Erika's Treatment Update -- Week 27

Merry Christmas everyone!

Here's the latest update:

• Last week I had my appointment with the head neurologist at Stanford in regards to my weird uncontrollable movements. I received the results of my EEG, which as expected was normal. After a verbal and physical assessment, the neurologist determined that what I experienced was most likely a movement disorder caused by a drug reaction. He's not 100% sure that it is indeed that, however that is what it most resembles. He's running a few more tests (thyroid, sed rate, and immune studies) to see if they can find any possible additional sources and I'm scheduled to see him again in March.
  
• This week I had my scheduled 6th chemo treatment on Wednesday. The infussion went fine as usual and I had some mild fevers for the first two days. I had a chest x-ray done again to determine my prognosis, however it doesn't seem to show enough detail so I have a CT scan scheduled for Jan 3rd. I'm scheduled for a 7th round of treatment on Jan 5th and will also receive the results of my CT that day. I asked my oncologist about what her plans are in terms of treatment and she said that we can continue to use the chemo that we're currently using until my tumor stops responding (there's no maximum number of doses you can have) and after that there's a clinical trial going on at Stanford that I would be eligible for. If they can somehow get my tumor down to a small enough size, there's a possibility that we could find a surgeon (specializing in the chest area) that might be able to use some new sort of new technique to remove the tumor surgically. This is a rather risky and very experimental procedure however so it's something that my oncologist is keeping in the back of her mind for now. Of course the way I see it is that if there's any way they could remove it I'll take the risk...anything for a cure.

That's pretty much it for these past two weeks, it seems like not much has been going which is why I'm not updating the site as often (I think this is probably a good thing). Chris and I have had a wonderful Christmas so far, we had a great mexican feast with my family last night (Christmas eve) and a crab dinner with Chris' parent's today. Hope you all have had a wonderful one too!

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!