The second series of chemo starts today. It includes both the Carboplatin and Taxotere. We'll arrive at the Cancer Center at 11am, and be done around 3pm.
Update: The chemo was uneventful and went well and we were finished at 3:30. As usual, lab work was done first, and Lisa's blood counts (red cell, white cell and platelets) were all back into normal range... the 14 days between treatments this time, coupled with the immune system booster shot, did what they were supposed to.
During our appointment, the oncologist listened to Lisa's lungs, and said that they sound perfect... he wouldn't be able to tell anything was wrong by listening, and that's good. The doctor also gave us some new information. The presumption is that even if the chemo is causing some shrinkage in the primary tumor, the next "series" will not be just chemo as we've been doing, but several weeks of radiation also. This is the first time we've heard that a third series of chemo is an almost certainty, as is the radiation. We were under the presumption that if the scan after the current series shows shrinkage, we'd have the mediastinotomy/biopsy procedure done to confirm that there was no viable cancer left in the lymph nodes in the area between the lungs, followed by a pneumonectomy (partial lung removal). Apparently not... and I think doctors sometimes make a point of not telling you "everything" at once.
We have a preparatory/introductory meeting with a radiologist on Tuesday.
The re-scan will happen around a week after the 3rd dosing in this series (6th dosing overall), on March 29. The scan will include a standard CT (rather than a PET-CT) and also a bone scan. They gave us a preview of the contrast "stuff" that Lisa would have to take, and we asked about options. There was one... a much more pleasant "Kool-Aid" (as they call it) with less chance of creating digestive problems, so that's what we're scheduled to use. I'm glad we asked.
Something to be grateful for: INSURANCE. We got our first look at what all of this would cost if we didn't have any. Today was an almost $6,000 day. Lisa's immune system booster shot two weeks ago was $4,000 all by itself! It confirms how important it is to maintain health insurance for unforeseen catastrophic events.
Update - Midnight: Strong abdominal pain and cramping... this isn't something that occurred the first series so it's too soon to tell if it's from the chemo, or the meal she had when we went out to eat tonight. The on-call doctor from the cancer center was very quick in phoning us back after we left a message with their service, and he suggested using the Bentyl that we have (anti-cramping) and if it gets bad, some of our leftover pain meds like Lortab. If any diarrhea occurs as part of this episode, we'll need to go into the cancer center in the morning.
Michael
