There was one more piece of good news that I completely forgot about during my information dump last night. There is currently a research project studying the mutation in my cancer and it has clinical trials. My doctor is signing me up to join the clinical trials. I can't start now. I can't remember exactly when she said I would start, perhaps after they evaluate things in December. But she is signing me up right now because space is very limited and she wants to make sure I get in. This will provide me the opportunity to take the drugs they are working on to target this mutation and it will hopefully have more success than the other chemo drugs have had in the past.

(Hopefully this post will be easier to read. I didn't just discover paragraphs, I just discovered how to keep them in my post when blogging. I promise, I really did put in paragraphs with new topics on my other posts, I just posted in the wrong place so they disappeared when I published.)

It was a big day today. We started out in the lab to get the port accessed and some blood drawn. Then we met with my doctor for the first time. Of course I saw numerous doctors while in the hospital but they were only assigned to me while I was an inpatient. My doctor seems really nice and I will look forward to getting to know her pretty well as we will be seeing each other often. 

Some more test results had returned so we got a little bit more news about my cancer. Unfortunately it isn’t very good news. It turns out my cancer has a BRAF mutation. This is apparently the cause for the strange way in which it is infusing through my lungs. But this mutation makes it so that the chemo drugs are not as affective and it cuts life expectancy in half. She said that the average stage IVb colon cancer patient lives about 2 years so one with this mutation has an average life expectancy of 1 year. One year is longer than I was expecting to have anyway, so I guess that part isn’t too bad. But we all know I am not one to do things the average way so who knows how I will decide to skew that average. 

Another little tidbit I learned is that little ‘b’ after the IV. If you have stage IVa cancer that means it has only spread to one other place and is therefore considered curable. If it has spread to more than one other place then it becomes stage IVb and no longer curable. We already knew that this was not curable so that is no big news, I just didn’t know there were different stage IV varieties so I found that interesting.

In December they will do another scan to see how the chemo therapy is affecting the cancer. The doctor has hope that we will be able to get rid of enough of it in my lungs that I will eventually get off the oxygen. That would be wonderful as life will be much more normal and enjoyable without that hinderance. I was also able to see the PET scan of my body. That was fascinating. My lungs really are a mess! We also confirmed that the plan is to do 12 treatments. That means six months of chemo every two weeks unless changes need to be made prior to that.

After meeting with the doctor we went to the infusion clinic where I began my 2nd treatment. We had a nice little private room with a television and access to snacks and everything just like when you stay at the hospital. It took 3.5 hours to get my first 3 drugs and then they hooked me up to a pump that has my fourth drug to bring home with me since it takes 48 hours to infuse. I will end Saturday at 8:30 pm. So far I am handling the side affects well again. I did get terribly hot and was sweating, which I am sure I did last time, too, but since I was terribly hot the whole time I was in the hospital (we assumed due to my respiratory stuff going on) I probably didn’t notice any difference. But I figure I can live with that side affect and actually next time they are even going to give me a drug to counter act that one. Not that that is so bad it needs counteracting, but that is just one symptom in a class of symptoms so to make sure I don’t experience some of the other more unpleasant ones (relating to the bowels, in case you wanted that little detail) they will go ahead and give me the drug.

While I sat and watched HGTV, Kevin got to run around the hospital delivering paperwork. This is where the rest of our bad news for the day came. We applied for pharmacy assistance to help pay for the chemo drugs and were denied. Kevin makes $4,000/year too much. I guess that would be all fine and dandy if it was only going to cost $4,000. So, that was a bit of a blow but I am confident this will all work out. So many people have already been so generous and willing to help us. I am going to continue to have faith that God will carry us through all aspects of this experience.

I guess that is it. So far, so good with round #2!

Hello! I hope everyone is having a lovely day. So far so good for me. I am still feeling much the same, no real side affects, my energy level is good, I’m eating well and all is happy in the Greenwood home. Yesterday I was brought a wheelchair complete with seat cushion and backpack for carrying oxygen. Yes, there is no end to the wonderful things people are doing for me. So last night we took a little stroll through the neighborhood. It was really quite fun. Now I am looking forward to getting out and seeing some of the fall color. For those of you who have not seen me, I can walk. That is not the problem. It is just that I am not able to walk very far. When I was in the hospital I would take walks with the nurses and at first I did really well, but as time went on, my oxygen level would not stay stable when I walked very far at all so it got to where I couldn’t really go for walks. At home I am up and about, tethered by my oxygen cord which seems a bit like a leash, but it is really long so I can go pretty much anywhere. But to go out into the world, it is better to have a wheelchair so I can go farther. I have reached my nadir, which is the time when my immune system is at its lowest. I don’t feel any different, so that is good, but it means I have to be extra cautious about keeping germs away. This Thursday I go back to the hospital (as outpatient) to get my next chemo treatment. Now for something I could use some help with. We have received lots of delicious treats and enjoyed them very much. My kids were worried that I was going to get mad at them for eating so much sugar. (I am usually pretty strict about their sugar intake.) I assured them I would not, I figured they probably needed a little extra love and attention at this time and what makes you feel better than delicious treats? But now, the mother in me is taking over. I think they have had their fill of sugar and sugar is actually not good for me right now. Cancer feeds on sugar. In fact, that is how they find the cancer in your body. They send a sugar solution through your body and then see where there is lots of activity. Since cancer is more active than regular cells and since cancer thrives on sugar, the places that light up on the scan are the places where there is cancer. My goal at this point is to not feed the cancer and to nourish my immune system which means eating lots of fruits and vegetables. I know how much the giving of food is a sign of our love and affection in our culture and I do not mean to stop that. If you want to bring me tasty treats, how about strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, spinach, carrots, broccoli....anything I can juice or make smoothies out of. My kids LOVE fruit. It is quite a chore keeping a pint of blueberries or strawberries around longer than 5 minutes once it enters the house. I have two children who eat a minimum of 1-2 apples per day. (Brynn likes red varieties, Rigel likes Granny Smith) I can promise you we will feel the love if you bring us fruits and vegetables. That’s all for now. I will let you know how things go on Thursday! Thank you and I love you all.

I know people want updates. There isn't much new to say, however. I am doing well. I am not tasting the same so my days of eating for pleasure seem to have come to a halt for now. But I still have a good appetite so eating itself is still on. Most of the drugs I take these days is just to manage my cough, which is quite annoying. But I would rather be taking cough medicine than medicine to combat other side affects I could be experiencing. So, all in all, not much has changed. I am still well, still coughing and still enjoy hearing from all of you.

I'm home! I must admit it does feel good to be here. After 3 weeks in the hospital I was a little nervous about coming home but so far so good. Thanks to Suzie Ellett for coming to the hospital and giving me a new hair cut. I haven't had my hair this short since 9th grade but since this seems to be a time of new experiences, why not go for the drastically different?

I thought for those of you who might be interested in the more scientific side of things, now that we know what my treatment is going to be I can share it with you. My treatment regimen involves three chemo drugs and one to just help one of the chemo drugs. I start with Irinotecan (Camptosar). It infuses through IV for 1.5 hours. After that I get Oxaliplatin (Eloxatin) and Leucovorin simultaneously for 2 hours. The Leucovorin is the non chemo drug used in combination with my final drug which is 5-Fluorouracil (Adrucil). The 5-Fluorouracil takes 48 hours to infuse by IV. For this first round of therapy I am at the hospital for the duration, but for all subsequent therapies I will come get the treatment and go home while still receiving the 5-Fluorouracil on a pump. These drugs will be repeated every 14 days. Everything went well last night. Right now I am in the first 24 hour stage of my final drug. I am expecting to go home on Saturday. Hopefully they will have my oxygen all worked out for my home by then. It would be difficult to go home if I don't have oxygen to breathe! Because of the way the cancer has spread through my lungs (in a very rare way, I might add. The doctors said they could only find a handful of cases where colon cancer has presented in the lungs in this particular way.) I am dependent upon oxygen to breathe. I think that is about all for now. I hope that satisfies the curiosity of a few. (I know most don't care about that technical stuff, but I know there are enough of you out there who are interested that I thought I would share.) Have a lovely day to you all!

It has officially begun! I am now hooked up to the drugs. I am expected to be in the hospital until Saturday. I am sure my visit from Sally, who has kicked the behinds of two different cancers, will give me that extra fighting power.

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Update

Photo by Leah Watkins

Michelle Greenwood was recently diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer.

Tomorrow, (Wednesday, October 15), Michelle will begin aggressive chemotherapy treatment at UNC.  After undergoing this treatment, she will return home.  The doctors are unsure of how many more days she will spend in the hospital, but they are estimating about 3 more days.

A big thanks to everyone for your love, support, and prayers.