changing chemo back to Gemzar

Monday we were in for blood work and another Magnesium infusion, they also gave dad a new med which are small coated pills instead of horse pills for magnesium and calcium.

Wednesday, got CT scan results from Dr Hassan. A mixture of good news and uncertainty. The pancreatic tumor does not appear to have changed at all. Spots in the liver appear to have diffused which the CT scan tech said indicates the therapy is working. But Dr Hassan does not think so, she was concerned about something potentially in the lungs, could be nothing but he is scheduled for another CT scan to check that out.

Meanwhile, we go in today for another magnesium infusion, then time off until new chemo starts next Wednesday. The current plan is to do a treatment every other week, with blood work on the off week, using Gemzar like his first series of treatments, combined with Carboplatin which is similar to Cisplatin but with greatly reduced side effects.

Dad is feeling quite a bit better right now.

We had a very sad day yesterday though. Poor old KC, grandma and grandpa's Shihtzu died. She has been blind and deaf for quite a while, but always happy, tail always wagging, and no problem with appetite. But Tuesday night she vomited very badly and again in the morning. Made an apptmt with the vet, but then noticed she had stopped breathing. Good ole happy KC, guess she's with grandpa now!

feeling a little better

After blood work today, a magnesium infusion, plus calcium supplements. Dad's sodium is also a bit low. We'll go back for blood tests again on Monday, then we see the doc on Wednesday. Hopefully dad gets stronger and better over the weekend.

It is fantastic fall weather, soon the leaves will be falling!

this week...

Tuesday dad had a CT scan. Then Wednesday to the cancer center for blood work. Dr Hassan met with us to discuss his blood work, she's concerned about low calcium and magnesium. Long story short, he got magnesium infusion Thursday along with fluids, and blood work again on Friday to check status. Very thankful they are right on top of this, we don't want dad having a drop on the weekend when the cancer center is closed. Going to the ER is very exhausting and no fun at all!

Doc did not have the CT scan results when we saw her on Tuesday; we see her again next Wednesday to review those and decide on next treatment. Leaning towards a return to his initial treatment since it had very good results and minimal side effects. This last treatment with the 5FU and oxaliplatin was really hard on him, side effects were too hard to handle. Hope we find a better option.

On the positive side, he actually gained another 3lbs and holding!

scary morning

Mom couldn't wake up Dad this morning...he had dropped very low on his sugars. So she did the right thing and immediately called 911...she was about to give him the liquid glucose when they arrived and gave him injectable which works much quicker.

Subway is not adequate for dinner...they both need to have another snack (something healthier than a cookie!)before bed. Anyway, it was scary for mom and weird for dad who said knew all these guys walking around his bedroom but he couldn't wake up from this strange dream. Scary...and he had to take in extra food, OJ, etc. today to offset the drop expected from the quick fix they gave him this morning.

Will have to be much more diligent about the evening snack!

Scheduled for a CT scan next week, possibly changing to a different therapy

We met with Dr Hassan, dad's oncologist today. Because of issues with potassium and generally not feeling well through this therapy regimin, doc would like to consider changing his therapy, possibly back to the Gemzar / Cisplatin he had previously and responded well to.

We have a CT scan scheduled for Tuesday morning and then blood tests Wednesday for a status to make sure his fluids / chemicals are good and to see whether his tumor marker goes up or down, to indicate if the chemo is helping him (it takes a while to start kicking in so doc wanted to see where it stands next week). Then we'll see the doctor again the following week to begin a new therapy.

So he has a couple weeks to hopefully regain some strength and weight. Good news is, he gained weight over the past week or so. About 12 lbs gained from where he weighed in at, two weeks ago! He is feeling better the last few days, though still fatigued.

Any way you look at it, cancer SUCKS.

back in for fluids and potassium this week

Dad was not feeling well at all over the weekend and lost a lot of fluids. We took him in on Tuesday and Wednesday for fluids and potassium infusions, along with a prescription for liquid potassium since those horse pills wouldn't stay down. Today they tested his blood again and potassium levels were coming up, so no infusion today. He is feeling much better now, though still not good. He has had some pain and trying to address it with the pain patch and other med's.

Hope the new potassium supplement keeps him feeling better. We go back on Monday for blood tests.