Postby dianne052506 » Thu Apr 18, 2013 11:39 am
Gloria,
Thanks so much for the encouraging words. You're right, I have so much to be thankful for. Last week made 1 whole year since my last irinotecan infusion, and, as far as I know, I am no worse off than I was last April. That, in itself, is amazing. The only other time I was off active treatment since this whole thing began was after I finished the initial rounds of FOLFOX in Feb 2007. In just 6 months, all these "lung thingies" managed to pop up. I went back on FOLFOX, got the lung things stabilized, and bought 2 more years til I had an allergic reaction to oxaliplatin. I had just 3 months on Xeloda and Avastin, before the nodules started to grow in size and in number. Went on inrinotecan and had 2 more years of stability before irinotecan just about gave me a heart attack in the infusion chair. Three months off that, and growth again. I was convinced that only a heavy hitter could keep this in check, so I am amazed that this study drug works at all. Got to keep reminding myself of that.
This depression may be a result of the immune therapy. I will remember to ask about it, but for now, I'm taking inspiration from Brownbagger and all those exercise fiends, and have started a program at the Y. "Stepping Forward" is for cancer survivors, and is a supervised personal exercise/strength building plan. Don't know how many YMCAs have it, but here, you don't have to be a member for the first 7 weeks. I've never called myself a survivor before. To me, the term always implied that I had finished dealing with t. I figure I'm just hanging in there.
Dianne
May 06 Stage IV CC: liver,ovarian mets
Oct 07 inoperable lung mets
Feb 08 - Apr'12 chemo
allergic to oxaliplatin, irinotecan
Aug '12-Feb'14 Genentech PD-L1/Avastin trial
Mar '14 -radiation to largest lung nodule
still recovering; looking at trials again