I had my last consult with my surgeon this Monday. They have pads of 8.5″ x 11″ paper with the stomach and all the blobby parts all around it, intended for surgeons to use explaining the procedure they’re going to perform. So he was drawing all over it since the Whipple procedure takes out a […]
Well, this is it! I met with my surgeon and oncologist on Monday and we have set the date to remove this tumor and a few other parts so that I can return to a relatively normal and healthy life!!! Hot diggity!!!! Since you’ve been keeping up with this blog you already know many of […]
I finally got the definition of “cycle” right. I am now in the 2nd day of my 16th and last cycle of chemo. Today is Saturday and I just got my pump removed. That’s it, no more chemo for now, and maybe forever. This coming Monday I get another blood test and a CT scan, […]
I’m almost at the end of my planned chemo sessions. It seems like the tumor is shrinking. We have a consult with my oncologist and surgeon at the end of this month and they’ll probably set the schedule for the surgery. Knowing all that I still can’t make firm plans for what I can & […]
Heck I don’t even know what a “cycle” really is. I’m losing track of all the infusions I’ve had. What I do know is that I’ve just gotten the first of only 2 more infusions before surgery, or at least that’s the current plan. I think that makes a total of hmmmm, 7 infusions of […]
I gotta say, the previous 7 days after my most recent infusion have been revealing. They illustrated the effects of accumulated toxicity. My nausea went longer, for example. When I’d previously gotten to the last 3 days of an infusion interval I would be fine, without incident. It was different for these last 3 infusions […]
Well another week, another infusion. This one went well, with a little reduction in dose due to marginally low blood platelet counts. Fine with me. We’ve got the whole thing down; set the port, draw blood, wait 20 minutes, talk to Doc, wait 45 minutes, get infusion which with gemabraxin takes about 2 and a […]
This was a quick Gemabraxine infusion with no complications and nothing much to say about the after effects other than they’ve been the same as always. I’m writing this on the Monday after so I don’t have very much need for the anti-nausea meds at this point either, although there are occasions where I’m really […]
This visit was the 16th week of my treatment, and it was a happy visit. I even did a little happy dance! Every 8 weeks I get a new CT scan to let us see what the tumor is doing. This also marks the end of the most recent 8 week cycle of 4 infusions […]
I just started subscribing to the website Medium. It’s part of my program to offset my alarming habit of going to Facebook (no link here you’ll notice) whenever I get bored. When it happens I crave not just distraction, but also shiny new ideas, variety with substance, and not just another commercial push to make […]