Follow up Scans from Y90 Treatment

Okay, so today I had a CT scan and a meeting with Dr. Cizman (interventional radiologist).  This was probably the first time that I have received any piece of good news since my diagnosis over 2 years ago.  Basically what he said was that the tumors we have treated on the right side of the liver have shrunk and are now less dense then before.  You will remember that I have heard this before to only have it turn out that it was wrong.  The difference this time is that we are looking at images from a CT scan which are the only images most oncologists rely on.  So this is good news. 

What about the tumors on the left side of the liver they haven't treated.  Well, these tumors continue to grow.  Since we have seen success on the right side of the liver, the doc believes that we should do this treatment on the left side of the liver.  There is some concern on whether or not the insurance company will pay for a second round of Y90.  The doc said he was going to write up a huge long explanation trying to get them to agree to do it again.  This is not a cheap treatment as you can imagine.  If they don't approve it, he has a plan B which his words were to "embolize the crap out of those tumors". 

Y90 is not a cure but is a a way to extend my life which will allow for other curative measures as they become available in the future.  While they don't say how long it can prolong it the information page says that it could be from months to years depending on the case.  So let's hope for years. 

All in all this is the first progression/regression I have seen so that gives us some hope of what the future holds.  But now I have to dread the next 2 Y90 treatments because that recovery is pretty awful.  If it helps though, I am ready for it and will take it head on. 

#cancersucks
#fightlikehell

2nd Treatment of Y90

The second treatment of Y90 was just as bad as the first.  I did this treatment on February 6th.  Took about a week to recover and then some on again off again stuff that popped up every now and again.  The next step is to have a scan on March 2nd along with a doctors follow up to see if it did any good or not.  The preliminary results seemed promising but I have been down that path before and the CT scan did not confirm the same results.  So I have learned my lesson that the only results I will trust are from a CT.

On another note, I had a member of my ward family pass away today from cancer.  She was diagnosed with lung cancer after my diagnosis and was doing good until this last December.  She started some new treatments that they were hopeful would help but found out in January that it was progressing much more rapidly and she was put on hospice  She was a great lady who gave a lot of love and will be sorely missed.  Prayers go up to her family for some peace and comfort. 

This hits home a little bit for me.  I have been on this journey for over 2 years now and we have just as much hope now as when I was diagnosed that we can beat it.  Cancer is a real and scary disease that can and has taken many lives.  I don't know what the future holds but we are living in the now and enjoy what we have.

#cancersucks
#fightlikehell

Life Really can Suck Sometimes

Sorry to be such a Debbie downer but man the last couple of months have been rough.  Not just for me but for people I know.  I had a longtime friend diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at 40.  Had another longtime friend whose wife passed at 37.  I felt like garbage through out the holidays.  Life can be and will be difficult for everyone at some point.  These two have been examples of strength to me during their times of trial.  We all have our own way of fighting through this stuff and whatever can give us some joy is what helps the most.

I did my first treatment of the Y90 drug on Tuesday.  Y90 is basically radiation that they inject into the tumors.  They also try to cut the blood flow off to the tumors as well.  I wasn’t expecting the recovery to be as bad as it has been.  I haven’t really been able to get out of bed since Wednesday.  I haven’t gotten nauseated with any of the other treatments but this time I did.  I could barely eat anything.  The doctor gave me some anti nausea medicine I really didn’t take because I hadn’t had a problem until now.  Going forward I will try and stay in top of this.  I am feeling a little better today.  I have been able to eat a cup of noodles and a small sandwich.  I don’t have a ton of energy but will get out of the house tomorrow to try and get it back.

You know I am a positive person and feel that attitude can help with problems you might be experiencing.  I still feel that way but it doesn’t mean that it is always easy to stay positive.

#cancersucks
#fightlikehell

Change of Plans

Well, I just spoke over the phone with one of the doctors, the interventional radiologist to be exact.  He and my oncologist have talked over the last couple of days and have decided to try something else before going to the chemo treatments.  They are going to do more liver directed therapy similar to what I had done back in March and May.  They are going to use different drugs this time though called Y90.  You can read more on the procedure here.  This is not going to cure the cancer but hopefully shrink them, slow the growth or just provide some short term relief while we wait to try other things.  When cancer throws a curve ball, you sit on it and wait patiently before you can hit it out of the park.  :) 

#cancersucks #fightlikehell

Cancer Really Does Suck

Well we got the results from the scans and it wasn’t what we were hoping for.  The tumors have grown and it seems like there is more of them.  Obviously this is unwelcome news.  The doctor thinks the next step is chemo therapy.  None of the immunotherapy is working so we are going to try a completely different approach.  This is a tough one because it seemed like the tumors were changing but that doesn’t seem to be the case.  I am still trying to figure out my thoughts but it kind of seems numb at this point.  I am trying to stay positive and I still feel optimistic.  There are several types of chemo we can try.  The first one is an out patient infusion.  The other requires a five day stay in the hospital multiple times.  For the next couple of months we are going to try the out patient infusion.  If that doesn't do anything then we will move to the inpatient infusion.  The side effects are pretty well managed with some steroids except the hair loss.  We are going to start with the outpatient infusion.  The drugs are called Paraplatin and Taxol.  They do different things then the immunotherapy so hopefully that is good.  These drugs take about 6 hours to give so every three weeks it will be a very long day in the hospital.  I am headed to the Pac-12 championship game this weekend so we are going to wait until next Wednesday to start the first round of Chemo.

With all this being said, I am a fighter and am going to do everything in my power to overcome this.  We have overcome many trials before and we can do the same with this one.  Thanks for all the support and prayers.  We really appreciate them.

#cancersucks #fightlikehell

Scan Week

So I have some scans on Friday this week.  My follow up appointment is on Wednesday next week.  I will get an injection and discuss the results of my scans.  We don't know what they will tell us yet.  Could be good, could be bad.  We are optimistic because some of the indicators we have seen.  We don't know if they have shrunk but we do know that their definition is not as good as it once was. 

I am going to share something that I normally don't but have felt like I needed to.  This is not intended to lift me up or put me on a pedestal but rather share an experience that has helped me understand how blessed I really have been through this entire experience.  I have several friends who have been going through some struggles recently.  I feel their trials have been pretty heavy and wanted to help in any way I could possibly.  Sometimes it isn't about physical things we do for people.  I learned in my youth that you can pray to have our blessings reallocated if you will.  So I prayed that the blessings I had been receiving would be passed on to my friends who were struggling.  I really didn't expect to happen what happened next.  For the next 3 weeks I felt my blessings go.  I was in a great deal of pain from my treatments and didn't recover like I had been previously.  After several treatments I still couldn't recover.  Physically and mentally I was exhausted and just felt like blah.  I really can't describe how I felt but it was so different than what I had been experiencing.  There is no doubt in my mind that the blessings people have prayed that I would get were passed on to others (I willingly asked for and hoped this would happen).  My hope is that their burden was made somewhat lighter and that they were able to feel some peace during that time. 

The biggest thing this really did for me was helped me to realize how truly blessed I am.  If I felt the way I did for those 3 weeks for a longer period of time it would be awful and I am not sure how I would function.  Fortunately I have felt those blessings come back and am feeling soooo much better now.  Most of the pain is gone and the blah feeling has gone away.  The power of prayer does work and God works in his ways (and through his children) to help all of our burdens be lightened. 

#cancersucks #fightlikehell

Tumor Definition

I have just started the second round of this treatment.  A round is Infusion and then injection the first week, the second week is just an injection and the third week is a break.  Yesterday I started the second round.  Jen and I were at Huntsman from 7:00 am until about 7:00 pm.  They had a fire alarm go off which caused some delays and excitement but most of the time was waiting around for specific blood draws for the trial. 

Every time I have an injection they start by measuring the tumor they are injecting with Ultrasound.  During the first round they had said something about the tumor they were injecting not being as visible in the Ultrasound.  They thought this was due to inflammation in the tumor itself because of the injections and didn't think anything of it.  Yesterday when they did the ultrasound they could barely see the tumor they were injecting at all.  It hasn't shrunk any but was just very difficult to see.  They have typically done the injection into the liver via ultrasound.  Yesterday because of how difficult it was to see they decided to do it with ct guidance.  It is a much better image and more detailed.  When they did this, they were able to look at the 3 different tumors that are in my liver.  The comment the doctor made was that prior to this treatment my 4 year old could have picked these tumors out.  Now it is impossible for an untrained eye to see them.  Even thought they are only injecting the one tumor it seems to be affecting all of the tumors which is what they were hoping for.  These tumors have started to become "mushy". 

Now we really don't know what this means.  We know the tumors are still there but something with them is changing.  It has almost been 2 years since this journey began and this truly is the first sign of hope that I feel like I have been given from the doctors and treatments.  The excitement you see in the doctors faces and in some of their mannerisms is fun.  It's almost like a kid in a candy store some of the excitement I have seen. 

I really try not to get too high or too low with any news.  I am trying to keep this in perspective, knowing that it might be an anomaly and doesn't mean that this is working.  We will just keep praying and hoping that it isn't an anomaly and it is the beginning of a great change. 

We really do appreciate all the support, love, prayers, fasting and everything else that has been done for us.  You all are truly amazing. 

#cancersucks #fightlikehell