Christian's Cancer Journey

Hey Everyone, I had chemo treatment number 15 yesterday. As you all know, the previous regimen of Folfiri (Irinotecan and 5FU) was not working well for me. So yesterday I switched over to Folfox (Oxaliplatin and 5FU). I am still getting the Avastin as well. We are hoping this regimen will work better for me to get these tumors under control. We started out with a slightly decreased dosage of the Oxaliplatin since I have already had 9 previous treatments. I also still have some lingering neuropathy in the bottom of my feet and my fingers. I will have one more round of this regimen on April 4 then a CT Scan (chest, abdomen, and pelvis) on April 11. They will check my CEA and CA 19-9 on April 11 as well. Not much else to report until I finish the next round.  You know I always have to share my number picture. Although I guess I need to come up with a new plan since I will not have enough fingers moving forward lol. I would also like to thank my friend Kelsey for the awesome shirt. It says

We went to the hospital at 8am this morning to have labs drawn for checking the CEA & CA19-9 levels. Dr. Paluri called with the results this afternoon. He said they are both elevated. This tells us that the Folfiri chemo regimen is not being effective.  With that said, he wants to switch her to the Folfox regimen on Monday (Treatment #15). Hopefully Folfox will be effective to shrink the tumors, and bring the levels down. Folfox includes oxaliplatin as one of the chemo drugs. She has had it before, and it is the one that causes cold sensitivity and neuropathy. Hopefully the side effects of this nasty drug won't be too bad these next two treatments. Treatment #15 - March 21 Treatment #16 - April 4 Full CT Scan - April 11 All we ask for, is prayers that the Folfox regimen will work to get this thing under control. Thanks

 Yesterday was her 14th treatment. It was uneventful, which is good. Here is her "14" picture: She had several of her co-worker friends stop by and visit with her which she really enjoyed. She got a little emotional after they left and told me she just wanted to be back at work and get back to normal. That is a tough thing to hear, because what can you say to that? I wish there was something I could do. I am sure everyone feels that way. All we can do for now, is take things one step of the plan at a time. Most people are not too thrilled to go to work everyday (including myself and I enjoy my job), so that is something to think about. She would give just about anything for this cancer to be gone, and get back to normal life of working everyday. Something to think about, and be grateful for.   After checking in, getting her port accessed, and labs drawn, we got to talk to Dr. Paluri for a little bit. During that discussion, we got a little more info on possible paths forward.