I'm pleased to report that my left arm is healing quite well! We went in to see the orthopedist at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center on Monday, February 7, 2011, and the x-ray showed new bone being formed to knit together my left humerus across its surgical neck! In about 4 weeks, I'll be able to start any needed physical therapy and stop wearing a sling!
I'm also pleased to report that I've survived a third and a fourth round of chemotherapy, with hardly any side effects worth reporting! Hopefully, the chemo treatments are affecting the tumors much more than they are affecting me! The neuropathy caused by the oxaliplatin part of my FOLFOX regimen does seem to be getting worse with each treatment, although the effects wear off over the course of the two weeks of each chemo treatment. The numbness and tingling in my fingers and toes and the sensitivity to cold is somewhat annoying, of course, but the worst part, for me at least, is the weird feeling in your throat whenever you try to drink iced drinks or cold liquids. It's not exactly like nurse Ida explained, that drinking cold beverages feels just like swallowing broken shards of glass, but it is very unpleasant, nevertheless! Especially to someone like me who is hopelessly addicted to iced quad espressos from Starbucks! Fortunately, room temperature drinks and hot beverages are fine! If I have to, I may switch to a hot Venti Americano for a few days!
We are scheduled to meet with my colorectal oncologist, Dr. Imad Shureiqi, this coming Friday, February 25, 2011. I think the plan is to allow this most recent (fourth) round of chemo to run it's course and then get another CT scan to ascertain whether or not the metastatic non-carcinoid, mucinous appendiceal adenocarcinoma has responded to the chemotherapy. Hopefully, all the tumors, from the primary tumor in the appendix (or what's left of my appendix) to the metastatic nodules on my peritoneum, will have stopped growing and will have actively shrunk in size, or even better, will have died off altogether!
If so, then we will meet again with my surgical oncologist, Dr. Paul Mansfield, and discuss potential surgical options. Since my appendix cancer is metastatic, as shown by the needle biopsy performed on one of the peritoneal nodules near the surface of my skin, the aggressive surgery that includes hyperthermal intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) may well be in my future! After my appendix and the right half of my colon and any involved lymph nodes and any and all peritoneal nodules have been removed from my abdominal cavity, heated chemotherapy chemicals are introduced into my abdominal cavity, bathing all the tissues directly with the chemo agents heated to about 40 degrees Centigrade (which is 104 degrees Fahrenheit). Apparently, during the warm chemo bath, my body will be gently shaken for about 90 minutes (I will be anesthetized, of course, so I probably won't feel the gentle shaking!), insuring that all potentially affected portions within my peritoneum will be adequately exposed directly to the warm chemo. This direct exposure of the tissues to the warm chemo is apparently much more effective than chemo delivered through my veins. Roughly one-third of the patients receiving the HIPEC surgery treatment have complete remission of their cancers with no recurrence of the disease, or so I'm told. Those are pretty good odds! Much better than winning the lottery, for example! After I've recovered adequately from the surgery, which could take up to six weeks or two months, especially after the HIPEC treatment, then I will continue with another eight rounds of the FOLFOX chemo treatments, for a grand total of twelve.
Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers! They are definitely working and very definitely appreciated!
No comments:
Post a Comment