Well I have the flu...again.
It's just about the same thing that happened last time, too: full dose of Tarceva, bad facial rash, mouth sore(s) and an achy feverish flu on top. Though it may be the second time in just over a month, I'm wondering if I could be visited by the flu fairy just once more in the next month. Ah, how nice 'twould be. Alas, the doctors don't believe me, but as this is the 2nd occasion of the very same instantiation of this event, I must persist.
I think the Tarceva brings my immune system down at it's full dose. I mean I DO have like 4 different drugs, 2 prescribed vitamins and a slew of other assorted health keeper-uppers. Who knows what's going on with the massive chemo-cocktail my body's partaking in at the moment. I may just be morphing into another form of life; I may not even be human anymore (when the antennae appear, that'll get a blog). I'll keep bridging the gap between water striders and humans while you keep reading about it, ok?
Friday, December 4
Tuesday, December 1
Between a rock and a hard place
I heard back about my MRI today, and the radiologist who examined it said it was still rather inconclusive, but he was siding with a recurrence. He didn't just feel it out either. He used a series of large sciency-type words which I had little understanding of, and he said that though he couldn't say for sure what was happening up there, it looked to him like it was returning.
That's the bad news.
The good news is that at this point before my last surgery I had a significant increase in tumor activity. Now I have no actually visible tumor, just signs of its return--or so I think (this is all so damn complex and individualistic). So the radiologist informed me that I should definitely go ahead with the PET scan tomorrow. That'll reveal the hypermetabolic activity going on inside my broken head revealing the presence of the ill-fated tumor. In the end, I'll have to wait a few more days for more certain news.
That being said, I'm not through with this treatment program yet. Even if the tumor has recurred, then I can still add Temodar (standard primary brain tumor chemo) to the mix. It seems to have a synergistic relationship with the Phenylbuterate. In addition, I can add an anti-angiogenesis agent to the mix (which will require an injection every couple of weeks). We still have some more aggressive actions that we can take against my cerebral intruder. So I don't have a smile on my face at the moment, but I do have hope. I guess that's all that matters, too.
That's the bad news.
The good news is that at this point before my last surgery I had a significant increase in tumor activity. Now I have no actually visible tumor, just signs of its return--or so I think (this is all so damn complex and individualistic). So the radiologist informed me that I should definitely go ahead with the PET scan tomorrow. That'll reveal the hypermetabolic activity going on inside my broken head revealing the presence of the ill-fated tumor. In the end, I'll have to wait a few more days for more certain news.
That being said, I'm not through with this treatment program yet. Even if the tumor has recurred, then I can still add Temodar (standard primary brain tumor chemo) to the mix. It seems to have a synergistic relationship with the Phenylbuterate. In addition, I can add an anti-angiogenesis agent to the mix (which will require an injection every couple of weeks). We still have some more aggressive actions that we can take against my cerebral intruder. So I don't have a smile on my face at the moment, but I do have hope. I guess that's all that matters, too.
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