Radiation Oncology Appointment

I saw Dr. Shah (radiation oncologist) this afternoon.
Since I've been having some trouble swallowing, he suggested once again that I see a G.I. doctor and have an endoscopy and possibly have my esophagus stretched.
He is going to contact Dr. Amanze (my medical oncologist) to see if she says it's okay for me to see the G.I. doc. Not sure what will happen, but I will keep you posted.

I've enjoyed my week off of chemo. I start back on Tuesday.

Still have lots of numbness in my fingers.
I'm sporting a new hair style now...let's just say it doesn't take me much time to fix my hair...haha. Actually I just have to decide which hat, scarf or turbin to wear. My sweet mother-in-law is making me my own special hats. She even made me an Auburn one. I'll be sporting that one on Saturday.

I'll be in touch soon.....
Kelly

Week off

I'm finished with 2 cycles....4 weeks of treatment. I feel good, just really tired. Fingertips are still numb, feels very weird. Everything is going well.
I'll be in touch soon.

Cycle 2 begins....

Monday I saw Dr. Amanze and got the scans results. There is no new growth in any of the tumors. That is Wonderful! Apparently there is pneumonia on my left lung. She said there was nothing to be done about this. The pneumonia was caused from the radiation.

Dr. Amanze was very surprised that I already had neuropathy (numbness and tingling) in my fingertips and feet this soon into the treatment.

Dr. Amanze wants to do scans again the week of September 17th. This will be after 3 cycles of the chemo.

At the hospital they gave me the Irinotecan over an hour and a half. Monday I started getting chemo at Dr. Amanze's office. They decided to give it to me in 45 minutes. Fine with me.
She also cut the amount of Decadron (steroid) from 8 mg to 4 mg. Hopefully this will help with the lack of sleep and the tiredness on my week off.
The Vincristine is also causing me not to sleep well at night.

I must say, so far so good!

BTW, Burt and I had a fabulous time on the cruise.

More later~

Updating...

I'm in my week off of chemo. I've been extremely tired this week.

While I was doing chemo the 2 previous weeks, I received two medications before getting the chemo, Zofran and Decadron. The Zofran is to prevent nausea and the Decadron (which is a steroid) helps the Zofran to work even better.

While I was getting the steroids the previous 2 weeks, I was feeling good, had energy, and had the appetite of a growing teenager.

Monday started my week off, which started the tiredness and more tiredness, b/c I'm not getting the steroid this week. Speaking of teenagers, my face looks like I'm 15. The steroid is causing my face to break out big time.

Burt and I are going on a cruise tomorrow, so I'm hoping to get some good rest out in the open seas.

I start back on chemo Monday, 8/13. I'll see Dr. Amanze on Tuesday, 8/14.

I talked to the nurse about the scans I had on 7/20. She said there was no new growth. Everything seemed to be the same size in the lungs and the paraesophageal mass. There was a new cyst on my right ovary.....I'm going to get that checked out on Tuesday, 8/14.

Of course, I'll be in touch soon!

Thursday.....

Tomorrow is my last day of the first cycle. I'm so glad. Today I have not felt so great. I guess it's the cumulative effect of the chemo. The tips of my fingers are very numb. I'm getting hot flashes very tired, and just feeling a little achy.

I'm looking forward to a week off.
Take care everyone!