3rd Cycle, 4th Infusion – December 27, 2018
Well, here we go again. As I write this it is the Friday after this infusion and one more time I have a chemo pump hooked up to my port, squirting tiny globs of seriously strong stuff into my jugular. By this time tomorrow evening I’ll be feeling the full effect. I don’t expect it will be all that much different than last time, so I’m eating lots of good high protein foods along with leafy greens and blueberries, yada yada. Why? Because I won’t be interested in eating much of anything for 4-5 days after tomorrow.
It’s grey and rainy outside as usual. I don’t think we’re going to have any kind of break in this for a couple more weeks I think. We have the doggie towels out, ready to use when we come back in from walkies. Yes, the dos walk me daily.
There’s really nothing to report right now. Guess I’ll go over to the drug store and give them my latest prescription for more zofran. I go through it pretty quickly but not excessively, just keeping a balance between degree of nausea, digestive effects of the chemo working one way against the zofran working the opposite way. Dr. Picozzi dictates to his assistant, “nausea level at 2”.
Nah, that’s a crappy way to end a post. Let me think of something better. um………………………….
December 29, 2018 @ 7:25 am
Hey, Geoff. Christmas for us is a non-holiday, so we spent the day eating Chinese food and working. So, it was pretty low key. Otherwise all is well with us. Glad to hear you’re holding up well. How much more chemo do you have to endure? Are you still planning on surgery and if so, when? Love, Robin
December 29, 2018 @ 8:57 am
Hi! For Xmas we had stocked in food so just stayed home and were generally lazy. Did all the laundry again and gave to dogs a long walk. Watched movies, snuggled.
According to the latest plan this is my last 2-stage infusion of the Nanaoliposomal Irinotecan with Leucovorin (reduced folinic acid) at my chair, and the long drip of 5-fluorouracil via pump. I get the pump removed today.
On January 10 I’m starting back up with the gemcitabine / nab-paclitaxel (I’ve been calling “gemabraxine” which I thought was the nurse’s short name for it but I could be wrong). I’ll also get a CAT scan to see how the tumor is changing. After this gemabraxine infusion I’ll have 2 more, every week, and then take a week off.
The results of the CAT scan & looking at the blood tests will determine the next step. If it’s good, we’ll go another 2 sessions every 2 weeks on the Nanaoliposomal Irinotecan, Leucovorin, and 5-fluorouracil. If it’s not good (whatever that means), we’ll stay with the gemcitabine / nab-paclitaxel for another 3 weekly infusions.
That will total 8 weeks, starting January 10, plus the 16 weeks I’m just finishing up, so my full pre-surgery chemo should finish by March 7. That will also be another 8 week mark so I’ll have another CAT scan & the decision to operate will be made then.
I don’t know how long I’ll have to wait for the chemo to wear off after that, but I do have to wait a bit before they’ll cut, so my liver is done processing the chemo and can take up the work of recovering from the major surgery. My guess is that I’ll have it done in April.
It’s pretty likely I’ll have the surgery. If they decide not to then you can bet it will mean more chemo and maybe radiation on top of it.
All I’m hoping for right now is to be healthy enough to go to Burning Man this summer. It’s as good a goal as any for this, and I miss my friends out there.
December 29, 2018 @ 2:10 pm
Thanks for the update!