A Work in Progress
Living with Cancer

Here we go again!

My life has become a comic strip! Yes folks this happened to me. Not quite as severe as the comic strip case but if the person reading the CT scan that was done 8 months earlier had been more observant I would have been dealing with only one tumor and my lymph nodes probably wold not have been compromised. But my cancer is small and hopefully not really aggressive and luckily was found quite by accident before it could silently take over the lower lobe of my right lung. Like Lisa in the comic strip I wanted to scream but I just called my oncologist and told him and asked where do we go from here?

I had two choices of chemo regimen both equally effective. I let my Doctor choose for me. So far so good I am tired but not to the point like last time where all I did was sit and stare at the tv. Part of my treatment is Avastin...a chemical that shrinks the blood supply to the tumors so they will dry up and go away. Another part is Decadrom...a steroid that keeps me awake all night after having the 3 hours of chemotherapy. It is too frustrating if I try to go to sleep so I just stay up all night...but I sleep really well the next night. I also have to take home a chemo pump for 2 nights it has my dose of 5FU another chemo drug. Its not so bad , in 2003 I had to wear the Chemo pump for 6 weeks straight and have 5 day a week radiation for the six weeks...I was really cooked and poisoned that time!

Well I am on treatment 9 now and have been to see a Thorasic surgeon to talk about taking out that part of my lung with the tumors in it and one lymph node. The ones in the center of my chest can't be removed without creating complications. My case goes to the Thorasic Tumor Board on August 23rd. There a lot of really smart people will discuss my case and decide my fate. I promise to keep you posted.