It Was Fun While It Lasted

This morning I officially ended my "drug holiday," as the doctor called it. I decided to go back on full doses of Nexavar, the chemo drug, after a couple of weeks of enjoying half doses.

We do not meet the surgeon at the University of Pennsylvania until May 22nd, and that's a bit far off. At least it seemed too far off for me to continue my "drug holiday." I'm fairly certain that leading up to the out-patient procedure they'll take me completely off Nexavar, so I'll get another break from the chemo then.

All in all I want to be aggressive in my approach to this deadly disease, at least for as much as I can take it. Beat my body to a pulp with chemo and then take a little break and then do it again. I will always remain confident that I can start hearing "no evidence of disease" enough times that the doctor just throws his arms up and says, "I don't know how you did it. But I don't even know why we're still treating this anymore. Why don't we just stop the chemo, stop the treatments?"

I do think that I need to start thinking about long-term chemo existence though. Unlike other forms of cancer, where chemo treatments involve set time frames and durations, with kidney cancer you're on chemo period. You never come off of it. It never ends.

The specialist in Philly told us that he has patients that have been on Nexavar for five or six-years, since the first clinical trials on the drug.

Five or six-years? Well I can top that!

I'm thinking of a gameplan that might involve something like three-weeks on full dosage and then one-week on half dosage, or something like that. After talking to the specialist in Philly I realized that such a gameplan is a wise idea, and there are many options for the amount of Nexavar I take, balancing out quality of life and aggressiveness against the cancer.

But the "drug holiday" was fun while it lasted. My weight had shot up a good seven-pounds, almost over night. The digestive system really calmed down in a big way. But I still did experience some fatique.

I just have to figure out the best routines - the best ways to live with constant chemo.