Back to the Chemo

The new chemotherapy Sutent calls for four weeks of one pill a day followed by two weeks off. Today ends my two weeks off, to end my first "cycle." Tomorrow evening I'll start taking the chemo again for the next four weeks, followed by another two weeks off.

During the first six weeks Sutent has already made a difference. Typically it would be tough to measure this without a CT scan. But since I ended December with two topical lumps on the back of my head and an enlarged lymph node in my neck, I've had visible stuff to keep an eye on. And since starting Sutent it's all shrunk. Actually it's all shrunk to nothing or virtually nothing.

The side effects of the chemo, so far, have been pretty easy going. But I've learned from past treatments that the side effects build up over time.

So far my beard has changed once again from brunette to blonde. Sutent is famous for something called hand/foot syndrome, which is extreme sensitivity in the hands and feet. I've gotten a little of that so far, but so far it's no big deal.

Beyond that there are daily battle zones that emerge in certain parts of the body, but that's all part of living with chemo. All in all, so far, Sutent hasn't been too bad.

But helping all of that along has been Decadron, a strong steroid prescribed to control swelling in the brain. Decadron gives me a big round Barry Bonds face. It also gives me quite an appetite. I've gained 20-pounds. I'm a little upset about that. Not about gaining weight, but gaining so much, so fast. I can't imagine that kind of weight gain is in my best overall health interest.

But "Barb's Diner" has been kicking out a lot of good stuff around here lately. It's tough to resist.

I am in the process of weaning off of Decadron. The body becomes so attached to this steroid that the drug cannot just be stopped. The body has to be eased off the drug. It's not easy. I've been here before.

Friday was the first day I completely skipped Decadron. Saturday morning I felt terrible and took one. This morning I feel great and am planning on skipping again. Tomorrow morning I'll probably feel terrible again.

There's nothing like the feeling of a little brain swelling.

The brain swelling is from the one tumor in the brain, and the treatment of that tumor via Gamma Knife radiation during the first week of January. The radiation continues to poison the tumor for weeks and weeks until it's gone.

I'm betting on that swelling starting to subside by lowering my dose of Decadron. There's only one way to find out.

The hip bone is still sore too. But it seems to get a little bit better each and every day. The radiation is working on the cancer in the hip bone there too. Those radiation treatments ended in the second week of January and will be working to poison the cancer for the weeks ahead.

Everything really did go a bit nutty in December. The cancer ran a bit wild.

But we set a gameplan in place to get everything back under control, and so far everything is going according to the gameplan.

Somedays I feel great and somedays, well, not so great. But, with Barb's help, I'm pushing myself when I feel up to it, and relaxing when I should take it a little easy.

The painting of the upstairs hallway, down around the stairway, with the two landings is virtually done. I just have a few edges to tidy up. Considering it involved a 16-foot extension pole, a ladder and a stairway, I'm quite proud...and I found a couple muscles that haven't been used in awhile.