You can't always tell a book by it's cover..Test results are in..

Today's weight: 138 lbs.
Blood pressure 134/82

My oncologist Dr. G. received the faxed results of the CT scans this a.m. about 45 mins. before my appt. When he came into my room, he said his usual comment. "How are you feeling?" My reply was "do you have the test results?" Yes. And here's the rest of the story from what I jotted down on a cheat sheet.

The tumor has grown a bit since the CT scan 5/20/07 at the same hospital and read by same doctor. In May it measured approximately 4.2 cm and not sure of the other number. Yesterday it measured 4.97 x 4.42 cm. It involves the chest wall just to the right of midline adjacent to the sternum and is extending anterior and posterior to the rib and abutting the superior vena cava. There is questionable bony involvement by the mass. And after talking with my surgeon after the biopsy, he said the tumor was wrapped around bone areas and would not rule out that bones would become involved. A had bone scan but have been told early in the stages bone cancer does not always show up.

Hearing this was not what I had wanted to hear but...But you know, I'm pretty smart and realistic. Yes the outside tumor area seemed to have shrunk, but I know that it was within my sternum/rib area and that I had no way of seeing if that was in fact growing. That's way you can't always tell a book by it's cover. Just look at Barry for an example. He gets many comments "hey, you look great." It is fortunate that he does look good but within his liver he has two large tumors the size of a man's fist that are being so stubborn in shrinking. But we are blessed that since going to Pittsburgh Liver Transplant doctor he has remained stable for over a year.


Here's our new plan of attack to fight back that devil of a cancer. It has started already today:

Taxotere: Chemo drug that will be given to me once every 3 weeks by IV. Takes about 1 hr. to be administered. Premeds are given before like I have had previously.
Pepcid, decadron, kytrol, benadryl to help with possible allergice reactions.

Xeloda: Chemo drug that is actually a pill. I will be taking 1500 mg of that pill, once in the a.m. and once in the evening. This starts the day after my taxotere treatment for a total of 14 days. Local pharmacies do not carry this pill so my social worker lined it up to come from Pittsburgh medical store. I have already talked to them this afternoon. will be shipped out on ice tomorrow via UPS since I need to have it then. No charge for shipping, just $20 copay for insurance. And they will monitor the supply and will auto ship in the future.

Zantac 150 mg: Take 1 tablet 2 times a day for heartburn. Every day.

Decadron: Anti nausea/vomiting. One of the pre-meds I take also. In my prescription I got 4 pills. Can you believe that. The 2 days following the IV treatment I have to take 1 tablet 2 X a day for two days. That will be Saturday and Sunday only.

B6 Vitamin: Every day. 1 pill 2 x a day

The side effects are many. Not that I will be effected by all of them. But you have to know what to expect.

I will be taking less full Fridays off at my job, but will still require weekly blood work on the weeks I am not there. Plus for 14 days I will be having my daily chemo pill which is more than I've had presently. High dosage. I pray that my side effects are minimal.I think every part of my body could have some effect, and I have to be very careful in recognizing the symptom and know what to do when it happens.

So now I think I'll be using about 5 drugs for this new treatment.

Guess what I got in mail today? Jury Summons. Geez, do you think I should sign up for that! Don't think so. Time for Dr. G. to write up medical excuse. They always try to get me when I am going through treatment. Must be fixed.

Thanks to all for your continued listening. It's been a long tiring day. Did nap for 1 1/2 hours. And when the sun went down this evening, I got on the rider mower and cut the front lawn as I drank out of my water bottle. Even saw my oncologist drive by. I know what he was thinking: tough and strong fighter. Just like Barry!

Also had a couple of friends stop by to check up on me. Can't put a price on friendship.