4.08.2008

Rainy Tuesday

I left breakfast and lunch (well protected from the cat) for the kids and headed off to Tsukiji for blood work, an exam and discussion with Dr. F. and my usual full course of Herceptin, anti-nausea and anti-allergy pre-meds and Taxol with a saline chaser. We decided that as the neuropathy (numbing of my feet and hands) is not progressing and I'm not getting any rashes or other cumulative side effects, I should continue with the Taxol every three out of four treatments for the time being. Last night I spread out the CT scan images of approximately the same slice of my lungs from Oct2006, Feb2007, May2007, Oct2007 and then Jan2008 to visualize the journey so far and try to imagine how much smaller I can zap the lung tumors away with a little more Taxol. I still expect that I'll stop the Taxol sometime this spring as I don't like the side effects of the pre-meds (mainly the weight gain and sleepiness) and see that the tumors are back to their Oct2006 size (when I wouldn't have noticed them without a CT scan) and weren't taking up precious breathing space like they were from Feb2007.

The Herceptin has been effective in halting any tumor growth and I expect it will continue to do so even if I stop the Taxol. With the weekly Herceptin treatments, I could enter a stable status even if the no-evidence-of-disease NED stage is unreachable. I've been very blessed to receive support from a number of ladies in an on-line group to help me continue with the weekly treatments for the next year. Their encouragement and financial assistance has lightened my burden. I'm so relieved to know that I don't have choose between getting treatments and feeding the family.

I managed to get back in time to take L to the dentist as the dentist found two small cavities on Friday morning when I took all of the children in for a check-up and maintenance before the new school year. J's cap on her front tooth needed repair but she and her sisters had no cavities. L had one of his treated on Friday and the other today so they're done for a while. I asked my oncologist about precautions before dental work because one of my 25 year old crowns came off. I'm scheduled for next Friday morning now.

Time to tackle some of the new school year paperwork that each of the kids has brought home for me. I think we need an IN box and OUT box for each child...

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