A Break

The last couple of days have been pretty tough. I spent most of Friday recovering from the pain related to the infusion of the oxaliplatin in my arm. That's subsided, expect for an occasional stab of pain. However, Saturday and Sunday I had significant nausea and vomited for the first time on chemo. By 7:00 pm last night, I was unable to eat anything, so I couldn't take the next dose of Xeloda pills. I spoke to the on-call doctor and he told me to stop taking the pills and speak to my oncologist on Monday.

I spoke to him this afternoon and while he was surprised that I had reacted so quickly, he agreed that I should stop taking the pills for now. Changing dosage is a normal part of the treatment with Xeloda, but I think most people last longer than I did before having a major reaction. We'll make a decision about what to do next at my next treatment.In the meantime, I'm glad to take a break as the prospect of fourteen days of feeling that way was overwhelming, especially with teaching and graduate school starting in the next couple of days.

In other news, my old port was removed and a new one installed today. The procedure was pretty quick and I don't have a needle floating around in me like last time, so that's a plus!

Demise of the Port

My new chemotherapy regimen began today. I took the Xeloda pills this morning and went to the oncologist's office. I worried that because it had been a couple of months since my treatment there might be an issue with my port. It turned out that I was right as it quickly became clear that the port had flipped over and couldn't be accessed. Long story short, I will have a new port installed on Monday.

Eventually, I learned why they want to use the port, instead of a vein in the arm if possible. After about the first hour, my arm started to ache and got worse for the next 45 minutes or so. It still hurts now, but hopefully will get better over the next couple of hours.

Otherwise, I'm feeling pretty good so far. I'll try to update over the next few days, before school (teaching and graduate school) starts next week.

An Unwanted Delivery-Updated

Fedex arrived today with a package that I wasn't very excited to receive. In the package were my new chemotherapy pills that I will begin taking next week. On Wednesday the 17th Friday the 19th, I will go to the oncologist's office to have the oxaliplatin infusion as I did before surgery. Now, instead of having the 5-FU pump for 48 hours, I will take 5 Xeloda pills morning and night for 14 days. The pills will break down into 5-FU in my body. The advantages of this treatment are that I don't need the pump, and we can finish my treatment with six three-week treatments. There maybe a few new side effects, but we'll have to wait and see.

My oncologist was very happy with the results of the surgery, and commented on the thoroughness of the surgeon. Once the treatment is finished in December, I will have follow-up scans to make sure there isn't any sign of cancer anywhere else.