Marissa and I have just returned from our latest trip to Houston. Again, because of Hurricane Ike we had a difficult time finding a hotel to stay at in Houston. We left last week to travel, with my lab work, chest x-ray, and cat scan scheduled for Wednesday, October 15. We were scheduled to meet with Dr. Trent on Thursday, October 16. After a long, nerve racking 3 hour wait for Dr. Trent we finally heard the test results. The chemotherapy is still working well and Dr. Trent, Marissa, and I were all very, very excited. We feel truly grateful and exceptionally blessed.
The plan for now is to continue with two more cycles of the same chemotherapy (Adriamycin and Ifosfamide). The Adriamycin can be hard on the heart so it is usually stopped after 6 rounds. However, Dr. Trent feels confident that it will be fine to continue another 2 rounds of this regimen. A heart scan is scheduled just to be completely sure it has not had a negative effect on my heart. After those next 2 rounds I will do 4 rounds of only high dose Ifosfamide. This can still be done at Emory Crawford Long in Atlanta, but it will have to be done inpatient. I am not looking forward to a week hospital stay every 3 weeks, but thankfully this will only last 4 rounds. Then I will do another 4 rounds of chemotherapy that consists of a daily injection for 5 days every 2 weeks. This can also be done in Atlanta and is not supposed to have as many side effects as the other chemo drugs. We will continue to travel to Houston every 6 weeks for tests.
As for now, I have started my 7th round of chemotherapy today, October 20. With each new round my symptoms seem a little more persistent and they linger a little bit longer. I am excited to be moving on to chemo that may not take such a physical toll on me.
We thank everyone for their constant prayers. We firmly believe I keep getting such great reports because of everyone’s prayers. It is very important that the chemotherapy continue to work and that my masses do not become resistant to the chemotherapy. We ask everyone for their continued prayers, praying that the chemotherapy continues to work and remove the cancer from my body, as well as continued blessings into the future. Again, we are grateful for our wonderful news, and also the support of family, friends, and even kind strangers.
