01.26.2008 - Feeling Much Better

It is 01.26.2008 and this past week has been a wonderful reprieve from the unpleasantness that followed the end of the initial phase of treatment. I feel normal and am eager to find out how well this follow-up treatment went. I will have the MRI and learn of the results in 2.5 weeks. It is very nice not to have to drive 45 minutes to the hospital for the daily treatment sessions too.

01.19.2008 - First Phase of Follow-Up Treatment

It is 01.19.2008 and I am finally feeling better after a lot of sickness. I was sick for most of the past week yet again. Now, I feel normal, which is so nice. Last night was the first time in a while that I actually felt hungry to eat a snack between meals. No more nausea or vomiting. I lost almost a pound a day this last week according to nurse in the oncologist's office. My appetite has been so decreased that I have been finding that far smaller portions are all I need to feel full now. I guess my stomach is markedly smaller than what it used to be.

Many people have asked what happens next and I have a time line for that now. In slightly over three weeks, I will get the brain MRI and start the three day intense IV chemotherapy plan.

Overall, I must say that I felt worse this past week and a half than I did following either surgical procedure.

01.12.2008 - Seven Weeks Into Treatment

It is 01.12.2008, and 31 Radiation therapy sessions are down and three cycles of chemotherapy done. Well, I still have two more days to take oral chemotherapy pills and then the third cycle is done. The oral stuff isn't too bad on my system. I have three radiation therapy sessions to do next week and then I am done with radiation therapy. After that, I get a month off of treatment and then get a MRI to see how treatment affected the tumor and - unfortunately - have a brief, but intense chemotherapy treatment where I get chemotherapy three days in a row for four hours a day. They tell me it is better tolerated than the stuff I am getting in the IV now.

This past week was my worst week of the treatment. It started poorly with my intense illness from the flu on Sunday and then, Tuesday night, I actually started feeling almost normal. I had my last IV chemotherapy session on Wednesday and as planned, they increased the dose again. We definitely found the dosage that I can tolerate because I was not feeling well after that. Wednesday was an unpleasant day. I didn't feel well on Thursday either. Friday, I felt well enough to spend the afternoon at the office. Today, I have been feeling a lot of fatigue and just been trying to rest.

01.08.2008 - Radiation Treatment

01.07.2008 - Six Weeks Into Treatment

It is 01.07.2008 and there is just one more week or so of radiation therapy and one cycle of chemotherapy left. Things are still going well with side effects aside from this past weekend. I was very ill this past weekend, but I think it had a lot more to do with me having the flu rather than the treatment. We have all had the flu in our house and had it bad. I was hoping it would skip over me, but I got it too.

I had to skip one radiation therapy session this past week because one of the kids was so ill from the flu. Glad there wasn't a session to attend on Sunday or else I would have had to skip another session because I was so ill. Let's hope that this illness is done passing through our house. So much for flu shots...not that I have ever had any faith in them. The one year that I get a flu shot and am in a "high risk" category, I get the flu really bad. I rarely get sick and won't get one again.