Tuesday, March 17, 2009

03.17.2009 - Etopiside, Taxol, and Avastin

On 03.17.2009, I went to the doctor's office and had my regular biweekly Avastin treatment, along with a combination of the chemotherapy drugs - Etopiside and Taxol. Taxol is the one that I have to get pretreated with IV benadryl to prevent any possible allergic reaction and I always need a ride to and from treatment for that one. They don't want me driving home after that.

My mother was visiting and offered to take me. My platelet count had been dropping the past couple weeks and started rising again, but the level wasn't where my nurse wanted it to be. I told her that today was the best time for chemo since I had someone with me who could take me home and she consulted with the doctor and I was approved to have chemotherapy.

The Etopiside is what they are using to replace the Camptosar/Irinotecan/CPT11. My nurse said I should not experience nausea and vomiting from it. It has been several hours since I had the treatment and I don't feel sick, but I don't feel great either. I am experiencing a general malaise.

I knew that if I had chemo this morning, I wouldn't want to run on the treadmill this evening, so I ran when I woke up. I hope I will feel good enough to lift weights tomorrow night and then run again on Thursday night. It doesn't look like there is hair growth in my immediate future with all these drugs. Oh, well, I don't mind the bald look.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

03.03.2009 - Perhaps More Chemo?

On 03.03.2009, I had a MRI and a PFT (Pulmonary Function Test). The PFT was because BCNU can adversely affect your lungs. The MRI showed that the residual tumor tissue was stable and unchanged, which is the way it was the last time, the time before that, and the time before that. That is good. It means that the tumor isn't growing.

Despite that, my doctor asked me if I would do more chemo. He said that since I tolerated it so well, perhaps we could hammer another nail in the tumor's coffin. I thought chemo was over and done with. That sucks! We are considering following his advice, but how long will this go on for? Needless to say, it could have been a better day.