13 December 2011 – We are back to chemotherapy tomorrow. These treatments have been so much better since they eliminated the carboplatin. Instead of three hours on the IV it is just 90 minutes and in place of all the pain and bloody noses the worst she gets seems to be a bit of tiredness that causes her to nap around 2 p.m. Her hair is really thin, but I suppose the fact that she has any hair after 8 months of treatment is miraculous. She has been tired and that might mean the RBCs are low again. We get a blood test before each treatment so hopefully the count will be high enough that she will not need a transfusion. With all the pneumonia around I also worry about the white count. It should be up around 9 but has gradually fallen to about 4. Medically speaking, that is not considered dangerous, but there is so much respiratory illness around that I have to worry about her ability to fight off disease.
14 December 2011 – Everything is about the same. Cathy's RBC count was down a bit to 2.87. The doctor said that the drug Alimta caused that (not allowing cells to be formed to kill the cancer) and Cathy may have to go off that one for a while. Her WBC count was up a bit to 6.5 and that will help to fight off any infection. So, she was a little bit anemic but not quite enough to justify another transfusion.
The treatment room was full today with all 7 easy-chairs being used to administer chemotherapy as well as two desk chairs. We had to wait for an opening. I was afraid if we were out of sight someone else might get treated ahead of us so I got a wheelchair and moved it into the treatment room and insisted that Cathy sit in it. She was stubborn and did not want to do so but I told her if someone else got in ahead of her it could be 30 minutes to an hour before a treatment chair opened up. She finally did get in the wheelchair and it all worked out since a treatment chair opened up in about 20 minutes. They started about 11:30 and I expected to be there until about 1 p.m., but she was actually done about 12:50. Just 80 minutes. The shortest treatment yet.
Cathy was tired afterwards so I brought her home and insisted that she nap. Our next appointment is a full four weeks away and that is just great. Those three weeks seems to come around so quickly. Dr. Z also mentioned a PET scan in January. He seems to think the cancer might be gone by then. I think that is too much to hope for.
4 January 2012 – A new year has arrived and Cathy is still doing extremely well. She has very little discomfort and her energy is fairly high. She had her third PET scan tonight. It went fairly well. We were there by 9:30 a.m. and out by 11:30 a.m. They found her vein on the first try and filled her with radioactive material which is supposed to bind to the tumor and glow. We won't know the result until next Wednesday when we meet with the oncologist and he tells us what he saw on the photographs. So far the tumor has decreased more than 50% and we are hoping for similar results this time.
11 January 2012 – Today we visited the oncologist where the third PET scan was read. Our oncologist is from New York so as soon as he walked into the room I asked him “How big is the tumor?” He laughed and said “No hello; No how are you? This is like being home in NY. You are strictly business.” I said “You know the drill, time is money.” Then he said “read it yourself, why should I have to read it to you?”
The news is better than I might have ever hoped for. The report stated that there was no sign of cancer in her body. After nine very tough three-hour chemo-therapy treatments they were unable to find any trace of cancer in Cathy. Remember, her original diagnosis last April was one year to live with cancer in her lung, her neck, her armpits and throughout her chest. It seems rather miraculous and I know that cancer sometimes makes a comeback, but for the moment I am elated. It doesn't get much better than this. I asked about moving the future treatments to four weeks apart but Dr. Z said “The book says three weeks.” Well, I am not going to argue with the book. I don’t know how many additional treatments she will get but I suppose they want to be absolutely sure that the cancer is DEAD.
Her WBCs are holding at 5.5, her RBCs at 3.02. The hemoglobin is still low at 10.1. Still there is no current need for another transfusion and that is a super bonus.
The bad news is that they now want a mammogram. The PET scan showed a shadow and they want to check it out. I hope we don't find out that she beat lung cancer only to get breast cancer. That test is five weeks away.
So, we came home, she napped on and off from about noon to 4:00 p.m. and then she got up revived and went out shopping. It looks like we really got lucky this time. The funny part is that I am writing this blog as a memorial of her last year on Earth and now there is a good chance she will outlive me.
