January 3, 2008

More treatment

I had my second treatment yesterday; 3 hour infusion of Avastin and CPT-11.  I felt anxious and tired at the same time for the rest of the day, other than that few side effects beyond nausea and headache.  Okay, I guess it wiped me out and made for a very fractured sleep last night. Fortunately I bought a bunch of old Erroll Flynn movies last week, and there's plenty of political coverage on today, so I've got plenty of entertainment for between naps today.
I asked my doc about the numbness in my hand and face.  Fortunately, I have my neurologist's cell number, so they were able to talk during my appointment and his opinion is that my problems are consistent not only with the location of the tumor, but may well be due to necrosis, or tumor death, and the ensuing clean up process.  Gregg (my oncologist) shared that opinion as a possible scenario, which is great news.  Either way neither he or Dave (my neurologist) seemed particularly concerned, so I'm not going to be; doesn't help to be anyway - still, keep your fingers and toes crossed,please, until further notice. 

The toughest part of this process is waiting, once again, for the side effects to subside.  If it stays consistent with the first treatment, the symptoms should change within a few days; whether they will improve or worsen remains to be seen because of the overall process.  If it's killing the tumors I have all the swashbuckling films, drugs and all the time in the world to wait.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Tom,

We've been catching up on your site today and want you to know you are always in our prayers. I read the post about cooking dinner and laughed so hard thinking of you and Anne with your bad arms, just goes to show what a great team you two are, figuring out a way to make it work and keeping the rest of us laughing. We love you and we will see you soon.

Love from the Temecula Whittakers

Unknown said...

Tom,

This is your new neighbor speaking. It's been quiet over on your side of the 'fence' every time I pull into the driveway. I miss seeing your smiling face.

I know you are fighting right now, fighting to come home, healthy and strong. We are thinking about you and our prayers are with you and your family.

I'll see you again soon, sitting in your office, ready with a witty quip.

All our love -
Mary, Eric and Evan Gregg