Greetings all:
My recent radiation (Wednesday April 4) was straightforward: it should hopefully shrink a pesky tumour that is squishing a nerve in my thigh and forcing me to cut back on my precious walks by the Ottawa River. This could take a while to "work", in the meantime I have refreshed my pain cocktail mix and I am not in any serious discomfort, just tired.
May 24 - update: the radiation treatment has not worked as hoped, and my mobility is definitely compromised. Basically, I have to use a wheelchair as much as possible or pay the price - a swollen and painful left leg. Of course I plan to complain vociferously to my fabulous and very caring medical team. But I might have to accept this, a real quality of life setback.
On Friday May 6, Geoff and I met with Dr Laura Hopkins. We thought it would be an "exit appointment", given the rather discouraging opinions of both the clinical trial oncologist and my radiation oncologist. Shouldda known better.
Dr. Hopkins has been my treatment oncologist most of the time. She knows me well and she is always prepared to search out and offer whatever seems reasonable.
She had a treatment to offer, a known chemo drug, but experimental for my type of cancer, on a hunch that it might slow down my tumor growth. It will not cure me, but it might buy me a few more months. And it does not sound that difficult: IV infusions every 2 weeks. The drug is Dacarbazine. I've set my criteria, that I want to still be able to enjoy my summer, and she has promised to respect this priority. I would have a CT scan every 6-8 weeks, to see how it is going.
So I am giving it a whirl. First treatment was today and it went smoothly. I will keep future updates short and hopefully sweet.
1 comment:
Well this sounds like a good development, especially if it can coexist with summer! But I'm a little confused on the scheduling - are you west now? I think not. A new target date? I want to figure a time after the long weekend when some of us can take you out for a summer-time lunch. Susan C.
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