Woohoo!!!!!

So, as many of you know, my first CT scan since starting chemo was yesterday and news came back better than I expected!  I will put the clinical findings here, since they sound so AWESOME.

"Previously prominent retroperitoneal lymph nodes have diminished in size and now appear normal.  Previously enlarged mesenteric lymph nodes have also diminished in size.... Haziness of the mesenteric root has also improved and pelvic ascites has almost completely resolved.  Right inguinal lymph nodes have decreased in size.  The uterus and left ovary have diminished in size, likely physiologic."

Woo-freaking-hoooooooooo!!!!!!  I was hoping things were stable, but to be told they had reduced in size and some have gone back to normal - beyond my imagination!!!  There are a couple of notes on the scan - specifically what they call a ground glass opacity in the lower lobe of my right lung - which need to be noted, but that was even stable since the last time and the report says it could be inflammatory, so it just needs to be noted and watched.  Overall, fantastic news that even my doc was excited about!  She even double checked with the radiologist because she wanted to be sure she was actually seeing what she thought she was seeing.  hahahahahaha!  Totally worth the hour and a half wait for that news, let me tell you!

The results of the molecular profiling (genetic testing) came back inconclusive.  Surprise.  I mean, it's me.  Why would I be in the majority of patients who get results?  Anyway, what the report did show were treatments that my type of cancer would most likely respond to, and the top drugs are drugs I'm currently on, so that just reiterated the treatment is the right one.  You know, aside from the fact that it's working and all.  The report also gave some other drugs that are likely to have benefit once this treatment plan has run its course, which they all do.  I'm currently on Cisplatin, a platinum based therapy, and that drug can only be used for so long before it starts to turn on you.  It's a powerful, powerful drug.  So down the line, as my doc said, we have more options she wouldn't have necessarily thought of. 

Now, the interesting thing about the drugs they recommended is the range of cancers they are intended to treat.  For example, one of the drugs is eriotinib, which is used to treat non-small cell lung cancer.  Now lung cancer is one of the two most likely cancers when CUP (cancer of unknown primary) is the diagnosis, so that was interesting.  But there was also Cetuximab, which is used for colon cancer, and temozolomide, which is used for brain cancer.  The current treatment I'm on is for GI cancers, but also for ovarian, cervical, and some breast cancers.  Now I know sometimes they find the drugs work for more than intended, but I thought the range was odd.  There was no drug recommended for pancreatic cancer, and since the treatment I'm on seems to be working, I've officially dismissed that as an option, even if my doctor's officially can't.  Pancreatic cancer doesn't react to the drugs I'm on, so that's a HUUUUUGEE weight off my shoulders!!!!  I can't even tell you, for real. 

So on to a more immediate need - my current treatment.  Since I've been so sick for so long after the infusion, my doc is switching Cisplatin to Carboplatin.  They are both platinum based therapies, but Carboplatin apparently has fewer, as the PA said, "pukey" side effects.  lol.  I told them I would suffer through since it's working, but Dr. Dotan seemed confident the switch won't effect the results as they are the same type of drug.  I sure hope not.  The plan is now for three more treatments and then another CT.  If the results of the next CT are good, we're going to take a break from treatment for a while.  I don't know what a while is, but since that break will fall in December, I'm all for it!  To be free of treatment and all of its awful side effects over the holidays would be heaven.  Woooooo-freakin-hoooooo!!!!!!!!!  So good thoughts out for that goal!

Ok, time to go enjoy the weekend!  We're going pumpkin picking today before the rain comes in.  Since I'll be in treatment mode for the next two weeks, I wanted to get the pumpkins now before the good ones are gone.  Have a good one everyone!

xo,
Lisa