Surgery details

Here's what happened to me last November/December....

November (my surgery)
They were supposed to perform a pleurodesis - fuse the lung wall to the chest wall to prevent liquid from accumulating. When I came to, they told me they did not get to do the pleurodesis. There was diseased cells on the chest wall. Instead, I have a catheter.

It's the latest in catheter technology. I'm not connected to a bag. It's only a hose. I connect it to a vacuum bottle whenever I need to drain my lung.

Am I pissed? Hell, yea! But it is what it is...

December (next step in treatment)
My oncologist was looking around for my next cocktail since the last one (Avastin/Alimta combo) stopped working. At this point, she's told me that I've taken all the best medication for lung cancer out there. I'm running out of options. I thought I'd check out Johns Hopkins and see what they had to offer. (BTW, thanks to Kathy and Justin for hooking me up!)

I looked into their clinical trials. Unfortunately, they do not cover all costs. They usually ask insurance to cover "regular care". My insurance will not cover any procedure connected to anything experimental. So, nix that.

Good thing my oncologist found one more older drug - Navalbene. We're to use it in conjunction with Cisplatin. I've taken Cisplatin before. It's one of my first drugs. My first combo was Cisplatin and Taxotere. That really wiped me out. It also wiped out my hair. I took it the first 3 months and did not work much at the time.

How am I doing on it now? I've been on 2 miserable cycles. It takes me 9 to 10 days to recover. The nausea is terrible. I can't eat so I'm very weak. My doctor says it's only supposed to last 5 days. She's given me more anti-nausea pills for this next cycle. (I've also been going to an accupuncturinst.) Hopefully, we can reduce the nausea and generally bad effects to 5 days.

Despite it all, I'm still optimistic. There has to be a way through this. What won't kill you will only make you stronger. And I intend to win this.

PET Scan results (6/16/2008)

I had a PET scan done yesterday and my doctor got a preliminary report today.
Bottom line: It's stable. It's almost the same as the last scan. She's very happy which makes me happy.

I'm not changing my medications in any way. I'll still be taking my Alimta/Avastin combo.

The scan did show that I might have some fluid in my right lung. I'm seeing my lung doctor next week to have it drained. (Does not sound fun but I'll handle it.)

Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with these results. I'm living a normal life and this means I'll keep my lifestyle despite the cancer. Whenever I get scanned, I always try to envision the best case scenario. I let it play in my head willing it to come true. I envision my doctor telling me that it's gone and I don't have to do chemo anymore.

But it's not time yet. It'll come though. I believe it.
Please keep praying for me and believing in my recovery.
For those who keep the faith, Thanks! It really helps to have the spirit of many behind me.

Go with the flow

Let me start off with a disclaimer. Warning: Too much information to come.

I just got my period. The time of the month. The menstrual flow.

I'll let you click away now. I did warn you that I was going to spew TMI. This blather is just to allow you to click away before I continue. If you are still reading, you do so at your own peril.

This is the first time in about 2 years that I got my period that had a real flow. I thought, "Oh, what an inconvenience!" And as I was grudgingly setting up the equipage to deal with the situation, I thought of the bright side: My reproductive parts still work. There's still hope that my daughter will get that sibling she asked for.

She's been asking for a little brother the last couple of months. Sometimes little brother, sometimes little baby. We keep diverting her and say what if we get a little doggie? She really insists on a baby. In fact, she even tells me to eat more so that my tummy will get bigger and I can have another baby.

I had to explain to her that I was sick. We'll talk about it again when she's 10 years old. Hopefully by then, I'll be better. And if I'm better, we'll try for that baby. She seemed to understand.