Phase III
Life on Alimta - easy… Side affects minimal, felt good. I attributed that to being in better health going into this round of chemotherapy compared to last year at this time. My one nurse would ask when she saw me how life was on Alimta… I would always say great, because I really felt not bad on it. Had quite a bit of energy and did what I wanted. That I have come to understand was a sign. We have friends that work in research at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. They would say “You know chemotherapy is working when you feel awful, when you don’t feel awful it is not working”. I have to laugh at that now, as there is something to be said for that I have found.
After my third treatment (“The magic one”) my numbers were not coming down… They continued to creep up. Sigh… I have not and will not say the chemo didn’t do something it just was not the magic bullet we wanted and hoped for.
So what is next in the Doctors magical bag of tricks? Another combination of chemotherapy drugs (of course and thank God) that a drug assay of my cancer shows potential and we have time to continue to try promising combo’s as I am not symptomatic, I feel good, very strong compared to last year at this time… So I am ready, bring it on…
The next combo consists of Cisplatin and Gemzar… Oh boy, Party time again on a platin drug… The platin drugs are a challenge because it changes your sense of taste and affect your appetite as a result… Things taste metallic, which really can turn you off of eating if you are not careful. Back to eating every 2 to 3 hours after treatment… Not a problem, my family is ready to help do that (I forget to eat sometimes and a little prodding is a good thing for me…). We are all amazed that the one thing I can always eat while on a platin drug and it tastes okay for me is chicken. Don’t know why, you would think that would not be the case, however it is… So here’s to eating lots of chicken dishes…
Yes, we are back to 4 and ½ hour infusions it is only for one day so that is very manageable. And the E-mend drug they give you really help with the side affects. Lynn and I had to review what regimen worked last year to start that off the bat with this series… Miralax and Senokot are my friends, gotta keep things moving that truly helps with feeling better relatively quickly. I spoke with my infusion nurses a couple of times, as I don’t like to these types of medications regularly. I have to get over that as many who have under gone the surgery I did have issues and Miralax really helps keep it all moving… That helps keep me a happier person, which my family definitely prefers…
I have learned recently that this drug combination works together to combat cancer. It has solid results the problem is people have a tendency to plateau on it. My first treatment went off without a hitch. I slept all day after treatment and day two and three are what we call Steroid highs so I am able to work those two days… I have energy, the E-mends are working and I eat every 2 to 3 hours, I sleep on day 4 and start to come around again day 5 I am back at work. Each day after that, I feel stronger and more awake. My numbers after this treatment increased… I’m thinking to myself are you kidding me! My doctor obviously saw my thought on my face. He said that is a sign of a large cell kill, which is expected. Okay that makes sense to me as CA-125 numbers are suspect to changes with inflammations, infections, and such so a large cell kill will inflate the numbers or what my doctor says is a false positive reading. After treatment 2 my numbers went down… Hurray!!! Celebrate with a turtle Sunday from our favorite ice cream place Country Peddler… Woo Hoo. First time since August 2010 that my numbers finally started coming down again…
Through this treatment regimen I started seeing a number of what I call alerts to cut all sugar out of your diet... That it is feeding your cancer. Really cut "all" sugar out while in treatment... Sounds a bit drastic and doesn't all cell generation use natural sugar to do it's thing. Yes, I understand cancer is a cell and it reminds me of the old debate "starve a fever, feed a cold" or what ever that saying is that debate still goes on. So I guess this "cut the sugar" debate will go on as well. There was this one list that they were almost arguing about it which I'm thinking didn't help the person who wrote the question. My understanding of the human body is if you deprive what it needs it will create it from something else or steal it from somewhere else in your body, like it will convert a carbohydrate to a sugar to do its cell generation. You don't eat enough calcium it will steal it from your bones... My philosophy is moderation. I have to maintain my weight and right after treatment eating jello, pudding, yogurt gets me through when I am not that hungry. I find this helps my appetite for dinner and I don’t lose weight. So I say if you are going through treatment or helping someone go through treatment offer and have a variety of foods. Your body needs a variety of things… So feed it that way… The biggest for me is when I crave something I have found I always have been able to eat it so I do… Yes, this means I eat McDonalds filet fish sandwich, I have to laugh because I have not eaten this in like 15 years… But man it tastes good when I am on platin drugs and I feel absolutely okay eating it.
After my 3rd treatment on Cisplatin and Gemzar I did plateau, my numbers stayed the same… So what would have been my 4th treatment in this regimen now has to change. Change to what you ask? Let me tell you…
We are now moving on to a regimen that is a staple in recurrent Ovarian Peritoneal cancer. Carboplatin and Doxel… Don’t know why but Doxel scares me to be honest. It is given in a red color solution and watching it go into you unnerves me… Talk about the mind, makes me laugh… Really, everything that I have gone through in the last year and a red color fluid unnerves me... Gotta laugh.
I guess it unnerves me because I’ve heard other patients being put on it the list of side affects to watch for… and I had hoped I would not have to deal with it. Well as life is I will deal with it and thrive… Ready here we go, it is such an adventure… I am here and living well… Not gonna go out and run a marathon, well guess that is not true. I am running the marathon of my life and it is far from over. It is an adventure, I'm having fun and I have to say an interesting journey I am on…
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