I had an appointment this past Thursday for the usual blood work and chemo, or so I thought. I knew going into this appointment that my finger infections were starting to get worse. Both Vic and I figured we would have to switch my chemo infusion to another drug, no problem, that was in the plan if my fingers started to get bad. So, when we were sat down and told that based on the numbers and the finger infection we would have to change up my treatment plan completely, we were a little surprised. Actually, we were a lot surprised. Things had seemed to going pretty well and to plan. We knew the Erbitux chemo was a bridge treatment and based on how my fingers felt and looked I knew last week was going to be my last Erbitux treatment. Why then would everything have to be changed? Then came the numbers news. My tumor marker went up nearly 200 points. My current cancer fighting plan was no longer working. If you recall, the main reason for me not being able to receive certain chemo drugs was because they were platelet driven and my platelets were always too low. We did solve this by having my spleen removed so the options available are much better now than before. Based on that information the Oncologist selected two new chemo drugs. These drugs are new to my system but are some of the first chemo drugs used. One was approved in 1957 and the other in 1996. Oldies but goodies I guess. The infusions are going to be every two weeks starting this Monday. One of the drugs requires I wear a pump for two days after the Monday infusion. So, I get infused on Mondays and I get the pump removed on Wednesdays. These particular drugs in combination are supposed to be very potent. As the doctor said "you know you are on chemo" because the fatigue, nausea and aches are at a pretty high level after the infusions. He also said these side effects should get better as we move away from the treatment date. Oh yeah, chances are I will be losing my hair this time. Based on the other side effects I have dealt with so far, the hair thing is all good. One more thing I was told during our meeting was that I have a urinary tract infection. I guess the pain generated from the tumors growing was masking the pain from the UTI so I really didn't notice it. Well, I'm on antibiotics for that and it should clear up in a week.
This is a lot of info to write about without going on forever. Please feel free to ask questions or make comments. I know everyone wants to ask a question or make a comment that is positive and not say anything that could have a negative spin to it. Face the facts everyone, at this stage of my battle the negatives are far out weighing the positive, that is just the way it is. ASK whatever you want and allow me to give you an insight that only I can give. There is a lot of new stuff on the horizon so KEEP PRAYING.
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