New treatment starting next week

It's been a busy couple of days. After getting the results from the scan, we managed to get in touch with Alison's oncologist who was able to fit us in for an appointment during her lunch break today.

We were right that the results were disappointing and not what we were hoping for. It appears that the initial regime of chemo was not working and we now need to try a different tack.

The doctor has talked to us about how she would like to proceed and what drugs she will now give to Alison (docetaxel and capecitabine). Treatments will still be every three weeks, however there will be some differences:

• one of the drugs will by administered by IV through the hospital
• the other drug is a tablet that will need to be taken morning and night for 14 days each cycle
  
• Ali will need to take some steroid tablets on the days before, on, and after chemo
• this course should not make her feel as nauseous (although it may) which means she won't need to take as many anti-nausea drugs
  
• the tiredness may be greater
• she could experience watery eyes and dryness of her hands to the point where the skin starts to crack
• she may get pins and needles in her hands and feet
• her nails may become discoloured and uncomfortable

Unfortunately this will still wipe out Ali's white blood cells so she will be at a heightened risk of infection as with the previous chemo treatment.

So long as it works, all this doesn't really matter that much.

Looking at the big picture, this probably means that Ali is starting off on another six cycle (18 week) treatment. As before, we expect that there will be tests around the end of November, just before the fourth cycle.

If all runs to plan, she's likely to have a treatment two days before Christmas which will mean that we will probably have a fairly quiet time at home that day.

Her first cycle will probably start next Tuesday, 30 September, subject to being able to get booked in. If not, then it will be Wednesday.

CT Scan Results - Going the wrong way

Scan results are in. Sadly they don't look good from what we can tell.

The report that goes with the scan states that the lesion in Alison's liver has grown to 8cm and that they have also identified an additional lesion in her hip that we did not know about previously (6cm).

What this means as far as treatment and next steps we won't know until Monday.

Prior to the test, the oncologist advised that if it appeared that the chemo wasn't working effectively, she still had a couple of other options to try. I guess that we get to find out soon.

I'll update again when we have some more news.

Thanks for checking in.

Chemo 3: Day 16

All is going well at the moment. We're into the third week of the chemo cycle with the next treatment due on Monday.

Ali started feeling much better last week and even mentioned that it seems odd that she can feel so good with everything that's going on insider her body.

We all had a couple of days down at Mollymook last weekend which was great. The weather was a bit windy but it was still good to get down there and catch up with my parents (it was my mum's birthday ). The kids really enjoy getting to the beach, even though Harrison later complained about the sand.

We are a bit anxious today as Ali is having a CT scan to see how well the chemo is slowing down the cancer. Not too sure whether we will be able to interpret the results because it depends on how technical the report is and whether it references back to earlier scans.

Anyway, doesn't really matter whether we can read it, we're just thinking and hoping it's about time for some good news.