February 5th Update

I just wanted to say hello and give everyone who’s still checking an update on what’s been going on, which isn’t much really! I have been sick the last few days with bronchitis, which has been rough, but I think it’s starting to get better. I am hoping it won’t stop me from getting chemo #15 tomorrow, but I will see when I get there.

I have been feeling the effects of the chemo more often lately, but it’s still overall pretty mild compared to my expectations and what I have heard from others. I am having some nausea and joint pains, which are well controlled with medication and like always just feel fatigued mostly all the time. There is still a lot of pain and stuff going on in my chest/abdomen, but I am getting used to that, in fact it almost feels strange when I don’t get it. It’s hard to believe it’s been 16 weeks since my diagnosis – it feels like it’s been 16 months and this has certainly become a way of life for us.

A couple of weeks ago we met with a radiologist and they are considering doing some radiation therapy during my next break from chemo (my one week break that would occur at the end of this month). The radiologist was waiting for some images/scans to arrive from my last round in Boston before making a recommendation – I am hoping to find out about that soon. It sounds like they are unsure whether or not it’s needed at this point. Since we found out about how major the surgery on my vertebrae would be, and they’d like to avoid it if possible, radiation becomes the only option for treating that area. The amount of radiation they can use on that area (like any) is limited, so they are unsure if they want to treat it now or wait until (if ever) that spot starts growing/spreading. They would use a radiation technology called cyberknife on that spot. It’s robotic and seems pretty cool.

At the end of this month I will have another set of CT scans done (during my week off of chemo) just to make sure nothing has changed before having six more treatments taking me to the end of April.