When the oncologist is calling you at the same time Hubby is texting you, both saying come into the doctor’s office now, you know it is not a good thing.
The results of the PET scan in April were not good. There are 3 new tumors, none bigger than 2 cm (as of April 25th). One is on Hubby’s liver, near the original spot. Another is in a lymph node back behind his abdominal wall and the 3rd is located in the sacro/rectal area.
Hubby had to skip 1 chemo session due to low platelets and white blood counts which is an ongoing issue. Dr. C thinks that is what caused the 3 new tumors to grow large enough to show up on the PET scan. Colon cancer is very aggressive and with the rupture all those cancer cells spread through out his entire body.
The original chemo cocktail was just keeping the cancer at bay. It wasn’t shrinking the tumor on his liver. It was not killing off the cancer cell “seeds” since 3 new tumors popped up. So the next step is to change the chemo drug mix, removing the Avistan (spelling?).
A new drug was added and Hubby started a chemo session on April 26th. By Monday, Hubby was breaking out in a horrific rash. Seriously nasty looking. (I have photos but will spare you the images.) A quick visit to the dermatologist, a biopsy, and talking to Dr. C resulted in discovering Hubby is allergic to the new drug.
Hubby has missed another week of chemo at this point (making 2 so far) which makes me nervous. His rash has cleared up and he is on track for chemo next week. Dr. C is trying a 3rd drug this time to see if it will work better, without causing an allergic reaction.
Realistically, Hubby isn’t in pain, the tumor are not large nor in any other organs, and he is not sick from the chemo. There is no reason for Hubby not to live a productive active life at this point in time. Well, except for the whole still in semi-denial thing.
Thank all of you again for your wonderful words of support, comfort, prayers, and good thoughts. I know things would be worse without those!
Elizabeth
