Erika's Treatment Update -- Week 40

Hi!

Yesterday was a half day spent at Stanford for treatment. I went in to get blood counts, meet with the doctors, and had my 12th round of chemo. The pre-meds for the chemo pretty much knocked me out the whole afternoon/evening. I woke up every couple of hours just to take Tylenol for my fevers and to drink some liquids. I also experienced some mild nausea, but nothing that couldn't be controlled with meds.

As most of you know I had a CT scan done on Monday to determine the prognosis of my disease. I had been very anxious to get the results, especially since this time they did a CT of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis. As my oncologist put it "I'm thrilled with the results." Apparently my tumor in the chest and several nodes in the lung have responded better than they expected and the doctor's are just in awe. With the amount of intense treatment that I've had in the past (including two transplants), it's HIGHLY unlikely to see these type of results, in fact they had never seen anything like it. Of course Chris and I were very pleased with the news. On the other hand, there's a little bit of a concern with my liver. The last scan that I had showed a little mass which they weren't too concerned about until my liver numbers were elevated. The reason for doing the full body scan this time was specifically to see what was going on with that little mass. They can't exactly tell what it is by the scan so it appears that I will have to go through some further testing. I should find out in the next couple of days if I will need to have a PET scan done or a liver biopsy. Although it's unlikely to have a mixed reaction from chemo (meaning shrinkage in one area and growth in another), it's not unheard of.

The spots on my skin have pretty much healed and look like old bruises now, however I've gotten a whole bunch of new ones. My doctor looked at them yesterday and she said these look more like a rash that you can get from the chemo so they're not worried. I have an appointment with the dermatologist again next week so she can take a look at them. I'll also be seeing my BMT doctor next week, which I always look forward to.

I'm not sure what our plans are for the holiday weekend yet. We were supposed to go skiing with some friends in Tahoe, however after I told my doctor about being short of breath the last time I was up there she didn't really recommend that I push myself. I was able to convince her to give me a shot of Procrit which will increase my red blood cell count, but that takes up to three weeks to start working.

Hope you all have a great Easter!! Thanks again to those of you who post comments, I really enjoy reading them!!