Wednesday, May 13, 2009

First Dose (again)

(5/13/09)

Well, it turns out that Dr. J and I were thinking along similar lines. The tradeoffs were these:

- Do chemo first and risk the tumors growing and becoming too unwieldy for radiation to handle
- Do radiation to the lungs first and risk having disease pop up somewhere else in the body

Solution: do both at the same time!

But of course, so simple! So that's the plan right now, to wipe out the disease in the lungs and clear it out everywhere else, too, at the same time. We'll probably switch up the chemo drugs after radiation is done, too, so we can keep the cancer from becoming resistant. 

It sucks of course, but so far this treatment is looking a lot easier to handle. I have daily cytoxan by mouth for 28 days, and on days 1, 8, and 15, I get a 10-minute push (injection) of navelbine (vinorelbine). Hopefully aside from losing my hair, I won't have too many side effects. Starting Friday I'll go in for radiation therapy every day for 15-20 minutes for 10 days. The radiation will target both of my whole lungs with a larger dose going to the two nodules. 

Getting on a path to solving the problem always makes one feel better, although at this point I'm starting to get good at dealing with uncertainty. . . 

As a parting note for this post, I have to give a shout out to one of my personal heroes, Steve, who is battling Ewing's Sarcoma and just came out of a really rough couple of weeks. He and his wife Ann are such a strong, upbeat couple, and their positive strength is incredibly infectious. Steve, you're a freakin' champion!! Ann, you're incredible, too! 


2 comments:

Jessica said...

Hey Alex, you deserve a definite shout out yourself!! You have been a total champ through this ongoing ordeal. I hope the new round of treatment isn't too bad - and that it blasts all of those blasted cells!!! Bald is the new black, by the way. :)

nina412 said...

Hi Alex

Thank God that you have some wonderful vacations before starting this treatment. I saw the pictures and they are so good! Life is lot's of ups & downs, and yours is really super ups & downs...I got scolded by a customer today in our pharmacy and I pray that something sweet will happen tomorrow ^_^ "ComBaDe" & may God bless you.