Clinical Trial Is A Go

I had a very productive week in Houston. Filled with lots of laughs, a few tears, and plenty of appointments. But let me just say it’s time to move on and get the work done. It’s time to start the real fight. Or as my friend Barbara says “Let’s do this damn thing”. Not sure if I said that it was definite, but I am going to do the clinical trial. This basically means that I will be getting a combination of chemo drugs that are being tried with positive results but not necessarily approved by the FDA.

 

All Systems Go To Start Treatment

As you all know I met with the Dr on Tuesday. Wednesday I had a bone scan which came back negative. Thursday I had labs drawn and met with Dr. Westin and the Research Nurse for the clinical trial. Asked lots of questions and had to sign consent forms.

I won’t lose my hair, I will feel sick, I can exercise as much as I feel up to it.  Blah, blah. I had to get a B12 shot and will have one after every 3rd cycle of chemo (9 weeks). I have to take folic acid every day and write it down, blah, blah. It was a bit eye-opening for me this week in how much of a fight I have ahead.

Recurrent cervical cancer isn’t the easiest to cure. However, I’m the healthiest cancer patient the research nurse has seen.  She said she would like to frame my labs because they are all “perfect”. So having said that, I don’t and I won’t subscribe to the difficult to cure aspect of reoccurring cervical cancer. In addition, the fact that my cancer is back after 7 years and it was such an early stage the first time makes this a .000001% of cases (per Dr. Westin). Again, I’ll take that as I’m not in the norm of what they see so the numbers aren’t really meaningful.

Friday I met with an audiologist. I have some “high-frequency hearing loss” already (age?) which could increase with the Cisplatin (one of the chemo drugs) so they will monitor me regularly.

 

 

The “Could Happens” Of Chemo

I don’t think pain will be a huge issue for me so maybe I’ll change that word in the quote to say “chemo”. The chemo starts on Thursday. It will be a 6-hour infusion. I think in my mind I was thinking that I would fly to Houston every 3 weeks, get my chemo and come home to normal life, etc. It sounds more like, chemo then sick for 5 days, tired for at least another 5 and feel good the week before I go back and start the process again. That’s ok. I am ready to just get going with it.

The not knowing how I will respond is weighing on my mind. I want to start and see how sick I do or don’t feel. There are a million side effects. I may have all or none of them.

The Dr talked about a swollen face this week.  She only has one patient that has that. I don’t want that one. I’ll take hair loss but it’s not for me to decide. I will take what comes my way. But I really don’t want a swollen face and I would like to keep my eyelashes. 🙂 I won’t need a port originally for chemo but if my veins get to a point that they are not as strong I will need one. That’s down the road. How long will I need chemo? Until the cancer is gone. I will have a scan after every second treatment to see if the tumors are shrinking.

 

Team in Training Run

Today I met my Team in Training Team to run. I maybe ran 3 miles, but they were easy and I felt good. Before the run, the team has a “Mission Moment”.  During that moment a Teammate, Ellen gave me a quilt she made for me.  Everyone on the team signed it.   It’s a “What Cancer Can’t Do” quilt.  Cancer can’t – invade the soul, corrode faith, kill friendship, cripple love, destroy peace, silence courage, erode confidence, conquer the spirit, steal humor, erase memories, shatter hope, stifle laughter. All SO true! Another TNT Teammate, Ella,  made me a beautiful prayer shawl. Both are smaller sizes that I will be able to alternately take to Houston with me.

I have registered with LIVESTRONG as a resource during this process. They have been in contact and have sent some helpful materials. I admire Lance for what he has done and continues to do in the fight to find a cure for cancer. I love a quote he has in one of the pamphlets they sent.

 

Choosing Your Cancer Attitude

A discussion I had this week was about everyone having challenges. Mine is how I choose my attitude during cancer. Everyone has something that they are challenged by that they can “fix” or change. For example, making the effort to get up in the morning to exercise or laugh more, maybe to look at the world around you with a glass is half full attitude or increasing your time during a specific distance while running or walking or whatever. So I encourage you to find a struggle you have and fix it. Not for me, but for yourself. It might not be easy some days, for either of us.

So back to Houston on Wednesday. Think about flying Southwest. They have been very good to me. They are customer friendly and I appreciate their policies. I know that not having an assigned seat is not always easy but they seem to have solid values in the right places.

I will post an update hopefully Thursday night after chemo.