Yesterday, in addition to my regularly scheduled chemo session I had my first check-up with Dr. Chui, my oncologist.
We talked about the studies I mentioned last week--specifically the studies about pain management in cancer patients...long story short, he thinks the studies are flawed and that traditional pain-medication and anesthesia in the fall for my surgery is just fine. I have decided that's good enough for me! I likened it to asking him to read a Supreme Court case on an issue--he'd be able to muddle through and figure it out but it would take a while. Likewise, a medical study such as the ones about opiates are something I could muddle through but it took him a lot less time to do it, and he obviously has a greater appreciation for what data the studies relied upon. As you probably know, a randomized, blind study that looks prospectively at an issue tends to be a more persuasive and accurate study than one that looks back at results which may or may not have other factors at play. His specific example in these studies was: people with more tumors or bigger cancers have more surgeries and therefore more pain meds...but they are also more likely to have greater metastasis just by virtue of their cancer. This makes total sense to me...
We also talked about my hair loss, which while consistent (this morning in the shower I had HANDFULS of hair) is still not noticeable to my friends at work. I figure I have another one to two weeks before I need my hats! Even though the hair loss remains tough for me (seriously, I need to add 10 minutes to my morning routine, just to pull the hair off my hands in the shower and during styling!) Dr. Chui said he worries more about his patients who DON'T lose their hair because he wonders if their body is processing the chemo differently in a way that could make it less effective. I will try to keep that in mind as I rock the bald head this summer. (Speaking of which, I saw an ad for "The Voice" on NBC last night and noticed that at least two of the female contestants are bald...so maybe I'm just in time for some hot new trend!)
In the event I'm reading this trend wrong, I also went to a local knitting store on Monday and got two skeins of yarn, some needles, and a Stitch n Bitch book to teach myself to knit. (I have knit before...when I was like 10 years old...taught by one of my Aunties...) I'm doing my swatch now and have 5 rows of knit stitches and once I figured out purling I have about 4 rows of that. I'm still not convinced the purling is right, but I'm going to play with it some more and probably show it to my aunties this weekend for some additional assistance.
The chemo was not too bad yesterday--tiring as always, but actually I felt better this week than last and STILL NO VOMITING. Dr. Chui says that my side effects will increase as time goes on, but so far so good. And he also said he can tell I've been keeping up my end of the EXERCISE bargain. Monday-Wednesday I was on the elliptical trainer for at least 45 minutes, yesterday I did my workout video in the morning, and this morning I got up early and did a 30 minute walk around the neighborhood.
The only bad news is my White Blood Cell counts have dropped considerably (not so low as to interfere with my treatment yet though which is good) so I do have to be more careful about germs....tough with a toddler in daycare! I've talked with his teachers, though, and they're going to give us a head's up if there are any major things going around the room so we can decide whether or not to keep him home for a day or just make sure we're even more vigilant about hand-washing and what not. I wish there was something pro-active I could do about my WBC (there are shots that I can be given if they are way low, but that's another deal altogether) only because I don't want to miss a single treatment. I want to kick the cancer when it's down!!! But alas, it's not like I can eat more protein and increase my WBC or something...so I just have to roll with it. And, again, it means the meds are working so I have to just remind myself that my body is going to do what it's going to do and as long as I'm killing cancer I'll take the bad stuff that comes with it.
BUT THE BEST NEWS OF ALL FROM MY APPOINTMENT: MY TUMOR IS SHRINKING! Dr. Chui measured it at about 3 cms before I started all of this and yesterday he felt it and believes it is now about 2 cms. (We didn't do an ultrasound or anything for exact measurements, this was his opinion by feel, but he does do it for a living so I think we're close enough for government work, anyway!) While he doesn't expect it to be completely gone at the end of the chemo, this is good progress and something he was very happy to tell me and I was very happy to hear it!
Happy weekend: we will be celebrating TWO high school graduations in my family this weekend, congrats to my cousins KJ & E on their accomplishment!
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