The Chemo is Working!

You guys, I feel like we really needed a win. I needed a win. The chemo side effects are rotten. I've felt super drained. And COVID-19 has my immunosuppressed-self worried.

So the scan results we just received were exactly the encouragement and good news I needed. Every bit of cancer shrank! And it all shrank a lot. The largest place in the middle lobe of my lung went from an SUV of 11.4 on the last scan to an SUV of 2.7 on this scan.

SUV is an abbreviation for standardized uptake value. The way a PET scan works is that I fast for 6 hours before the test. Water is okay, but nothing else to eat or drink. When I get to the hospital, they administer an injection of radioactive sugar. It even arrives in a lead sheath to protect the person giving the shot. Because cancer cells multiply rapidly, they suck up the radioactive sugar much MUCH more than normal cells. I sit for about an hour while my cancer cells gobble up all the radioactive sugar, then I go through the PET/CT machines for another 20 minutes or so. The PET machine measures the radiation from the sugar. The higher the SUV, the bigger or more intense the cancer is in that area.

So to drop from 11.4 to 2.7 is a huge victory! There's still disease, but it is DEFINITELY responding to this chemo. There are still several places in my lungs that are registering as cancerous, but they all have SUVs that are reduced by at least half compared to my prior scan. I have NO cancerous activity in my lymph nodes right now, and at least one other place in my abdomen has disappeared as well. And my bones also look clear.

This is SUCH. GOOD. NEWS.

We're not out of the woods yet though. The places in my lungs have already developed a resistance to the first treatment we tried, and they could develop a resistance to this one as well. But for the time being, we're celebrating the improvement, even if it's not a resolution.

I went through my third round of this treatment this past Tuesday and Wednesday.

My $5,000 out-of-pocket, 30 minute chemo.

I've continued to react to the treatments with itchiness that seems to kick in when the first Benadryl (that they gave me before treatment) wears off. But I just take another Benadryl and zonk back out until the itchiness is gone. I think it's getting a little worse each time, but as long as the Benadryl takes care of it, I should be okay.

My other symptoms are frustrating, but manageable. My neuropathy keeps creeping further up my arms and has started in my feet now too. It's made opening bottles impossible but I'm still able to crochet, so it's working out.

Crocheting Alan's blanket while Ella naps.

I am feeling very tired after this third round. Not the same kind of completely drained I felt after the first round of treatment, but more like you feel after you spent a long day doing something physical. I feel like I spent yesterday moving furniture and painting a whole house, though really I just sat around in my pajamas. I've been listening to audiobooks though, which has been a treat.

So thank you to everyone who has been cheering me on! Dr. Essell says we may do up to six total of these treatments, depending on how my body is tolerating them and if the cancer keeps responding. So I'll still be feeling pretty rotten from the chemo for awhile, but it's totally worth it knowing that the chemo is doing it's job and kicking this cancer's ass!