I have an appointment with my local Oncologist at 9;40 am to once again review my CT scans for for her to tell me with the team has decided is the best plan of treatment. Then later this afteroon, Hubby thankfully will be home and will take my to my first appointment up at the hospital where I will have my Radiation. I believe today, will be the set-up to get me ready and to determine the sites and such of where there will pinpoint the beam. From what I have learned, I will have little marks (tattoos) put on me, which is aid in the how they set up the machine each day. I have wanted to get a nice little "pretty" tattoo for months, but this was NOT what I had in mind! LOL!
For now I'm doing my very best to take one moment at a time and do HOPE that once I begin the treatments I will start to eel better. The nausea is awful and I now it's not from my Chemo, but likely the Cancer and/or from the major change I have had in vision. My new "Trial" contact lenses are in and I'll be picking those up this morning and HOPE it's the help I need. This is a huge change from when my vision was checked and I ordered new contacts just five weeks ago. The good news is that we know it's not from a brain tumor, as that CT Scan was fine - Thank Goodness and I've been told that Chemo or just having cancer can change your vision and that this is NOT uncommon. I'm also being referred to an eye Doc affiliated with Mass Eye and Ear, but need to know all my Radiation appointment times, so I can call and schedule that visit. Luckily, this doctor is only a five minute drive from where I will have my Radiation, so I hope to get in ASAP and should be able to call and set it up tomorrow.
Yesterday, I was so touched by a wonderful "Kindness" package that Jennifer McGuire sent to me. If you do not know here, she is a top designer in the craft industry and has become a dear friend to me. I was so happy to see her when I attended the Simon Says Stamp Create event in October and am touched by her wonderful new Kindness campaign, which you can read about on her blog HERE
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Update: One appointment done and one to go! I will be starting Radiation immediately and mine will be given a higher dose (so that I can get in 10 treatments) before we leave for Cali. As soon as I get back, I will then start on a brand new FDA Approved drug for late stage small cell lung cancer, that is called Nivolumab. It is a drug that I had learned about (when it was in clinical trials) from the Dana Farber Cancer Team (back in April). It just rec'd the FDA Approval in October, so I guess you might say that I'm very lucky in that respect. It's an Immunotherapy like med and is given via IV, much like Chemo. Apparently the Chemo did NOT work for me and is why my tumor is back and growing faster! Pretty much this is the ONLY hope I have right now ...so PLEASE pray that it will work and the Radiation will help shrink the tumor too! It is pretty upsetting to realize just how deadly this illness can be, especially when the tumors do NOT respond to the Chemo. This drug has been FDA Approved for advanced Melanoma since March and there is a lot of data that shows it can work well. However, with it being such new drug, despite the positive clinical trials, there is just NOT a lot of data or research available. My oncologist, feels it (based on the trails and her research) that it can work well and she has been involved in many of the studies. She was thrilled when it did receive the FDA approval last month. Had it not been approved, I likely would not have been fortunate enough to have the chance to try it..so I am happy about that! Even so, this is a lot to absorb and has made me know realize that my cancer is far more advanced than I knew (or wanted to accept) UGH!
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