Update to Chemo, Steroids, and Weight Gain

Went and saw my oncologist this past Tuesday before getting my 48^th treatment of Pemetrexed (Brand name Alimta). I had just had a CAT scan done last week and was awaiting the results. Happily I am still in total remission and I was so happy that I forgot all the questions I wanted to ask my doctor about the steroids.

Good news is I had lost 2 pounds from my previous visit. There was no mention about my blood test until I asked the oncology nurse (not the same nurse I saw my previous visit). She said my blood work came back from that morning and it was 8.0, which is a good count apparently as I had taken my steroids for two days previous to the blood work being done. I did tell her that when I had an A1C blood test done to measure my glucose over the past 3 months it was 6.3. Her reply was, oh that’s good. 

Rather than question her I left it alone.

My oncologist after telling me the great results of the CAT scan stood with his hands on his hips saying to me, “I don’t know what we’re going to do with you. You’re such a unique case, but we can’t keep giving you chemo forever.”

My reply to him was, “Well we skip a month and make it chemo every 2 months.”

“No I’m afraid we cannot do it that way, but I can give you breaks. I’ll see you back in November.”

I was thinking to myself that maybe they have to keep me on once a month in order for the Ontario Health Plan to pay for the chemo I’m receiving.  Stupid me, didn’t ask.

Wednesday morning I get a call from the dietician that was supposed to come see me on Tuesday but never did. She apologized that she was very busy and couldn’t get to me. 

 I explained to her that I had gained 70 pounds and it was starting to affect my knees and back. Her answer to me was well we just want you to maintain your weight and I see here that you lost 2 pounds from your previous visit in August. She asks me if I get much exercise and my answer to her is I try to walk but get out of breath quite easily. Just walking up the stairs from the main level of my house or down to the basement winds me. I do walk around malls, and try to get out and get in smaller walks than the marathons I used to due pre cancer. 

I told her that I’d taken pictures of my dinners for the past couple of weeks to show her what I eat. I’m trying to cut back on the carbs and usually have a salad, protein, and veggies for dinner.  Her answer to that was, “Low Carb diets don’t work.”

They sure have for me in the past and I will continue to watch my carb intake.  

Anyways to make a long story short or shorter the dietician is sending me out some pamphlets to look at that may help me. She said that she’d see me in November at my next oncology, chemo appointment. 

40 Treatments of Pemetrexed and Still Kicking

It's been just over three years now since I was diagnosed with lung cancer and considering they gave me a year to live I'm doing great.

During this journey so far to date I've had 8 treatments of CISplatin and gemcitabine, and 40 pemetrexed treatments. When I first started I never dreamed my body would be able to handle so many chemo sessions. I am lucky as I've never had to skip a treatment due to blood work coming back bad. 

Yesterday when I saw my oncologist he gave me the results of my latest CAT scan, and bone scan I had done, a week ago. Nothing has changed with the CAT scan and I'm still in remission. YEAH!!!! The bone scan revealed that I have arthritis in my hip. This is easy to deal with as they wanted to rule out cancer when they did the bone scan. 

People often say to me, oh I thought you'd be done with the chemo since you're in remission. I only wish this were so. I'm tired of chemo once a month but it is keeping the cancer at bay for now. Pemetrexed for me is a maintenance drug and it's doing its job. There is no end of chemo for me as long as my body can handle the treatments. My oncologist told me that because the cancer is in my lymph nodes that it will always be there. My job is to keep fighting and not to let it spread. Thinking positive has gotten me this far and I plan on getting much further. 


Merry Christmas Everyone!

Positive Thinking on Finish the Sentence Friday

When I’m really old, and look back at my life I hope to know that I made a difference in someone’s life and convinced them to think positive no matter what illness they need to battle.

I've always looked at myself as being a healthy person as far as the basic colds and flu’s go. One time I had a flu shot only because my doctor said he wouldn't let me leave his office without one. That was the only one as I don't believe in flu shots. I think I’ve been blessed with a good immune system, and for that I am grateful.

  Those of you that know me might not agree with me that I'm healthy but that’s how I feel. Sure I’ve been through a lot of illnesses such as breast cancer; not once but twice, clinical depression, flesh eating disease, and I’ve just found out that I'm in remission for lung cancer. I'm happy to say that I am a Breast Cancer Survivor. Most of those are heavy illnesses but I've always looked at them as bumps in the road. I strongly feel that the power of positive thinking can beat anything you may have to face during your lifetime.

Positive thinking won't beat cancer but it will sure help you kick its ass.

Looking back at my life I see that everything I've been through has only made me stronger. 

This post is part of a blog hop called Finish the Sentence Friday. 

Ten Things of Thankful - Not so Thankful

This week I decided I'd tell everyone about the ten things I'm not so thankful about. Guess I'm sick of being positive all the time and would like to take this opportunity to vent a bit. Sorry +Lizzi R  but I'm telling it like it is. Some days I just don't feel thankful and this is one of them.

Cancer Sucks!
I'm sure everyone agrees with my numero uno. How many times do I get to have this dreaded disease anyways? As if 3 times wasn't enough over 20 years ago I now get it again. So if I'm lucky enough to beat it again (yes miracles do happen) will it try and rear it's ugly head once again? Cancer I'm Unbeatable so GIVE UP ALREADY!!!

Anti-nausea drugs + 2 diuretics 

But on the same hand I'm thankful that chemo has gone well as far as nausea goes. I've not tossed my
cookies once yet. The anti nausea drugs they have out now a days compared to 20 years ago are magnificent. My oncologist nurse told me to follow her instructions to the "T" and I would not get sick. Eat breakfast and drink 4 bottles (500 ml each) of water before getting to the hospital on the day of chemo. After chemo eat small amounts of food every 2 hours whether you're hungry or not, and continue to consume water.  Food has not been an issue with me and I've not lost a single ounce of my appetite. 



Dog Breath
No not mine! Although wait till you see my post tomorrow for Silly on Sundays :)
My dog has really bad breath, Bruce that is. Maggie's isn't all that bad. When I had them on a raw diet their breaths didn't stink a bit. Wish I could have afforded to keep them on a raw diet but it was costing me more to feed them per week than it was 4-5 adults a week. It got to be a bit much. 

Thankful that I myself do not have dog breath.

Okay so I'm actually mixing it up a bit here with thankful and not thankful things. Oh well. Started my round 4 of 4 chemo yesterday and let's just blame it on "GOOFY", or as they say Chemo Brain.

Thankful that round 4 has began. After the 4th round is complete I will be having a CAT scan done on the 24th of January. If all goes well and the tumors have shrunk then my oncologist said he'll be putting me on a new treatment. I should have written down the name of this new treatment as then I'd be able to do some research, but I forgot to bring a pen with me. The doctor would have freaked on me if I'd taken out my iPhone to take notes. (That's another story) So with this new treatment it is only done every 3 weeks and time for treatment is only one hour. I'm getting excited about this new treatment as it means more time for me, less driving, and rather than going to the hospital 3 times a month Ill only have to go once every 3 weeks. Let's just hope that I don't lose get to keep my hair with this one too.

Thankful that I have not lost my hair. I'm fortunate to be in the very low percentage of people that don't have any hair loss. I did lose a tooth though and it's the front one which sucks! Now I have to go and get a partial or full plate done. Need to save up for that though. My smile has turned very small over the past month trying to hide the fact that I'm missing a tooth.

Not thankful that my calves (no not my cows although they are pretty big) my legs and ankles are not doing well with the chemo. One of my side effects are water retention and so now I'm on 2 diuretics that I have to take every day. They're not working all that well because I'm bad. I don't put my feet up as often as I should. It's hard to type with a laptop on my lap while lying down and feet propped up.

On the other hand thankful that the swelling is not caused by blood clots.

That's it for today folks. Technically if you count all the thankful's and un-thankful's there are ten I think. I'm not good with math so please forgive me if I've counted that incorrectly. 


Hosts for TToT are:
A Fly on our (Chicken Coop) Wall, Considerings, Finding Ninee, Getting Literal, I can say mama, I Want Backsies, Mother of Imperfection, Rewritten, Thankful Me,The Wakefield Doctrine

Please join in on the fun of this blog hop, and remember to link up!