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.

Chemo 3: Day 5

Things are starting to pick up from here.

Ali seems to be over the worst of the nausea and she is still tired but doesn't need to sleep all day. Although she certainly would if she could and she is far from feeling 'normal'.

She didn't have a good night sleep on Thursday but that was because of cats and possums rather than anything specifically to do with the chemotherapy. I'm still not 100% so I had been shunted off to the spare room which meant that I didn't hear any of the late night commotions and had a great night's sleep.

Big soccer gala day for Harrison this weekend, last games for this year. Annelise gets registered for Little Athletics; we'll see if that can take some of the edge off her seemingly boundless energy levels.

Take care everyone and go the Wallabies! (Harry & I are very glad we don't have to wake up in the early hours of the morning to watch Saturday night's Test match.)

Chemo 3: Day 0

Here we are again - CHEMO DAY.

Seems to come around so quickly, must be even more so for Ali.

Everything went well today.

Alison's white blood cell count was fine and she received her treatment as planned. Much better than the previous time when we had to wait a few days. Unfortunately I didn't get to go in with her today as I have been home ill since last Friday and it's not a good idea to share germs with a room full of people with depleted immune systems.

Anyway, after the treatment Ali arrived home shortly before 4pm and had the house to herself for a while as I took the kids off so Annelise could do her gymnastics. She was snoozing on the lounge when we got home with bags of toxic Maccas for the kids (even they know it's not good for them, "...but it tastes so nice" they say, where did I fail?)

Ali managed to stay up for a very tasty penne dish but was head down again by 7pm. She's nauseous tonight (not due to the dinner) and her head feels a mess. Hopefully it will improve through the night.

We have now officially made the halfway mark of the treatment.


Typically, the negative effects are supposed to get stronger as the chemo wears on. Let's just hope this doesn't happen so much in this case.

So there you have it, all the latest news. I guess it's kind of a long way of simply saying she had her medication came home and slept. (Just think, if I'd put that sentence first, there would have been no need to write the rest.)

Chemo 3: Day -7 What's happening now?

Things have been pleasantly quiet recently. No medical tests, no more news from doctors, no sickness! Boring is good.

For anyone who has been counting weeks, Ali would have been due for her chemo treatment today if she hadn't had problems with her white cell counts last time. We've pushed the treatment back to next Monday.

It will be a pretty big milestone for a couple of reasons.

First, it will mean Ali is halfway through her chemo. We're expecting that she will have six treatments all up this time.

Second, Ali is due to have some scans shortly after this next treatment. As there are no tumour markers or other blood tests to monitor Ali's progress, CT scan is the best way to observe how everything is progressing. These tests will be important because it will give the doctors an indication of how effective the chemo is and how aggressive the cancer may be.

So, as next week gets closer, we're keeping our fingers crossed and hoping that we start to get some good news. We'll be sure to let you all know how things go as we get the results.

1.6180339887498948482...Perfection!

Now what is he on about you ask? Well, read on to find out what this number and Alison have in common.

Perfection is usually difficult to define and subject to much argument as it is often a matter of opinion or quite simply, unachievable.

As some of you may be aware, at one stage when Ali was being examined by one of her doctors, the doctor commented that she was of 'perfect proportion'. Now this was something that I was already aware of (and said at the time it was one of the reasons I married her) but I didn't realise just how technical this could all get.

An article sent through by one of Ali's good friends describing The Golden Ratio sparked my curiosity and led me to some interesting reading. The Golden Ratio is used to describe the relationship between two measures. More details can be found through a quick internet search.

As well as puzzling me, it seems The Golden Ratio dates back nearly 2500 years and has played on the minds of mathematicians, philosophers and artists including:

• Pythagorous
• Plato
• Euclid
• Leonarda da Vinci
• Salvador Dali

Just to demonstrate the good company that Alison keeps in possessing properties of The Golden Ratio, here some details on a few of her fellow companions: