Hate it when I'm right
I hate it when I'm right about these things. Carrie felt the edge right away. It's not nearly as large as it was back in July, which is good. We are stopping Carbo/Gem and switching to Navelbine; I started today. It's a quick treatment, takes only a few minutes. Plus I had Zometa and a shot of Aranesp for hemoglobin. Dr. Glick is ever-optimmistic, though. The fact that I responded so well to the last chemo is a good sign that I'll respond to another. He also said that the dramatic fashion in which Carbo/Gem worked implied that it would lose its efficicacy sooner. The slower a drug works, the longer it lasts. So the fact that the combination lasted five months is, all said, pretty good. In other words: I had a good run.
Navelbine is pretty well-tolerated. The biggest side effect is constipation. But I have a CT scheduled for tomorrow, so that will take care of that! I also have an MRI tomorrow to the lumbar sacral spine; I have an area on my rear end with some pain that they want to evaluate.
I think I'm scared the most of going back to how I felt in June/July, when I was so sick. I hope this chemo works well enough to keep things stable. It doesn't have to be dramatic; I just want it to stop things right now and keep them that way for a long time.
I seem to write a lot more when I have bad things to report. When I feel good, this blog always seems to be at the bottom of the priority list. But when things turn, I turn to it to work things out and try to feel better about the whole situation.
Navelbine is pretty well-tolerated. The biggest side effect is constipation. But I have a CT scheduled for tomorrow, so that will take care of that! I also have an MRI tomorrow to the lumbar sacral spine; I have an area on my rear end with some pain that they want to evaluate.
I think I'm scared the most of going back to how I felt in June/July, when I was so sick. I hope this chemo works well enough to keep things stable. It doesn't have to be dramatic; I just want it to stop things right now and keep them that way for a long time.
I seem to write a lot more when I have bad things to report. When I feel good, this blog always seems to be at the bottom of the priority list. But when things turn, I turn to it to work things out and try to feel better about the whole situation.
posted by Rachel Troxell at 2:25 PM
5 Comments:
You really do know your body. That's quite the medication combo and quick redirect by Dr. Glick. He does seem to know what he's doing. I can't help but hope one of these medications will work magic. Maybe this is the one. We're here for you.
rachel - i just wanted to let you know that i'm thinking about you and, angry as this all makes me for you, i'm so grateful that there continues to be new chemo options to try and attack this in new ways. good luck with the ct scan -- i hope tomorrow brings no post, and if it does, i will know its good news.
Sounds like a war for wellness: successful campaigns alternating with setbacks or stalemates. Fortunately, you have a good general and some great supportive troops with state of the art armaments.
Not knowing what any tomorrow will bring must be a very hard way to live. Only thing worse is the alternative.....
Strength.
Mina
Rachel, we all know you're a real fighter, no matter how sad you get. Sad is certainly appropriate right now, but so is fighting - so I'm taking your example, I'm feeling sad for you but I'm increasing my prayers.
Connie
I'm so glad you have a way of expressing the whole range of feelings you're experiencing and that you feel the tremendous support coming back to you -
From strength to strength-
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