Chemo 12 -- A Milestone

I left bootcamp one cycle earlier so we could make it to G'town on time. We arrived at G'town 2 hours late. We were off to such a great start too. School was on an one hour delay, so we dropped HB off at Annette's to take the bus to school. Nate had woken up earlier than normal and was dressed and in a great mood. We hit the road with plenty of time. Stopped and got Scott an ice tea no ice and proceeded on our way to drop Nate off at AOL. We hit traffic and it took us almost an hour to get out of Ashburn. It is like 3-4 friggin miles! Unbelievable. By then, HOV was over, so we ran into traffic on 66E so it was not smooth sailing...

We arrived and didn't have to wait very long to see Dr M. We saw a fellow medical student first who evaluated Scott for this go around. Scott has been having headaches and Dr M thinks its from the Avastin. He gained a few lbs but all in all he looks pretty good. His neuropathy, while better, is not great yet and the fellow had said that could take years to return if it does. Great! Dr M went and checked his trial rules and decided to not give Scott Avastin this go-round to see if that is indeed what is causing the headaches. They also gave him a script for Percocet since Tylenol and Ibuprofen do not seem to help dissipate the pain. Scott's bp was 131/90 I believe. He also is very tired but as you have read, that is nothing new with his treatment.

Dr M mentioned that the first results of the Avastin trial administered to stage 3 colon cancer patients should be out in the June timeframe and depending on those, they may continue on their course or decided to discontinue Avastin.

Scott has a script to go get a CTscan and he is done with the Folfox after Thursday's return of the 46 hour chemo pack.

We got to Floor 7 later than normal and had to wait approx 2.5 hours for our chemo to start. On the bright side, Mercedes gave us a really nice room. Room 18 and it had a nice view of the National Cathedral. I went and got Scott some lunch and we both worked on our computers. Scott's friend John Divney was in town from Jersey, and he stopped by to hang with us until chemo was over. I know Scott was very happy to spend time with him. We had a lot of laughs. We didn't get home until after 7 and had to stop at Target to fill his scripts. I dropped Scott at home and then went to get the kids at Ellen's house. Ellen has been so kind to me. She is on call on chemo days to get the kids if we need her to. It's been such a huge help and relief to me.

So...the standard treatment for colon cancer --- FOLFOX -An abbreviation for a chemotherapy combination used to treat colorectal cancer that is advanced or has come back. It includes the drugs leucovorin calcium (folinic acid), fluorouracil, and oxaliplatin. --- is done! Moving forward, Scott will be going for chemo on Fridays and he will be getting only Avastin. He will not have to go home with a pump. It's a few hours at G'town once every 2 weeks until September at the latest!

Wheww!!

The kids are doing well. We are all so used to chemo week that it's 2nd nature now.I have noticed though that Nate has been getting upset when he asks Scott to play with him and Scott can't.It is what it is..but it still is hard to hear. I did go out last weekend and play soccer and football with Nate. We had fun but clearly I was out of my element and Nate had no problem letting me know that I wasn't playing right. Personally, I think he makes up new rules for the games to suit him. I took Nate sledding on Monday as well. Hannah didn't feel like going, so Nate and I bundled up and walked over to this hill in our neighborhood and took a few slides down. It was so fun but man, it was c o l d!!

Speaking of snow, I shoveled most of the snow but Scott for some reason, got a hankering to get out there and shovel a bit. I left him a part of the driveway to finish which he did but you could tell he was worn out the rest of the day. I am sure it's frustrating for him to not be able to do the things he used to do all the time.

One thing that I have been thinking about lately is how I am so proud of Scotty. This has been so tough on all of us but I stop and think about how this is for him. He is the one with cancer, the one with the chemicals being put into his body, the one that has to live with this thought that it could come back, the one that wants to do all of this stuff, but physically right now he can't. But with all that, he still keeps a positive, happy outlook. He gets down about it, but it really doesn't define him. He is still Scotty. He's just Scotty who happens to be dealing with this really shitty situation. He gets up and goes to work without a question on the non-chemo days. We have just worked this into our lives. It's not like we have a choice, but you do have a choice in how you deal with it. You can be all doom and gloom by this or you can just realize it is happening, it sucks beyond words, but life goes on. That's how Scotty is and I am so proud of him.

Chemo 11

We went to chemo session 11 last Tuesday. Scott is doing well overall, no real concerns beyond the normal ones. His bp is a bit high but nothing earth shaking. He also started getting some headaches which Dr M will be monitoring. The chemo session went off without any issues.

We had to share a room for a while because they were crowded. It turned out to be a good thing because it was yet another moment where both Scott and I realized how lucky we are. The man was from Fairfax. He has stage 4 colon cancer, spread to his lungs. Probably in his early 50s. He has been battling this for 3.5 years and is now allergic to most chemo drugs. He is at G'town in a trial that gives him some drug to see if it can slow down the cancer, not shrink it, not cure it. If it doesn't work - which they will know within 2 weeks - then that's it -- he is out of the trial and there are no more known treatments for him. This guy was also being made very sick from the meds. He was throwing up and just nauseatious the entire way to the hospital and while he was there. He was still in fairly good spirits and very nice. I asked him a lot of questions. He said he didn't really have any symptoms prior to this -- however while he was in the bathroom, his brother in law told us that this guy's wife had colon cancer too but they caught it early. She urged him to get checked and and sure enough. Very odd coincidence I think. He also said that he did have some signs like constipation. Again, we are very fortunate.

So Scott has one more Folfox treatment to go. We talked to Dr M about what will go on after that. They will schedule him for a CTScan and he will proceed every 2 weeks with the Avastin drug. It will be a few hours as opposed to a 6 hour process every 2 weeks. How he recovers from the Folfox will be gradual. It won't be like all of the sudden, he feels great - it will happen over time. They did stop the oxyplatin a few weeks back and Scott started noticing a slight improvement after about a week. He still can't really handle cold things, but it's not as bad as it once was.


Hannah was sick last week and Scott had chemo the same day. School called while we were at G'town. We had to scramble to find some help to pick up Hannah. Thankfully, Bill Buermeyer was able to get Hannah from school and then it turned out Maya had the flu so was home with Pat. Ellen dropped Hannah off there for a while and both girls slept then Annette took both girls to Dr. Lisa late afternoon. Dr. Lisa gave both Nate and Hannah Tamiflu since they were both exposed to the flu bug via Maya even though Hannah tested negative. Then I picked her up after we got home from the hospital. It was really hard on us trying to figure out who to ask, how to ask for help and handle it all from the confines of Georgetown Hospital. When we get home from chemo -- we are both drained for different reasons and then to have to handle poor Hannah sick. It was a lot. I had to then run to Target, get the scripts filled, then feed Nate. Hannah didn't eat. Then Hannah threw up all over the couch in the family room. So I sent everyone upstairs, cleaned that up, got Hannah calmed down and in bed, got Nate ready for bed and then went to bed myself. Then, I had to stay home from work for another day because there was no way Hannah was ready to go back. She just started eating normally again last Friday. It's a lot to handle thats for sure. I am tired just blogging about it.

And yes, I got up the next morning and went to boot camp...

Scott and I are tired of this whole thing! We want it over with -- talk about an understatement! Scotty can't even enjoy most foods because of the taste change. It has obviously and literally affected every piece of our lives. For instance, before cancer, I fell asleep before Scott. No issues. Now, Scott is in bed sometimes as early as before 7 and I sometimes can't sleep in our room because he snores. If I fall asleep before he does, I am fine - after, not so fine. So even something mundane as our sleeping arrangements have changed.

How am I? I am ok. I am very emotionally tired of this whole journey. There are times when I get upset and then I have to remember, it's not his fault, it's not my fault -- it is what it is. I sleep a lot on the weekends when I get a chance. I am working out 5x a week to help not only with my overall health, but to just be able to handle the stress that is on me. So, I am ok.