Thursday, October 22, 2009

Super Chemo Day #6

Today we go kill some cancer cells! It is Super Chemo Day, when I get both Gem and Tax. We're using both of the big guns today.

The wierd part for me is that this is #6, so it is probably my last Super Chemo Day. Now that is pretty darned exciting, to have the chemo coming to an end.

But I am living in some uncertainly because there is the possibility that we will decide to add on two more cycles. That happens only RARELY and only if the next scan (Oct 30 with results on Nov 2) shows even more dramatic and significant shrinkage. In that case, there might be some value in two more cycles to see if even more shrinkage can be achieved. Of course, I have to be able to deal with the side effects. And the doctor has said that he is leaning more toward immediately going into the clinical trial instead. So... I am praying a rosary novena asking for help making the right decision and I asked my super-web-skilled brilliant friend Allison in Seattle to surf the web looking for anything she can find on 8 cycles of Gem/Tax versus the standard 6 cycles; we'll see if she can find anything.

What else can I tell ya?

I'll have to keep a mouth full of ice for the hour that the Tax is administered to try to minimize the dry mouth. It is sort of difficult but well worth the effort because it has helped. I hate that dry mouth!

Soon I will be interested in researching the whole bulging disc thing to see what I should be doing. Thanks to everyone who has given me info on what they do.

Ah, fantastic fun planned for the weekend: Cindy flies in from Florida to spend the weekend with us! We are so psyched. Apparently we are ALL required to watch the Miami Hurricanes college football game on Saturday night. Woo Hoo.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Karen, I hope your Chemo goes good today and I am so so happy that the treatments are working, whether today is the last one you get or the third from last it is so great that you are getting better. I realize it is probably too late to offer this suggestion but my mom found that Trident gum helped dry mouth so so much, she had it permanently from the medications she took for emphysema and lung cancer. Maybe it would help you too. Love you lots and lots and hope you have a wonderful weekend, Debbie P.

Ned Charpentier said...

"My chemo was supposed to be at 12:30 but I didn't get called till 3:00 because they were really busy. I was reading a great book and did not get upset. It is what it is."

Kudos on the patience, I have much to learn from you :)

xoxoxo,
Ned