Christian's Cancer Journey

Hey Everyone, I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! I know it has been a while since we've updated you guys. The chemo treatments are going well. No major issues or side effects, mainly just fatigue. It takes me about a week to feel back to normal. The fatigue usually sets in on Wednesday when I go get unhooked from the 5-FU pump. The worst days are Thursday-Friday. By Saturday I am starting to feel back to my old self again. I am still dealing with some neuropathy from the oxaliplatin. It was a delayed reaction after treatment number 9. It showed up about 3 weeks after treatment and has not left yet. I feel it mostly in my finger tips and toes. It feels like when your foot falls asleep and then you start moving it again, and sometimes it just feels numb. I hope it will eventually go away. It is not painful and it has not prohibited me from doing anything. I am just extra careful about being out in cold weather and touching cold stuff.  I have also been dealing with horrible acn...

Yesterday was Christian's 10th Chemo Treatment. It was also her first treatment after having her liver resection a little over a month ago. We were not sure what to expect as we were told that her body may not tolerate the chemo the same way it did before having 2/3 of her liver removed. Not sure if we have shared the fact that they have removed one of the three chemo drugs from her regiment for these last 3 treatments or not, but if so, here it is again. Dr. Paluri has removed the Oxaliplatin from her regiment for these last three treatments.  So I believe her regiment is now a version of FOLFIRI. With the Oxaliplatin I believe it was FOLFOXIRI. It is great that it was that specific drug (of the three) that was removed, because it was the one that causes the cold sensitivity and the neuropathy. After her 9th treatment (back in September) the following 4-5 weeks (leading up to surgery) her cold sensitivity and neuropathy had worn off and wasn't really a problem. Then it started...

  Quick update on my recovery, CT scan results, and upcoming appointments. I hope everyone has a great weekend. We will check in with you again soon. Love, Christian

  Wanted to share the results from my follow up appointments with my oncologist and surgeon. I hope everyone has a great week. - Christian

Didn't want to leave everyone in the dark on how Christian is doing, so here is a quick update. She has some fatigue and tiredness. It is definitely present. I would say it is comparable to a chemo treatment week.  That fatigue and tiredness is there somewhat because her body is trying to re-grow her liver of course. The other part of it, is not getting 100% normal rest. She is definitely getting rest, but it may be in 2-3 hour segments. She doesn't go to bed, and sleep for 8 hours. She will try to go to bed, and end up moving to the recliner after an hour or two. Then move around and try to get comfortable. That is why her sleep pattern is split up into a couple hours here and there. She said "it is just impossible to get comfortable". When she was discharged, she was only in a small amount of pain. They had gotten her off of the stronger pain meds, and were giving her ibuprofen every 8 hours to manage it. That was knocking it down to the dull pain that it still is. ...

 She is doing really good today. She ate breakfast and we are warming up some left over Elizabeth's for lunch. She was up loading the dishwasher, folding clothes, helping put groceries away when I got back from the store, and she took a shower. She said the shower was the best. I told her not to do the other stuff because I was doing it, but she insisted that she felt fine and wanted to do it. I can't stop her if she is feeling good. No pain. She has been taking ibuprofen twice a day to help with inflammation, but that's it. Her back being sore from the hospital stay is going away. She walked out and checked the mail earlier. Hard to keep this one down. She is doing great. Long way to go to get back to 100% obviously, but for 5 days post surgery she is doing phenomenal. Just wanted to send an update for the day.

This morning Christian was feeling better than the day before and ready to go home. Dr. Clark came around and said she looked good and was going home today. He said the incision looked great as well. We waited around for them to get the discharge orders and everything put together (which usually doesn't happen super fast). Meanwhile we got all of her stuff packed up from her room.  They put a new dressing on her incision and went over a few things. Then we were able to get out of there a little after 2pm. They said they were going to call for Transport to come get her, and Christian asked if we had to use Transport, or if we could just leave on our own. The nurse said we could leave on our own if we wanted and that she would go get a wheelchair. Christian said she felt good enough to walk. The nurse said that was fine if she felt good. So I carried the bag, and she walked, and we got out of there!! When we got home, I don't know which one of them was more excited to see the oth...