So what road have I traveled this past year? I must admit that while it has had its difficult days, for the most part I've managed to stay at work (with limited hours) and take a trip to MN to see my beautiful daughter get married. The highlight of my year, I must add. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing your child happily embarking on a new life with a companion who will hopefully be at her side through thick and thin. Thank you, son-in-law!
But, I digress (however in a good way!). To begin, my gynecologist/oncologist (which, by the way, is a must should this dark visitor ever come knocking on your door) recommended we do chemo prior to considering therapy. I did not seek a second opinion at that time because I had absolutely no knowledge of this beast, and would have had no way to know which recommendation would better serve me. I felt it would only add to my confusion and leave me stuck with the "what if I picked the wrong one" question circling in my head. I already had enough of those. What I really needed at the time was a plan and the ability to start acting on it. Not more delays. And so we began.
Chemo started the following week, after more blood work and a CT scan. I also had a port inserted under my skin just under the collar bone on the left side to avoid contstant "good vein" searching. That has been terrific. My chemo consisted of pre-infusion of saline, steroids, and anti-nausea meds. After that we went with the big guns: carboplatin, taxol. This process took 6 -7 hours, every third Monday. During that time were more blood tests, measuring both white and red blood cell countn (and various other counts) and my CA125, the ovarian cancer blood marker. More on that later. My first infusion was the most uncomfortable, side effect wise. Luckily my daughter was here with me and helped me deal with it. Again, she was the blessing she's always been. Subsequent chemos did bring side effects, but I learned to manage them (the nausea, bowel problems [enough said]) with the right meds. After my sixth round, another drug was added: avastin, which is known for its ability to stop blood flow to the dastardly cells. It also aids in draining the fluid which collects in the omentum (the lining around the stomach, hence the bloating) and around the lungs (which makes breathing difficult). And yes, I had both of those things. OVCA is known for its ability to metastasize to the liver, lungs, bowels, lymph nodes, and evidently anything else it feels like visiting, with the formerly-mentioned the most likely. Avastin is powerful, gave me terrible headaches and left me so tired I could barely stay awake for more than 2 hours at a time. DID NOT LIKE. But I continued on with 5 additional sessions of it, which brought me to the first week in December. And except for chemo week, I kept working, which actually helped me to get out and feel normal again.
The week before Christmas I saw my gyn/onc for the result of my recent PET scan (a better, more thorough detector of rogue cells than a CT scan) and what I thought would be another round of chemo. Not to be! The PET scan showed all major organs to be clear and the blood work showed that my CA125 (see above) had dropped from its original reading of 3,000+ to 14. "Normal" is considered anything under 35. It was recommended we take a 3 month break from chemo to let the avastin get out of my system completely and to give my body a rest from the poison that had been dripping into me for 7 months.
Merry Christmas to me!
Monday I have my follow-up visit to see what my blood work shows, and to talk options and next steps. My weekend will be somewhat anxiety-ridden, which brings to mind another whole aspect of the disease; dealing with the emotional side of it. That I will leave for another post, at another time.
I am grateful for the love and support of my husband, family, and friends during this past year. And I grieve for those women who ride this train by themselves.
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