Saturday, March 26, 2011

Rainy Red


It has been really wet here this week. I am officially tired of the rain! Red and I didn't get out to do as much walking as usual, but when we did he wore his raincoat. Lest you think we've lost our minds...a wet dog means a wet dog bed (even if I towel him off his bed gets damp) and a wet dog bed eventually turns into a mildewy dog bed. Ick! Not what is needed here, so Red wears a raincoat (and I think he looks jaunty)!

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Staying the Course For Now

I got the same old chemo cocktail today. When I saw the doctor she recommended that I get a PET/CT to check on things and then we'll have better information before we make a decision about changing treatments. My doctor is concerned about the skin thickening, but was still really impressed at how much better my skin looks overall. The red spots of the skin metastases are almost all gone.

In other news, bone soup is back on my menu. My platelet count was LOW as were a bunch of other things. I have been taking some iron supplements, but it isn't quite enough. I don't know if the soup will do any good, it may just be that my bone marrow is beat up by all the chemo but, I figure it can't hurt. I'm thinking I need to try my hand at making some homemade pho (one of my most favorite comfort foods).

I'm looking forward to taking it slow this week. It looks like it will be raining a lot, so Red and I are going to have to watch the radar and wear our rain coats (yes, Red has a rain coat!).

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Change in Treatment?

First things first, the rash over the catheter that runs from my port to the vein is looking better. Turns out it was probably infected after all.

The bigger deal is that it is starting to look like this chemo cocktail isn't working as well as we'd like. Keith and I went in for a visit with my breast surgeon today. It was meant to be a quick check on my rash, but I had noticed some skin thickening on my breast a couple days ago. This was worrisome because the skin had been getting better. So, what it seems like, is that while the visible cancer on the skin appears be almost completely cleared up, the tumor in the breast isn't shrinking much at all. According to the ultra sound the tumor is about the same (maybe slightly smaller), but the skin thickening is a sign that something is going on. The doctor thinks that it is the result of some blockage in the lymphatic system.

As usual, I'm glad to have him on the case. He's got a call into my oncologist to talk to her about what is going on. His take is that it might be time to switch chemos. I'm all for it. While there may well come a time when I'm happy to just have things not growing, right now I want things shrinking!

I'm scheduled for chemo this coming Tuesday. I might get it or I might not. There is no way I'll get a new chemo on Tuesday. It takes time to get that kind of thing approved. I guess I'll just wait and see what my oncologist says on Tuesday. I honestly wouldn't mind another round. I know that probably sounds dumb but, I hate the idea of not having any chemo for several weeks while all the logistics get worked out.

The upside of all this is that I just noticed the change last Wednesday and I just happened to have appointments with the surgeon on Friday and the oncologist on Tuesday, so the ball got rolling really quickly. In addition to that I've already talked about what my next chemo cocktail would be with my oncologist and the specialist at UCSF, so it should be a pretty straight forward decision. I say that now, but who knows...

One thing all this crap has forced me to deal with is uncertainty. Will I need to take Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off to recuperate from chemo? I won't know until Tuesday afternoon. Urgh. I hate that! I'm much more comfortable when I know the plan!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Third Round On Board

My blood counts were good enough that I got my chemo today. Yippee! I saw my oncologist and we chatted about the second opinion and she nodded in agreement. She seemed genuinely disappointed that I didn't have more progress pictures to show her today, but I'll be sure to load up the iPad next round. The drip wasn't ridiculously long today, but it does take some serious time (5+hours).

I was a little nervous going in because the skin over the tube attached to my port is red and irritated. The nurse that accessed me (hooked up to my port to draw blood) didn't seem too worried because "it doesn't look like an infection". My infusion nurse was more worried and thought the doctor might put me on antibiotics. When the doctor came around she told me to put vaseline on it and keep an eye on it. If it isn't better, I am to go see the surgeon who put it in. The good news is that I already have an appointment with him next week, so I'm all set (for once!).