Thursday, March 02, 2006
NOT MUCH NEW
I went with Karon to the Oncologist today. Not a whole lot new to report. The bone scan done last week does not show any new problems. The tumor marker count did go up to 51 so that is up about 20 from the last time we were there. He did not get the results back from the CAT scan which shows if cancer has moved to any new places in the body. So we continue to wait on more detailed direction before moving on. Karon did not start back on the chemo again so she is still getting that vacation. He did start her on a new cancer treatment--an injection of Faslodex, which is a monthly shot of hormone for this type of metastatic breast cancer. It takes about three months of these injections to know if it is going to have any positive effect in controlling the cancer. If this works to bring the tumor count back down that will delay also having to start back on chemo. The tumor count is an "early indicator" of what the cancer might be doing in the body. It tells the doctor quicker than the bone or CAT scans what might be going on in the body with the cancer. The fact that the count continues to increase means the cancer is no longer in remission but active again. A tumor count of 51 is above the "normal" or "remission" range of 0 to 38.
Beside the injection, Karon got the bone-strengtening medicine Zometa by infusion into the vein and also a steroid drug. All these drugs have side affects which sometimes seem worse than the disease they are supposed to cure or control.
There are several possible side affects of the injection she received today. And the steroid usually causes a reddness of the face and inability to sleep. She hasn't gotten the facial reddness yet but she said a bit ago that she could already tell she wasn't going to be able to sleep. I thought she was having trouble sleeping before!
I had to go to a meeting at church tonight. Because the doctor's appointment and her treatment ran late, I was late getting there. But it was an overall good meeting. These are good men!
It is about 12:30 a. m. Thursday. I need to head for bed. Even if Karon can't sleep, I need to try to get some.
Jim
posted by jim 12:20 AM 0 comments
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