Well my friends, much has changed since I last spoke with you. The disease in my lungs is now rapidly advancing, especially the left lung. The change between my December scan and my April scan was unbelievable. I have spoken with my Pulmonologist, my Oncologist (who in turn has spoken with her 5 colleagues), and put a call into Dr. Dresscher (my second opinion guy in Seattle) whom I'm waiting to hear back from just to see if he has anything else to offer. The bottom line is that treatment isn't working, and hasn't been working for some time. My Oncologist has given me three options. Option One is to try one last line of chemo called Topotecan. My Onocologist isn't hopeful that it will be any more successful than the past drugs as the cancer becomes more and more resistant and I become weaker and weaker. Although my white blood cell count looks pretty good right now. Dr. McC's objective has always been "quality of life" for me and if I have six months or less, I don't want to be sick the entire time. Both my Pulmonologist and Oncologist believe I have six months or less. Option two would possibly be a clinical trial, but a trial is a trial and you never know what you are going to get. I could end up really sick and I don't want that. Option three is to do nothing, and trigger hospice. So, let me say...I AM NOT ready for Hospice, and I'm not done fighting. I am currently fighting an infection, I have pleurisy, and I'm on morphine pills and liquid to help with my cough and pain.
My friend John is here from Australia visiting and caring for me. It is all to abruptly clear that I am no longer able to be on my own...especially since I started the morphine a week ago.
I also had BRCA testing done yesterday (my previous insurance would not cover it). That determines if my cancer is hereditary. If I test positive, there is one other treatment that I would be eligible for.
That's all for now my friends...much love to everyone!
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Sunday, January 24, 2015 - Update
It's been about three months since I've updated my blog and a lot has happened since then. Here is the condensed version. I did three monthly treatments of Doxil, but my body did not respond and the cancer continues to spread and grow throughout my lungs. My shortness of breath continued to escalate which took me back to my Pulmonologist. He took me through a series of testing to try and determine the cause. We did an ultra sound on my legs and a CT scan of my chest to rule out blood clots. Both tests came back clean. Next he did a bronchoscopy so he could look into my lungs and see exactly what's going on in there. What he confirmed was that I have two air passages that are completely blocked, and one that is partially blocked by tumors. They aren't main air passages, but his analogy was normally you breathe through something the size of a drinking straw...in the places where I'm blocked, it's like trying to breathe through a coffee stirrer. Next step...radiation. Not as a treatment, but as treating a symptom (the tumors squeezing my air passages closed). So...as of this past Wednesday I completed ten daily treatments of radiation. Now we are just waiting for my body to respond. Once my cells split, and the radiation does its thing I should see an improvement in my breathing. For right now I am fatigued beyond belief...imagine shampooing your hair and having to take a break before you can finish. Some days I'm light headed (due to low blood pressure, dehydration or maybe all of the shit that has been pumped into my body in the past 3.5 years). I'm still coughing and gaging...which sometimes makes me vomit. Since the radiation no matter what I eat or drink I feel like I am swallowing a piece of un-chewed burnt toast. Both Friday and Saturday when I got sick I threw up blood. That's how raw my throat is. They say things should improve in about a week. I'm scheduled to start Avastin on Monday, but I'm going to discuss pushing it out a week as the Avastin can slow the healing process. I'd like to give my throat, esophagus, tummy etc. adequate time to heal.
My family and friends continue to care for me. I am currently not driving, cooking or cleaning...because I am not able to...so they do it all for me. I thank God everyday for the love and support of my posse.
That's it my friends...I keep waiting for better to come, but she keeps hiding just ahead.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)