Back Again

Well last Monday I came back to the CTCA(Cancer Treatment Center of America)to find out what my treatment would be. If you remember the last chemo they were giving me dropped my platelets and so we had to wait for them to come back up. So that I could do treatment again. Dr. wasn't sure what meds or chemo to give. So by Wednesday the following week my platelets were up. He recommended a pill form of chemo. I would take it every day for two weeks and then have a week off. That would have been o.k. but pills go through the pharmacy. I would have to pay $400 every two weeks for the chemo pills. When they give me chemo through my port it is covered %100. So I asked him if we could talk about what to put me on when I came out on Monday. Which was last Monday. He said that would be fine.

So we decided last week to go ahead and go back to my same treatment I had with Dr. Rado. I will (and did last week) receive through my port Abraxane and Navel. Then on week two which is today Abraxane I think and herceptin. Then the third week Abraxane again. So three weeks of treatment and two weeks off. I will come to CTCA on Sunday nights and come home Monday night or Tuesday for those three weeks. Dr. didn't tell me how many rounds. I think it is because he doesn't think it will work and that he will have to change the chemo. I am more confident than he is about it. The last chemo he was giving me dropped the CA numbers but the tumors didn't shrink. I haven't seen the dr. yet today. I will try and update if he changes anything.

Thanks to those that are helping with meals. It is so helpful to my family. I really appreciate the help.

Lost Post

O.k. really long story short. I spent awhile on Thursday morning updating the blog and lost the whole post. So I will try it again.

So Sunday we went for my fourth visit down to Phoenix for chemo treatment. Monday I had a CT scan and blood work done so I would be ready to see the Dr. on Tuesday. Tuesday I saw all my Dr.'s.

The blood work showed that my tumor markers went down again. The tumor number is around 260's. Three weeks ago they were around 400. This is great news.

The blood work also showed that my blood is still to thick. Not good for the clot. The numbers have been to low (thick) for a few awhile.

The CT showed that I still have a blood clot and it isn't any better. It also shows that the tumors on the ovaries and in the stomach (lymph nods) are unchanged.

The first thing the Dr. said was he wanted me off coumidian. My numbers have been unstable for to long. So as of Monday we switched back over to the shots. He wants the blood to be more stable for treatment and possibly surgery.

The second thing he said was that my blood work said my platelets were to low to give me chemo therapy. There isn't any thing the could give me to make my platelets grow. My body just has to have more time to make more. Platelets clot your blood. (This explains alot. I had been having blood in my mouth when I brush my teeth, blood in my nose and lots of bruising lately.) He said that was because of the low platelets. So no treatment this visit. He said I could still receive Herceptin.

We then talked about what he might like to do about treatment. With the tumor marker numbers being lower he said he knows that the cancer isn't spreading or growing but the scan also shows it really isn't shrinking. So he said he wasn't sure what he wanted to do. He had two thoughts. His first thought is that because the CT is two dimensional that it wouldn't be able to show if the thickness is shrinking. He wanted to get together with the radiologist and see if that was possible. Then he talked to us about treatment. He said we need to wait for the platelets to come up. So I did blood work today and then I will do it again on Monday to see if they have come up. The doc will get back to me about what he wants to do about treatment on Tuesday next week. He can't decided whether he wants to keep doing the treatment I am already on or change. The treatment I am on he would have to lower the dose. I did a lower dose my first time and it didn't work or do anything the numbers went up. He can't keep it at the same dose because he already knows it will kill my platelets. But that is still a possibility. The second possibility would be to give me different chemo. It would be in pill form. I would take it once a day for two weeks than have a week off. I would be able to do that here but I would still go back for Herceptin and check up and scans every three weeks still. At the end of the chemo pill they would do surgery and take out the overies and do a chemo wash.

So again we are waiting for the blood work on Monday and Dr. to call us on Tuesday and let us know what he wants to do for treatment.

Ryan and I still kept busy at the facility while we were there. A couple of the days we walked twice during the day and the rest of the days I got my 30 mins of walking in. They asked me at the first visit to walk for at least 30 mins. Well I have a hard time finding time to do it at home plus the cold weather isn't enticing. The weather in Phoenix is so nice 75 this last visit that you can't help but to be outside. Ryan and I got a little sun.

Doing good

Ok just doing a quick update. Lots of new things going on in pheonix with treament. I will update everything tomorrow. For now I am doing great. I wasn't able to get treament this visit. But I am doing great no worries.