Blessings to God

I have passed the tests with flying colours. At this stage the cancer is stable, meaning that the tumours have not grown in the passed two months without my chemotherapy. My energy levels are improving and the colour in my face is starting to look normal again. I have even lost a few kilo’s now that I am not taking the cortisone.

Next CT scan is in 8 weeks time

May 2009

The past weeks have just flown past. Three weeks ago I went overseas for company business and also spent Mothers Day with my Mom in Holland. What a nice day to spend with your Mom. I am now off all medication for a whole week and am waiting to wake up with my body feeling full of energy. The energy side of life has been lacking as I feel constantly tired. Really frustrating, but then with the first round of chemo it did take nearly 6 months to recover, so this time will probably be no different. Everybody who sees me tells me that I am looking really good – the blue circles under my eyes are less and my skin has a healthy glow. And as always, there is nothing lacking with my appetite for good food. Last Sunday Ian and the boys got me a little kitten, so we are now the proud owners of a very busy cat where everything that moves is a toy. The dogs are really good with her and even old Amy (8 year old German shepherd) gently paws her. Today is Dylan’s 18th birthday – how time does fly when you look at the children growing up. My next tumour market and CT scan is planned for 18 June. So, all going well in the Riddell home.

2009 April 27

Last Thursday was an early morning start getting all the barium sulphate down my throat by 9H30 and before that I had to have my blood drawn and ECG done. Then the CT scan which has shown that the lesions are still the same size as a month ago. For the last two weeks I have been battling with a cold and a really bad cough so opted to give this last chemo round a miss. The sister at the chemo rooms said that I will feel really shitty after the chemo with my body already trying to fight the cold virus. I suppose my subconscious already had made the decision three weeks ago when I asked Dr J whether that session should not be my last chemo round. So besides the nagging cough I am looking forward to feeling normal again. I cannot begin to explain what it feels like to have normal energy levels – you feel like a new person who is alive for the first time where every morning is a lovely happy beautiful new day.

2nd last round Patupilone

The scan of just over a week ago showed that the lesions have decreased by 1mm. Not much and in discussion with Dr J last Thursday he said that he did not think the lesions would get any smaller as they are basically as small as a normal lymph gland is and we are dealing with scar tissue. So the medical opinion is that the lesions seem to be just scar tissue and all we are dealing with now is microscopic cancer. Meaning the medical doctors actually don’t know where the little cancer cells are hiding away. Based on this I have made the decision to have only one more round of Patipulone on 23 April. This is the same day that the clinical trials unit are planning for me to have CT Scans and tumour markers too. So, it is a good day to end it all – Have everything done on one day… It is going to be a marathon day!!! The last chemo round has left me feeling really fatigued and not too nauseas. Lots of rest has been the order of the day. We will see what the future holds as I remain under the watchful eye of the clinical trial.

Post chemo nausea

The past week has been a tough one. I have not been so nauseous in months and the headache was just unbelievable. Last Monday I left work a bit earlier due to feeling really bad. I had an afternoon nap and a tiny bit of dinner. I had also been having a huge pain in the right jaw which by Monday evening has developed into an acute pain with my jaw pulling (pushing) toward the left misaligning my bottom jaw by about 2-3 centimeters. My tongue was numb and my mouth completely skew. By 8pm I was ready to go to emergency rooms at the hospital and we were all really worried that I had had a stroke. The hospital staff was really great and I was assisted promptly in the ER. I had brought all my medication with me so the Doc could see what I had been taking for the nausea. She recognized with cause of my distress immediately…. I was suffering from side effects of my one nausea medication! Thank God this was the cause of my anguish!! A needle was inserted into my veins and some antidote was administered (in my distressed state I did not even ask what the medication was but presume it was cortisone). And guess what, the side effects of the antidote also affect me…. I had the biggest rush I had ever experienced! Everything was zooming around me and I was being really loving to Ian - I don’t think he has ever seen me so placid, grateful and caring….. I remained in hospital for about 2 hours waiting for the majority of the side effects to wear off and then stumbled back to our car – I just could not control my feet! Came home and went to bed only to find that I was on such a high that sleep eluded me – my sleeping tablet and a glass of milk with black pepper did nothing. Tuesday was more of the nausea, headache and fatigue…. All of which finally settled on Sunday. It is almost as though my body is saying it has had enough of all the medication!

6th round patupilone

My goodness, has it been six rounds already, I am sure you are saying. Well, for everybody who is not going through the process every 21 days, the time does fly, but for me, I am very aware of what occurs every 21 days. The last chemo round went ok, as per all the previous sessions. I am feeling loads of fatigue and quite some nausea – Spent most of yesterday in the horizontal position. Last Thursday I had a good chat to Dr J regarding where this drug is leading me. In essence, Patupilone is keeping a lid of the cancer growth, meaning it is not spreading but is it also not going away. At each CT scan the protocol is that a CA125 test is also done. The test done end February shows the CA125 going up from 7 to 17…. The dreaded increase of over 100 percent, so the next CT scan and CA125 is scheduled for 26 March

4 months of treatment – CT Scan

Thursday I had my two monthly CT scan. The same procedure where I first need to have blood drawn for my OV125 tumour marker and need to consume nearly one litre of barium sulphate – this stuff blows you up like something else – I am surprised that I am not floating yet! Directly after the scan I headed off to work and waited patiently for the doctors to phone with the results. I received the phone call around noon on Friday. The tumours are reduced in size again – the good news! I then asked the Doc how long I still need to remain on Patupilone? Surely this will only be for another few rounds and then I can get on with my normal life again. The reply was that I would need to continue indefinitely to keep the cancer at bay. The Docs are saying that it is my call when I discontinue with the treatment. At the time of the phone call I asked lots of question, but with the passage of time I have more questions now. I need to ask them why they say this – is this due to possible legal action should they recommend to discontinue treatment and then the cancer grow again? Or does the drug only target the tumour but not all the microscopic cells that are swimming around? My logic says that at a certain point I should be stopping the chemo. Or are the new chemo drugs being developed similar to chronic medicines like for high blood pressure – where they treat the symptom but do not address the cause. Is this because medically they don’t know what the cause it either?? I will continue to make a list of all my questions and asked them when I next see the Docs face to face, 12 March. For now, we continue for another two months (3 rounds of chemo) and then reassess with the CT scans end April.