Medicine

Medicine by New Hope Club 

Once again, while searching for the title of this post I discovered new music by a young group called New Hope Club. Catchy tune, cute boys that would melt any teeny bopper's heart. Take a listen. They're fun. Note: I do not own the rights to this music or photo.

I started my new chemo regime yesterday, Gemzar. It was mostly uneventful .... well, except for the killer dance moves during the steroid drip!. Since it is new chemo, I chose to read during chemo instead of dance. Now that I know what to expect, dancing is on the agenda for this week's session, even through the Gemzar drip!

The real excitement happened before chemo during my meeting with Rachel. Poor Rachel, I kept her for a long time. I had questions, some soft balls, some pretty rough. Here is what was/is keeping hubby and I up at night:

• In the liver mets thread at Breastcancer.org, many women indicated they were taking Gemzar plus a companion medication. Is that something I should do to tackle the lymph nodes?
• No. There are certain conditions where Gemzar is given with other drugs but I don't fit the profile at this time. Yay!
• Microwave ablation - what is this? Is something we need to think about?
• Not at this time. Typically, this is done when you have multiple or large tumors on the liver. Dr. Kocs would not recommend unless it is necessary.
• In the PET write-up, the radiologist used the term avid in relation to the liver tumors and lymph nodes. What does "avid" mean in this context?
• The radiologist was referring to the high metabolic rate overall in my tumors. Great! But not unexpected. That is what the Gemzar is suppose to fix.
• What is my short term prognosis?
• Very good. I handle chemo well. We still have several options available to us. Other than cancer, I am quite healthy.
• What is the long term prognosis?
• I know average life span is three years. My plan is to hit that and exceed it; my target is a minimum of five years, hopefully more
• Again, very doable, given my current health and response to treatment
• Is there a maximum amount of chemo a person can take over their lifetime?
• It varies by individual. How well do you handle chemo? 
• There is no set limit on how much chemo a person can have in their life, providing their body is handling it well
• There are a couple of drugs that have a maximum lifetime amount, but that's it.
• My liver has been "talking to me" these past few days; mainly cramping up sometimes when I bend over or tighten when I cough
• It's been four weeks since my last chemo, the longest stretch we've had in a long time
• We'll keep an eye out and see if it continues
• I think once the Gemzar kicks in, the liver will behave
• I noticed my legs are weaker than what they were a year ago
• First, COVID happened and I am not walking the 15K steps a day I use to walk
• I am out of practice getting down low to get that an odd angle for a shot of an animal, a creek, a bridge
• I need to make sure I exercise on a regular basis to help keep my strength up. 
• I'm thinking squats ... ok done thinking squats
• Actually, I need to do squats because I used to be able to get down real low and get back up, just using my legs; squats will help me get there.

Thanks for putting up with the ramblings and angst of an old woman. I suspect I am not the only one with these type questions. Maybe you learned something along the way or took some comfort in the fact that there are others feeling and thinking what you are. 

We got this!!