I don't know how else to say it. The news of the CT scan at the appointment today was discouraging. So the bad news is that the Taxotere chemo he has been on has not helped...the WORSE news is that the cancer has also started growing again. There are new tumors in his liver and some of the existing ones have almost doubled in size when compared to the CT scan from March. There are also a few more lymph nodes involoved. The slightly positive news is that the spots in his lungs are still stable and his spleen, pancrease, heart, gall bladder are still in good shape. I guess we will take whatever good as we can right now.
What we do now:
-They stopped the Taxotere, it is doing nothing for him...so basically why out him and his body through it for nothing.
-He will start a new chemo cocktail, he will get both every 3 weeks for 9 weeks, then a new CT scan to see if these do anything to shrink the tumors or at least prevent any new growth:
Alimta - This drug blocks folic acid to the tumor. Dad will have to start taking a folic acid pill daily for at least 7 days before he starts, during treatment and for at least a month after treament is done. This one takes about 10 minutes through the IV. He will also have to have a vitamin B12 shot every 9 weeks i believe. This one has "common" side effects such as blood clots and abnormal peeling of his skin (what the @#$@ does that mean?) and of course the less common side effect of kidney failure. Sometimes I wonder if the benefit really does outweigh the risk...
Here is a link to Alimta info:
http://www.webmd.com/drugs/drug-78575-ALIMTA+IV.aspx?drugid=78575&drugname=ALIMTA+IV
Avastin - This drug blocks the blood supply to the cancer cells. This drug also has some of the same "common" side effects including blood clots & bleeding of the stomach or intestines, heart attack, stroke and voice changes??? In fact this one has a FDA warning at the top of the page regarding the clot issue.
Here is a link to more info on this one:
http://www.webmd.com/drugs/drug-78649-AVASTIN+IV.aspx?drugid=78649&drugname=AVASTIN+IV
-He will also have steroid shot the day before, day of and day after chemo (this is the same as with the Taxotere) to help prevent skin reactions such as rashes.
So I imagine by this point you may be wondering, as I am, if we will have a bald Dennis molting discolored skin all over the place while sounding like he is in puberty....but as disturbing as that thought it, I have to say that if that is the worst that happens through this we will be in good shape.
On a personal level, I was proud of myself this week and today. I forced myself not to have the dread I had before the last appointment and I held it together from the time I heard the news until I was driving through Zeeland. It hit me when I was getting on the highway and I actually had to pull into the rest area on the way back to GR because my brain froze, I figured at that point I may very well be a menace to the surrounding traffic and took a short break.
So that's all I care to think about this tonight. Please "kick it up a notch" with the prayers and good thoughts because we need it!
Friday, May 04, 2007
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