Greenwood Family: Round Four and all is Well

We are back at the hospital for round 4 of chemotherapy. I am once again in my own little private room - I feel so special, the same private room I had the first time we came here, the one right next door to the bathroom, a place I spend quite a bit of time given all the liquid I am getting pumped into my body :-) - and am hooked up to the pre-chemo drugs. These are what are suppose to keep the nausea at bay. As far as I am concerned, I think they are definitely doing there job!

I was able to see my doctor again today. She is truly shocked and amazed at how well I am doing. She was asking me about side effects and as I was reporting how minor they have been when she suddenly realized I still had a full head of hair. She couldn’t believe it. I wasn’t sure how soon I was expected to lose it all but now I know she expected it by now and I still have a long way to go, unless it all falls out at once.

My weight is up (not something I ever expected to be a good thing in my case, but with all my weight loss at the hospital and the fact that malnutrition is a common cause of death among chemo patients, it is a good sign in this case), my oxygen use and heart rate are down. My white blood cell count and platelets are good. Over all, everything is just peachy! After reviewing my labs and talking with me my doctor just looked at me and asked, “Are you sure we are poisoning you?”

I found out that I will not be joining the trial until the chemotherapy fails. Typically with the RAF mutation the chemotherapy doesn’t work as well. At some point they expect the chemo to stop being productive and at that point I will begin the trial. I was looking forward to the trial because it is targeted therapy. The drugs will go after just the cancer cells, not my whole body like traditional chemo, but they don’t want to take me off of something that is clearly working to try something that is only experimental. So for now I will continue the chemo and given that this is round four, after this weekend I will be 1/3 of the way done!

I asked if there is anything I can not do as long as I feel up to it and have the strength and she said no. In fact, regular exercise is very good for me and will help me feel better. So I think it is time to start daily walks again (lets hope for nice weather) and I really hear my bike calling for me. I know I do not have the strength and stamina to off road it yet and I am not up for my 30 mile doughnut run, (probably a good thing since I do not need the sugar) but it would sure be nice to start riding around the neighborhood again and work my way up to longer rides. With the little oxygen tanks I have now I can easily carry one in a backpack on my back.

Not only have I gone down in my oxygen use, I have found that when sitting and not doing anything to overly exert myself, I can even go without oxygen! As soon as I try to do things that involve more energy (like shooting hoops or playing laser tag - this knowledge is from recent experience) I get very winded and definitely want my oxygen back, but the fact that I can go without it for extended periods of time is really good news.

And the best news of all, the thing that brings me the most joy, I can sleep lying down! I have spent the past week sleeping in my bed with nothing more than my nice fluffy down pillow and I get a full nights rest.

Well, I just finished with the pre-chemo drugs and will now have Irinotecan dripping into my blood for the next hour and a half. The nickname of this drug is “I ran to the can.” That is almost what it sounds like when you say the name of the drug and it is suppose to give you such bad diarrhea that you are always running to the bathroom. Fortunately for me I have not experienced that. Sorry for all of you who don’t like the gory details, but I just thought I would have some fun and throw that bit of information in there this time. :-)

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are now experiencing all the joys of the Christmas season. I love this time of year.