Tuesday, October 25, 2011

John and His Drugs (by John)

Folks:
It occurred to me this morning that I need to update people on what's going on with me, especially since it's been an adventurous past few days.
I went in last Wednesday for my normal chemotherapy, and blood work discovered that my potassium was quite low. I wound up staying at the hospital for about 9 hours while some IV potassium ran in.
But Dr. Suh (my oncologist) also showed us a CT scan of my chest which showed a 1.1 cm. x 1.2 cm. nodule in my lower left pleura. Without doing a biopsy, we don't know for sure what that nodule is, but she had to go on the assumption that it was cancerous, even though I am doing much, much better than I was before chemotherapy. Dr. Suh decided to switch one of my chemo drugs from Alimta to Taxol. Taxol has a different mechanism of action on cancer cells than Alimta, and she thought that the difference would be something to try. So Friday last I got my first infusion with the Taxol. Turns out that the emulsifier for the Taxol causes an allergic reaction in about 30% of people, and I was one of them. So I got to spend the rest of the day stoned on Benadryl, and slept real well Friday night.
The upside of the Taxol is that I don't have the crushing fatigue that I did on Alimta. I bounced back pretty quickly, and was able to go to church on Sunday, something I would not have been able to do on the Alimta. There is some joint pain associated with the Taxol, but it's nothing I can't live with.
That's it for now. Thanks again for your prayers and thoughts.
John

Friday, October 14, 2011

John Has PET Scan - Jethro Wonders Why He was Left Out

Folks:
I had that PET scan on Wednesday. The results were, well, rather neutral. The lesion in my left lung has decreased in size, but there it still evidence of cancer in my left ribs, and right hip. Also, there is a lesion (1 cm. by 1 cm.) on my left pleura, which my oncologist, Dr. Suh, is trying to decide what to make of. She is consulting with the Goshen Hospital radiologists, and her former colleagues at the University of Houston (where she did her fellowship) to get some answers, and possibly some new direction for my chemotherapy.
Joan also has an interesting thought about all this. I had X-rays of the chest done in February before surgery on my throat, and there was no evidence of anything growing in my lungs. Yet by April, I was definitely symptomatic for cancer. This says that the cancer was pretty fast-growing. Since there was a six-week gap between the diagnosis of my cancer and the beginning of my chemotherapy, who knows how much the cancer had grown? In other words, the cancer my be responding well to the chemotherapy, and what we are seeing on the PET scan on Wednesday is actually a great improvement over what was really there in August. We'll never know, because the gap between my PET scan in July and the start of treatment in August was too great.
One last thing: as Joan puts it, Dr. Suh is confused by the PET scan, but happy with the organism! The organism is, of course, me, and she (and Joan) are happy with the progress I have made in getting back to work, getting some strength back, and overall improving every week. It seems that no matter what the PET scan shows, I am getting better. And that's great news.
Thanks for your prayers and concerns. I just wanted to give you all and update.
John

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

John Goes to Work (by John)

Folks:
Just wanted to let you know that I was blessed to get to another milestone in my recovery from CHF and cancer: I went back to work at Panera yesterday! I did well, even though due to a few call-offs and something the AM needed to do, I wound up staying 2 and 1/2 hours extra (total of 7.5 instead of 5). It went well, though I was tired when I got home last night.
I am only working 3 days per week, and about 15-16 hours total per week until I get my stamina back, But getting to work at all was a first big step, and I am looking forward to what will happen as my strength at work grows.
The next big event will be October 12th, which is when I will be receiving a Positron Emission Test to check what the chemotherapy has done for me (or, conversely, not done). I will let everyone know the results soon after I do.
Thanks for your continued prayers and support.
John