So that period being a hot mess? Turns out that was mets to the cervix. Biopsied a new "crust" and those stubborn little shitty cells are indeed colon cancer mets to my cervix.
I started FOLFIRI +Avastin. It is kicking my ass. Irinotecan is no joke. I don't talk to my family much about the side effects when I'm in the chair, but they're all familiar with the side effects once home. Irinotecan is nicknamed "I Run To The Can" and it is NOT wrong.
I'm hoping to finish up this set of chemo by the end of September and be released onto chemo maintenance. My old oncologist gave me full on chemo holidays, but this oncologist prefers I stay on a form of chemo to keep the nasties at bay. I'm in full agreement. So I'm hoping to move to Xeloda +Avastin, the Avastin being every three weeks or so at DFCI. (Dana Farber Cancer Institute). Xeloda will be pills twice a day for 14 days straight and then one week off.
Life goes on.
I'm not letting cancer keep me from anything as long as I can help it. And in fact, it is going to be a whirlwind fall for me. My boyfriend just visited me for the wknd (we're long distance; he lives in Quebec and I live in Massachusetts). This week is chemo, next week a friend is visiting, then chemo week, then I go up to Quebec, then chemo week, then to Maine with a friend, then chemo week, then back up to Maine with my boyfriend, then hopefully NOT chemo week (as in no more FOLFIRI), then back up to Quebec and Montreal to meet his family. And then it'll be Thanksgiving time! Geesh!
I joined this online forum known as Colontown (it is transitioning to a new name of Paltown, I believe). It is a tight, wonderful community that is a wealth of information. None of which currently applies to me, but it's good to have such information at my fingertips, even if sometimes I cannot make heads or tails of it.
The clinical trials listed do not apply to my tumor type, etc., but one day they will. And for now, I can read and learn about them and argue and self-advocate. It's truly the best possible thing I have discovered in social media regarding my cancer.
As the founder would say, TO LIFE!
Monday, August 14, 2017
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Update - March 2017
I don't type here nearly enough. I meant to chronicle the whole thing, but then thought...why? Who reads this shit other than me? And why would I want people to read it? I'm living it. I don't need to chronicle the every day. And believe me there is a lot that happens, even during chemo holiday that I could be chronicling. lol And yet here I am, writing an entry.
So at the end of my last round of chemo in October, they did a MRI and found a "mass the size of a golfball on your liver." I was a little upset to say the least at this is at the END of chemo. I requested a second opinion and am going to Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA now.
That mass is non-cancerous, mild fatty liver deposit. So yay! I just had another CT and that was fine, chest through pelvis. I do have 2 metastases on my liver, but they are unchanged from January of last year and not showing up on the CT anyway. They only showed up on the MRI.
My period is a hot mess. Every two weeks with spotting inbetween. This is cause for concern has I have a family history of uterine cancer, endometriosis, etc. I went into my appointment asking for a full scale hysterectomy. Take it all, I said, uterus, tubes, ovaries, cervix. ALL OF IT.
First things first - genetics, gynecology, another intravaginal ultrasound, etc. So I have a lot of testing and appointments over the next couple of weeks to see what is going on. My oncologist proposed that since my liver metastases was to the outside of my liver (perio something latin), it's possible that I had more deposit in my fallopian tubes where they're happily thriving in a rich blood environment and this could be my problem with my rising CEA (oh yeah, that went up again. It's going up in little bits consistently...I'm now over a 5.0 /sigh).
Again, I say, take it all.
So at the end of my last round of chemo in October, they did a MRI and found a "mass the size of a golfball on your liver." I was a little upset to say the least at this is at the END of chemo. I requested a second opinion and am going to Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA now.
That mass is non-cancerous, mild fatty liver deposit. So yay! I just had another CT and that was fine, chest through pelvis. I do have 2 metastases on my liver, but they are unchanged from January of last year and not showing up on the CT anyway. They only showed up on the MRI.
My period is a hot mess. Every two weeks with spotting inbetween. This is cause for concern has I have a family history of uterine cancer, endometriosis, etc. I went into my appointment asking for a full scale hysterectomy. Take it all, I said, uterus, tubes, ovaries, cervix. ALL OF IT.
First things first - genetics, gynecology, another intravaginal ultrasound, etc. So I have a lot of testing and appointments over the next couple of weeks to see what is going on. My oncologist proposed that since my liver metastases was to the outside of my liver (perio something latin), it's possible that I had more deposit in my fallopian tubes where they're happily thriving in a rich blood environment and this could be my problem with my rising CEA (oh yeah, that went up again. It's going up in little bits consistently...I'm now over a 5.0 /sigh).
Again, I say, take it all.
- Family history
- I don't want children anyway
- If I were to be pregnant, it'd be considered geriatric pregnancy considering my age
- Prevent more cancers.
And so now we wait. For more testing and diagnostics and to see what is what.
#stageIVschmageIV #Iwillwin #fuckcancer
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