) and I am still in recovery. I am still a bit fatigued, and a little nauseous, but otherwise, none the worse for wear. It would seem that my body tolerates the once every other week schedule for treatment than it did the traditional 3 on, 1 off. Though, in true science geek fashion, I asked the doctor about the impact on treatment efficacy of having the reduced level of medicine. (I cannot recall whether I have written about this previously; if I did, please bear with me as I do so again). Essentially, the doctor said that all the research on Gemzar as a treatment for pancreas cancer is based on the 3 on, 1 off schedule. In short, there is no way to really know what, if any, impact having it less frequently has on the efficacy of the treatment.
I asked Dr. Kauh on Wednesday how much longer I would be on chemo. He told me that he wants me to go through 6 cycles. (For those of you not following along at home, 1 cycle = 2 treatments.) As a result, I have 5 more treatments until I am done. I guess that is good news; certainly, I will not miss having to go to the hospital every other week. I then asked Dr. Kauh what happens after — after I’m done with the 6th cycle. His response, as before, is we cross our fingers and wait. For those of you who know me, I’m not good with the whole “waiting” thing. I would presume that I will still meet with Dr. Kauh on some regular schedule, but who knows? That’s the question I will ask next time.
I also have an abdominal CT scheduled for the beginning of February. Though they are calling it a re-staging CT, the reality is that Dr. Kauh is following up with some concern expressed by the doctors at Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati. To refresh your memories, I was in Cincy visiting with my in-laws when I started to have pretty severe abdominal pain. Having experienced diverticulitis before, I recognized the symptoms, so I had my in-laws drop me off at the ER and I was checked out by the docs. One of the tests they ran was to give me a CT. Apparently, the docs in Cincy saw something on the CT that Dr. Kauh calls a “vascular blush.” As he explained it to me, it may simply be a lack of coordination between the scan and the contrast going into my vascular system or something else. Either way, Dr. Kauh does not think it’s anything to worry about, but I guess we’ll find out in February. All my bloodwork is good and my CA19-9 is still low, so there doesn’t seem to be evidence of active tumor growth. As I said, we shall see.
In the “Really Good News” department, I wanted to let everyone know that my father’s cancer does NOT seem to be back. As I understand it, he had a PET scan in December that seemed to suggest that his cancer had returned. My father went back and had some additional tests, including a CT scan, and the new tests and the CT scan came back negative. His oncologist said (apparently) that he’s more likely to believe the CT scan results, so for now, my Dad remains cancer free. What a big relief for them (and for the rest of us).
I have to admit that I have fallen down on the job with regards to my resolution to take a picture each day. However, I will start that up this weekend. So I will be able to post something at least every day (or so). Bear with me and I’ll start to have some images for you soon.
Have a great weekend.
Merle
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