Friday, March 14, 2008
CANCER JOURNAL
Time for an update, I guess.
I think the cancer has come back, and so I have scans scheduled for next week, which means that posting will be erratic. I met with my oncologist today and we discussed the next round of chemotherapy when and if...
I told her how much it bothers me to lose my hair, so she proposed a round of chemo that will not cause that to happen. Yup, sounds good to me. The downside is that it causes numbness and tingling in arms and hands. Well, I have that sometimes anyway from the cancer drugs I take now. The other problem is muscle aches which will be a nuisance since I can't take otc pain killers because of the medication I take for the blood clot. She has a nerve drug that she thinks might work to ease the pain. I didn't ask what the side effects for this one are.
Another problem is fluctuating blood pressure. One day it's 124 over 78. Eighteen days later it's 173 over 111. It's been fluctuating like this since last September. Oncologist says I should be on bp medication. GP says I have to get off a medication I've been taking for years for allergies. When I stop the allergy medication I start coughing as soon as I lay down, which means I can't do any of the scans which require me to lay absolutely still for as long as an hour. I also develop a sinus infection that can't be controlled unless I take the allergy medication. I had no problems with bp until I started taking cancer medication, and it is listed as one of the side affects for the class of drugs I'm currently taking.
My oncologist says that if I stop taking the cancer drug, the cancer will return. My gp says the drug I'm taking for cancer doesn't prevent its return and I should stop taking it to get my bp under control. I guess I'll flip a coin.
Meanwhile, another of the side affects of the cancer drug--a very sore heel--has turned up, making it nearly impossible to walk by the end of the day if I have been on my feet for any reason. This, too, turns up on several breast cancer message boards as a rather common side affect. My podiatrist wanted me to double up on an arthritis drug that I've been taking for years to address the heel problem. My gp wants me to stop taking the arthritis drug entirely because it poses the risk of internal bleeding when combined with my blood clot medication. A cortisone shot in my heel has helped. So have special shoe inserts. It still hurts, but not as badly as it did. The inserts will work in only two pair of shoes--one of them a ratty pair of walking shoes I've had forever. The other, a pair of blue and white athletic shoes. I'm gonna look really cute Easter Sunday in my good pants and athletic shoes that don't match them.
Meanwhile another side effect of the cancer drug, dry mouth, had my tongue glued to the roof of my mouth early this morning, making talking nearly impossible until I got some water.
My mother used to say you can even get used to hanging if you hang long enough. Well, Mom, I'm working on it!
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UPDATE
I made what my husband thinks was a mistake last night after posting this blog. I went looking for the side effects of the two new chemo drugs my doctor is proposing to use--Avastin and Xeloda--and found that the FDA has issued a "Black Box" warning of drug interaction between Xeloda and Warfarin. Since I'm already on Warfarin and will have to remain on it in the forseeable future, this is unsettling. My oncologist talked about side affects, but she didn't mention this one. I wonder why.
She did hint at one of the side effects of Avastin--the fact that you need health insurance to take it. I found out why:
Doctors are excited about the prospect of Avastin, a drug already widely used for colon cancer, as a crucial new treatment for breast and lung cancer, too. But doctors are cringing at the price the maker, Genentech, plans to charge for it: about $100,000 a year.
Considering that we have a credit card bill of over $5,000 this month because my husband paid off all of the outstanding medical bills from last year early in the month, that is an eye-opening number.
