Breathing Easier!

Has a month really gone by since my last post?!  If anyone out there is worried, you can take heart in the old adage that no news is good news!  Let's quickly catch up.

David continues to inject himself twice a day with Lovenox (a blood thinner) to help dissolve the clots he had in his left leg & lung as well as to prevent further clotting.  He will continue this for another month & then switch to a daily oral anticoagulant (most likely Eliquis as it tends to interfere less with chemotherapy treatments).  The good news is that the discomfort he was having in his leg at the site of the blood clot is gone & he doesn't get as out of breath with mild exertion.  He is still significantly anemic from the chemotherapy, so his energy & endurance aren't what they normally are, but his breathing is improved.  He can now handle walking about three miles, on the mornings that chemo hasn't zapped his energy, at a pace of around 18 to 19 minutes per mile -- not too bad!

He is currently getting his 7th treatment of chemotherapy since restarting chemo at the end of March -- went in yesterday for a four hour infusion at the cancer center & is now hooked up to his chemo pump until tomorrow (that thing runs continuously for 46 hours).  His oncologist has stopped giving him Oxaliplatin because of a worry about debilitating peripheral neuropathy, so he now receives Leucovorin, Irinotecan, & 5-FU.  This has decreased his time in the cancer center on infusion days to four hours instead of six hours.

After his next treatment (#8), David will have a recheck CT to see what kind of response he is having to this chemo cocktail.  Based on the results from the CT & how his tumor markers look on blood work, a decision will be made about continuing on his current chemo drugs or switching to another set of drugs.  Someone asked us how long David will be on chemo.  The answer is that he will receive chemo for the remainder of his life.  While this can feel very discouraging, our hope is that he will have a good enough response to the treatment that his intervals can be changed from treatment every two weeks to treatment every three weeks or maybe even a longer interval.  In the meantime, on those fews days during our two week interval where David is not being hampered by some pesky side effect, we try to have a little fun & spend time doing things that make us joyful.

If you are reading this blog & are able to post a comment, please do.  If you aren't able to post a comment, please feel free to call David on his cell phone (619-977-4674) -- texts & emails are hard for him to respond to because his peripheral neuropathy hampers his typing.  

Best wishes to you for a safe & fun 4th of July!  Big hug, Janet