Saturday 3/17 - end of C/D treatments
Chemo:
Last week I finished round 12 of 16-- which, importantly, was the LAST cisplaten/doxorubicin treatment! This round was harder than usual, but I'm mostly recovered now and so thankful to have reached this milestone. C/D, as you may recall, is the more intense of the two treatments: responsible for my platelet and immune system deficiencies, hearing loss, hair loss, etc. Big concerns initially were also that C/D commonly causes heart and peripheral nerve damage; however, tests of my heart have been clear so far and I don't have any neuropathy (numbness and pain in the hands and feet). Hallelujah!! :)
This leaves just 4 rounds of methotrexate, which will be more spread out than I thought. Current expected end date: ~May 15th.
Mobility:
As for my new hip, I'm still making gradual progress. At this point, I can shower and dress by myself (except the left sock and shoe), roll onto my right side, sit up for a couple hours without pain, and walk up to a mile with crutches.... slowly moving towards November, when Dr. Morris expects that I'll finally walk freely and have almost my full range of motion back.
Monitoring for cancer:
I had a chest CT-scan last week, as the lungs are a common site of metastisis for osteosarcoma, and there were no signs of cancer.
Dr. Meyer says, however, there remains a 30-40% chance of recurrence. Moving forward, I'll have regular scans to check on this: every 3 months for the first year, every 4 months for the second year, and every 6 months for the next few years. Scary, but the chances are still on our side.
Anyway, that's all for now. Happy St. Patrick's Day! ☘
Last week I finished round 12 of 16-- which, importantly, was the LAST cisplaten/doxorubicin treatment! This round was harder than usual, but I'm mostly recovered now and so thankful to have reached this milestone. C/D, as you may recall, is the more intense of the two treatments: responsible for my platelet and immune system deficiencies, hearing loss, hair loss, etc. Big concerns initially were also that C/D commonly causes heart and peripheral nerve damage; however, tests of my heart have been clear so far and I don't have any neuropathy (numbness and pain in the hands and feet). Hallelujah!! :)
This leaves just 4 rounds of methotrexate, which will be more spread out than I thought. Current expected end date: ~May 15th.
Mobility:
As for my new hip, I'm still making gradual progress. At this point, I can shower and dress by myself (except the left sock and shoe), roll onto my right side, sit up for a couple hours without pain, and walk up to a mile with crutches.... slowly moving towards November, when Dr. Morris expects that I'll finally walk freely and have almost my full range of motion back.
Monitoring for cancer:
I had a chest CT-scan last week, as the lungs are a common site of metastisis for osteosarcoma, and there were no signs of cancer.
Dr. Meyer says, however, there remains a 30-40% chance of recurrence. Moving forward, I'll have regular scans to check on this: every 3 months for the first year, every 4 months for the second year, and every 6 months for the next few years. Scary, but the chances are still on our side.
Anyway, that's all for now. Happy St. Patrick's Day! ☘
I'm glad you're done with the last of the C/D treatment and that things are looking good! Hope you had a great St. Patricks Day and that this latest round of snowstorms in the east isn't affecting you!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I hope you're doing well too. It definitely is a snowstorm here, but it's beautiful to watch :)
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