Chemo treatment 2.1 and moving forward...
Yeah, you heard that right, chemo cycle 2, treatment 1 has been done. After much back and forth, it was determined by Dr. Chen that it would indeed be the same regiment as the first cycle. To recap, the same pre-meds consisting of benadryl, some anti-inflammatories and steroids, a pint of carboplatin, a pint of taxol, biweekly doses of avasitin and zometa every 4 weeks. What was a little troublesome was Krystina, the PA, was a little more insistent that I switch one of the chemo agents than what one would expect out of a PA. I could see Dr. Chen weigh it over and then say he did not want to switch the carbo at this time and the change in taxol would be to taxotere, which is a much harsher chemo agent and is more commonly used in the 2nd line defense, meaning the backup if the first line I am currently on fails. Krystina's logic was to throw a curve ball at the cancer now to prevent resistance from developing, which makes a lot of sense. Dr. Chen felt that we need to continue forward with the same regiment due to its success and not have to bring in an agent that would be best suited in the second line defense. Krystina's assertiveness has given me pause making me think of seeking another opinion outside of the clinic, mainly going back to my diagnosing oncologist, Dr. Li, to see if he can offer something. I trust Dr. Chen's decisions but I can see the logic with both of them so getting another opinion may only confuse me or confirm Dr. Chen. I figure I will give it a couple of treatments before making an appointment with Dr. Li, if necessary.
So I got to the clinic and had to wait nearly an hour before getting called back. George was apologetic about it but it seems I am the last one to get called out of the waiting room every time its busy. I suspect its because I live real local to the clinic and probably half, if not more, of the patients come from out of town. For instance, a couple that arrived after I did was from Bellingham and called in before I did. Sure, they may have had an earlier appointment and were held up by traffic, but it does make me wonder. Anyway, my vitals were 126/72 bp, 81 pulse, 98% blood O2, and 202 lbs. Pretty consistent. The group room was full so I got a bedroom, or a room with a bed. I don't care for the room but it was that or wait another hour. I did get to sit in a chair so the bed went unused, the room did have a window to the outside world and listening to the rain fall made for a relaxing time. Nurse Jessica just got married at Whistler BC over the previous weekend. It gave her and Beth much to discuss. I must admit, I am envious of Jessica, a very small wedding at 2 big mountains with much snow falling the whole time. If I can only get Beth to at least to enjoy a drive in the snow....Oh well, she gives me much more in other areas so I am not complaining or anything. She could at least watch the Superbowl with me. :-(
As usual, I get the benadryl and Krystina comes in for the exam. OK, wake up now. That was when she began to insist I discuss whether or not switching chemo agents with Dr. Chen. And on que, in comes Dr. Chen. So I told them both my latest issues, both examed me and Jessica came in with the chemo. At this point, the room was quite full and busy, remember, there is a bed taking up a third of the space! Krystina and Dr. Chen haggled over the chemo switching and Dr. Chen made his decision and that was it. While pondering the decision, Dr. Chen did say he wanted me to restart the celebrex. He said that my tumor develops and releases COX-2 and celebrex is a COX-2 inhibitor so in theory can help beat up the tumor. I don't mind Krystina being so assertive, after all, we are talking about my life here. Its nice to have people such stubborn patient advocates. And I can see she is challenging Dr. Chen to make a good, sound decision on my behalf. It really only reinforces my belief I came to the right place. When I was still in the waiting room, I overheard a conversation from a couple up from Medford, Oregon talking to another couple. The middle aged man who was the patient was also suffering from Lung Cancer and it sounds like he has been battling it quite some time getting hit with surgery, radiation, and chemo. His wife was telling the other couple that their doctor in Medford referred them to the Cancer Care Alliance here in Seattle. The CCA is one of the top institues on the west coast, I nearly went if I wasn't won over by the clinic. The wife said the CCA never once mentioned diet and nutrition and was pretty closed to herbal supplements. He was treated there for over a year before being pursuaded by clinic patients to move here. It sounded like he has made better improvements and was able to put on weight. But, he humbly said the oncologist there did save his life and bought him more time, he mentioned he was told he had less than a month. So a huge thanks and big hug to Jenny for your recommendation to me at the start! She knows who I am talking about. Nearly every time I go to the clinic, I get reaffirmed that I made the right choice. If by chance you read this blog from the midwest or east coast, check out the other clinics of this network. Hopefully you will never need to ever go to one of them and my prayers are you don't. I wouldn't wish this disease on Saddam himself! (He needs several living decades in a tight jail cell in the coldest climate to get the full meaning of freedom.)
After the room cleared out, Dr. Gignac came in for my monthly checkup. Dr.Gignac (pronounced genie-ack, he's canadian!) said I was looking good and doing well and liked what he saw on the recent PET scan results. He said I am doing real well staying with the complicated regiment of diet and herbs, but that comes naturally with me. So I hit him pinpoint with the dilemma I have been knocking around in my head, when to quit chemo. I asked him more of not jumping ahead of myself but in terms of setting goals. For instance, if I can say get those SUV scores below a certain number, can alternative therapy take if from there. I told him that I am committed to the long term discipline that alternative medicine requires since I know that is what it will take to keep the cancer in remission. He said he wouldn't feel comfortable until he saw the scores closer to zero than anything. Without questioning anymore, I knew he would feel better, as I would, to see zeros at the distant metastasis sites and close to zero in my chest. But he did explain that in the first cycle, I did 3-4 weeks of doses over 13 weeks. Recall that Thanksgiving week I skipped chemo. He said that it will take at least a second and third cycle and even after that, the chemo still wouldn't be enough to significantly raise the risk for long term damage. He said I would need to be on the chemo for a very long time for it to be truly damaging. I felt better with what he told me but you and I know that chemo kills cells, good and bad. I am not naive enough to say inject away, that is why I spend most of my week detoxing. Which Dr. Gignac fully supports and gives reasons to why I am handling the chemo well. He did say I am on one of the harder combinations used. I have got to keep that liver and those kidneys going to cleanse this body of mine. If you are a cancer patient and going through any of these conventional treatments, you have to treat your body better than you ever have. You have to eat raw veggies much more than you normally do, you have to quit the vices like coffee, sodas, and alcohol, especially tobacco and sex, ok, kidding on the sex thing, just seeing if you are awake and listening to my bellowing! But seriously, you have to do much more than you do now. No fast food, junk foods and high surgar snacks, you have to make your meals, not easy to microwave dinner for 2, and take a lot of vitamin, mineral, and herbal supplements. Get your excercise, breath deeply more often, and drink lots of water. Certainly one of the reasons I am a cancer patient is I didn't do enough on one or more of the above at the most vulnerable time of my life. But now I know what I have to do just to endure and survive the "medicine." Its either this or door number 2, your funeral. Pretty damn strong incentives there.
I had a good couple of weeks since the last chemo infusion. I have been able to work more both at the office and at home. Its been nice keeping productive and not have to deal with the nausea. I felt like my old self for a little bit there. I have been busy with emails and phone calls coming from many of you and I thank you for checking in. I have also been involved with our prayer circle that Viv has graciously orchestrated at the Spirit House. We have done a lot of quiet and guided meditation and I can't believe how helpful that has been. I have learned a lot from those that have been a part of the circle and I look forward to much more education. I will try to remember to bring the digi cam so I can show our group off to you. They are such a wonderful and supportive group, I always seem to feel 10 times better when we are done. I did dread a little bit the thought of having to start the second cycle but deep down I knew its no pain, no gain. After yesterday's treatment, I had some adominal pains but I did sleep ok, with the aid of Lunesta. And of course, I am nausead today. Marinol seems to have it under control a little bit. Regardless, all in all, its been a good week and with the Seahawks in the Superbowl this weekend, its going to finish off a good week...Go Seahawks, good luck Steelers, may all the players walk off the field injury free with their heads up.
Yeah, you heard that right, chemo cycle 2, treatment 1 has been done. After much back and forth, it was determined by Dr. Chen that it would indeed be the same regiment as the first cycle. To recap, the same pre-meds consisting of benadryl, some anti-inflammatories and steroids, a pint of carboplatin, a pint of taxol, biweekly doses of avasitin and zometa every 4 weeks. What was a little troublesome was Krystina, the PA, was a little more insistent that I switch one of the chemo agents than what one would expect out of a PA. I could see Dr. Chen weigh it over and then say he did not want to switch the carbo at this time and the change in taxol would be to taxotere, which is a much harsher chemo agent and is more commonly used in the 2nd line defense, meaning the backup if the first line I am currently on fails. Krystina's logic was to throw a curve ball at the cancer now to prevent resistance from developing, which makes a lot of sense. Dr. Chen felt that we need to continue forward with the same regiment due to its success and not have to bring in an agent that would be best suited in the second line defense. Krystina's assertiveness has given me pause making me think of seeking another opinion outside of the clinic, mainly going back to my diagnosing oncologist, Dr. Li, to see if he can offer something. I trust Dr. Chen's decisions but I can see the logic with both of them so getting another opinion may only confuse me or confirm Dr. Chen. I figure I will give it a couple of treatments before making an appointment with Dr. Li, if necessary.
So I got to the clinic and had to wait nearly an hour before getting called back. George was apologetic about it but it seems I am the last one to get called out of the waiting room every time its busy. I suspect its because I live real local to the clinic and probably half, if not more, of the patients come from out of town. For instance, a couple that arrived after I did was from Bellingham and called in before I did. Sure, they may have had an earlier appointment and were held up by traffic, but it does make me wonder. Anyway, my vitals were 126/72 bp, 81 pulse, 98% blood O2, and 202 lbs. Pretty consistent. The group room was full so I got a bedroom, or a room with a bed. I don't care for the room but it was that or wait another hour. I did get to sit in a chair so the bed went unused, the room did have a window to the outside world and listening to the rain fall made for a relaxing time. Nurse Jessica just got married at Whistler BC over the previous weekend. It gave her and Beth much to discuss. I must admit, I am envious of Jessica, a very small wedding at 2 big mountains with much snow falling the whole time. If I can only get Beth to at least to enjoy a drive in the snow....Oh well, she gives me much more in other areas so I am not complaining or anything. She could at least watch the Superbowl with me. :-(
As usual, I get the benadryl and Krystina comes in for the exam. OK, wake up now. That was when she began to insist I discuss whether or not switching chemo agents with Dr. Chen. And on que, in comes Dr. Chen. So I told them both my latest issues, both examed me and Jessica came in with the chemo. At this point, the room was quite full and busy, remember, there is a bed taking up a third of the space! Krystina and Dr. Chen haggled over the chemo switching and Dr. Chen made his decision and that was it. While pondering the decision, Dr. Chen did say he wanted me to restart the celebrex. He said that my tumor develops and releases COX-2 and celebrex is a COX-2 inhibitor so in theory can help beat up the tumor. I don't mind Krystina being so assertive, after all, we are talking about my life here. Its nice to have people such stubborn patient advocates. And I can see she is challenging Dr. Chen to make a good, sound decision on my behalf. It really only reinforces my belief I came to the right place. When I was still in the waiting room, I overheard a conversation from a couple up from Medford, Oregon talking to another couple. The middle aged man who was the patient was also suffering from Lung Cancer and it sounds like he has been battling it quite some time getting hit with surgery, radiation, and chemo. His wife was telling the other couple that their doctor in Medford referred them to the Cancer Care Alliance here in Seattle. The CCA is one of the top institues on the west coast, I nearly went if I wasn't won over by the clinic. The wife said the CCA never once mentioned diet and nutrition and was pretty closed to herbal supplements. He was treated there for over a year before being pursuaded by clinic patients to move here. It sounded like he has made better improvements and was able to put on weight. But, he humbly said the oncologist there did save his life and bought him more time, he mentioned he was told he had less than a month. So a huge thanks and big hug to Jenny for your recommendation to me at the start! She knows who I am talking about. Nearly every time I go to the clinic, I get reaffirmed that I made the right choice. If by chance you read this blog from the midwest or east coast, check out the other clinics of this network. Hopefully you will never need to ever go to one of them and my prayers are you don't. I wouldn't wish this disease on Saddam himself! (He needs several living decades in a tight jail cell in the coldest climate to get the full meaning of freedom.)
After the room cleared out, Dr. Gignac came in for my monthly checkup. Dr.Gignac (pronounced genie-ack, he's canadian!) said I was looking good and doing well and liked what he saw on the recent PET scan results. He said I am doing real well staying with the complicated regiment of diet and herbs, but that comes naturally with me. So I hit him pinpoint with the dilemma I have been knocking around in my head, when to quit chemo. I asked him more of not jumping ahead of myself but in terms of setting goals. For instance, if I can say get those SUV scores below a certain number, can alternative therapy take if from there. I told him that I am committed to the long term discipline that alternative medicine requires since I know that is what it will take to keep the cancer in remission. He said he wouldn't feel comfortable until he saw the scores closer to zero than anything. Without questioning anymore, I knew he would feel better, as I would, to see zeros at the distant metastasis sites and close to zero in my chest. But he did explain that in the first cycle, I did 3-4 weeks of doses over 13 weeks. Recall that Thanksgiving week I skipped chemo. He said that it will take at least a second and third cycle and even after that, the chemo still wouldn't be enough to significantly raise the risk for long term damage. He said I would need to be on the chemo for a very long time for it to be truly damaging. I felt better with what he told me but you and I know that chemo kills cells, good and bad. I am not naive enough to say inject away, that is why I spend most of my week detoxing. Which Dr. Gignac fully supports and gives reasons to why I am handling the chemo well. He did say I am on one of the harder combinations used. I have got to keep that liver and those kidneys going to cleanse this body of mine. If you are a cancer patient and going through any of these conventional treatments, you have to treat your body better than you ever have. You have to eat raw veggies much more than you normally do, you have to quit the vices like coffee, sodas, and alcohol, especially tobacco and sex, ok, kidding on the sex thing, just seeing if you are awake and listening to my bellowing! But seriously, you have to do much more than you do now. No fast food, junk foods and high surgar snacks, you have to make your meals, not easy to microwave dinner for 2, and take a lot of vitamin, mineral, and herbal supplements. Get your excercise, breath deeply more often, and drink lots of water. Certainly one of the reasons I am a cancer patient is I didn't do enough on one or more of the above at the most vulnerable time of my life. But now I know what I have to do just to endure and survive the "medicine." Its either this or door number 2, your funeral. Pretty damn strong incentives there.
I had a good couple of weeks since the last chemo infusion. I have been able to work more both at the office and at home. Its been nice keeping productive and not have to deal with the nausea. I felt like my old self for a little bit there. I have been busy with emails and phone calls coming from many of you and I thank you for checking in. I have also been involved with our prayer circle that Viv has graciously orchestrated at the Spirit House. We have done a lot of quiet and guided meditation and I can't believe how helpful that has been. I have learned a lot from those that have been a part of the circle and I look forward to much more education. I will try to remember to bring the digi cam so I can show our group off to you. They are such a wonderful and supportive group, I always seem to feel 10 times better when we are done. I did dread a little bit the thought of having to start the second cycle but deep down I knew its no pain, no gain. After yesterday's treatment, I had some adominal pains but I did sleep ok, with the aid of Lunesta. And of course, I am nausead today. Marinol seems to have it under control a little bit. Regardless, all in all, its been a good week and with the Seahawks in the Superbowl this weekend, its going to finish off a good week...Go Seahawks, good luck Steelers, may all the players walk off the field injury free with their heads up.
posted by Beth @ 2/03/2006 04:39:00 PM
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