Chemo Round 6

While getting blood work Fred & Dr. H had a chat, and this is why I love my oncologist. I need for them to have a relationship. And the truth is, we both had a relationship with him through caring for my dad. So while it's been strange literally walking in my dad's footsteps, getting chemo from the same chair he once sat. It's also refreshing being truly comfortable with my oncologist from day one. 

During their conversation, Fred had apparently expressed our concern with Dr. S and the MRI debacle. And Dr. H was quick to put me at ease. "I would tell you if I didn't think he was a good fit, but he is your surgeon." The relief was immediate. 

Going forward chemo is changing. We were in fight mode, throwing everything I could physically manage to shrink the lesion, and now we are in maintenance mode. Instead of being knocked out for a week+, Dr. H wants to get it down to three days. So new treatment is FOLFOX with a biologic (and I can't remember the name)...it's the one that hinders growth of new blood vessels to feed any cancer lesions. And we will reevaluate after 12 rounds. Yes, I expected this. Many people with stage IV continue with maintenance chemo. 

With surgery around the corner, and because chemo causes blood levels to drop, Dr. H wants chemo to stop three weeks prior. Meaning #6 will be my last round, and it will pick back up four weeks after surgery. He doesn't want me drinking colonoscopy "fun juice" while on chemo, so trying to squeeze that in the week before surgery. 

My blood levels were still a little off from the intestinal virus, so Dr. H let me decide if I felt strong enough for this round. While I still felt a little weak, I was okay to push forward knowing it would be easier than previous rounds. 

I struggled through this round a little bit, but nothing like previous rounds. The infusion only took three hours. (Previous rounds took six-seven hours, depending on what side effects decided to show up.) A little nausea, a lot of fatigue, but by day five I felt well enough to get out of the house. For the first time since March, I'm able to enjoy every weekend. Holy moly I can manage this chemo! Especially knowing it will be even easier when my blood levels improve. 

By the way, I struggled with that intestinal virus for three weeks. That thing completely knocked me out! This virus is something healthy people recover from in 2-5 days. Having a weakened immune system is no joke!

Chemo Rounds 3-5

#3

With about an hour to go with my infusion the nausea came on strong & fast. I needed a barf bag STAT. The in-house pharmacy tends to complain when they have to dose meds late in the day, but they took one look at me and shut the hell up! Needless to say, Fred had to wheelchair me out again. 

This is round I start to understand why my nurses tell me I have reason to complain. I've never seen anyone have to use a wheelchair after chemo. Never. Including when my dad was getting his chemo infusions. This chemo regiment is tough, but I'm tougher.

#4

Other than nausea, my side effects are neuropathy (numb/tingling) in my fingertips and ankles & chemical like burning in my eyes. After round 3 my ankles were terribly sore. I typically didn't note side effects unless they make life unbearable, but the eye thing made me scared and I started noting all side effects. 

Chemo adds pressure to your eyes, so they thought the eye pain could be glaucoma. They scheduled an eye exam. No glaucoma!

This round took place at the Lawrenceville office. The nurse asked if I had any side effects and I just laughed. Lady get ready to see something you've never seen! 

Sure enough chemo drunk (numb tongue) and nausea came on with an hour to go. She was quick to address the nausea so it never got out of control. But the neuropathy in my ankles was so bad I couldn't walk, and once again I needed the wheelchair. The nurse was shocked that I couldn't walk. Just a couple hours earlier I walked to the bathroom no problem. Yep. That's how I do chemo. 

I was so incredibly weak when we got home. I had to hold on to Fred just to walk from the car to our house. For the next three days I had to stabilize myself to walk around the house. Enter scary side effect number two. 

#5

I still had neuropathy in my fingertips, and with the difficulty walking Dr. H held off on the Iritotechan and upped the other drugs. This meant getting a push of the 5-FU. 

Nausea was a little harder to control this round, but I didn't have any ankle or eye pain. I had asked the nurse if it was possible to experience neuropathy in the eyes, sure enough it was the Iritotechan that caused the pain. 

I started experiencing an odd pain in my upper abdomen just under my ribs on the left side. I went in for a check and Dr. H decided to allow whatever was happening to "define itself". By that night I was cramping, and it felt like something was off in my intestines. The next morning I was sent for a CT. I could tell everyone was concerned. Anytime there's a new odd pain, they worry about new growth. 

By the time I made it back to the office, Dr. H was so excited to give me the results he didn't even wait for me to get into a room. Chemo is working! The lesion on the liver is shrinking! There was some swelling around my intestines, and I had an intestinal virus. No treatment, it simply had to run its course. 

When you have a weakened immune system, "run its course" is much harder. I was in/out of the office three times for fluids. And the third time, just getting myself ready left me breathless. I'm used to the fatigue, but getting out of breath from getting dressed was reaching a whole new level of pathetic! 

Needless to say chemo #6 was delayed. 

My chemo pal. She never leaves my side on the bad days. This is how we chemo!