Quick Lil Update

Quick little update: (Yeah right...I never seem to make my blogs quick).

Anyway! My liver pain has resolved. Yay! But, the lower back/pelvic pain remains the same (or maybe even a tad bit worse). Boo! It's been difficult to keep a positive mindset when I am in pain and I finally stopped fighting the narcotics and jumped in. I am now on a fentanyl patch with the vicodin or percoset for breakthrough pain. And plenty of laxatives to keep things moving. If ya know what I mean. Oh and prunes. Loving me some prunes right now. I've been feeling a lot more comfortable the last few days and even though my energy is still kinda low, my attitude is much much improved. And, we all know what a positive difference a good attitude makes in any kind of journey! Especially in this kind of journey.

To add to that...Monday, we received the results of the "targeted study". The results were...encouraging. It's all a little bit over my head, but in essence, there are about 10 drugs that showed "clinical benefit" for me. One of these is a medicine similar to the cocktail I am on now. I am unclear how similar they are, but am encouraged nonetheless. Especially because there are options! The report also indicated about 5 drugs that showed "no clinical benefit" for me. THREE of these I have already tried. 

Does this mean, as my mother asked me, that we have been "spinning our wheels for the past 6 months"? Eh. As I see it...yes and no. Apparently, there is something in the medical world known as "standard protocol". And that is what we followed here in my conventional treatment. For my type of cancer, first we try this, then we try this, and 3rd we try this. While the first 2 showed no real benefit to me, my cancer hasn't progressed significantly. That's a positive to me and I can't really sit and question the what-if's because that would just be a waste of my time and energy.

Instead of waiting the usual 3 cycles (21 days each) to re-scan my belly, we are doing it at the end of this 2nd cycle. So, I have a CT scan scheduled for the end of next week. This will hopefully indicate if the stuff I am taking now is really working and address the new/additional pain I am having (I can't rule out the fact that the pain may be caused because the chemo is working). This way...if it's not working, we can jump on one of these 10 other drugs sooner than later and crack down on these cancer bitches. Fwap! (Sound of whip. Ha.)

So...yeah...I got a nice dose of HOPE this week and I was really needing it. By the way, I love hearing that y'all are still praying for me. It means SOO much to me. Also...your emails, FB posts, cards and texts abolutely make a huge difference to me. I always seem to get one when I need a boost.  Y'all are the best! Thank you for reminding me that I am never alone.

Love to you, Vashni