Christian's Cancer Journey

  This is definitely one of the harder videos I've had to make. Some good news about the new regimen. Some not so great news about my position at work. Thank you all for the prayers, love, and support.  With Love, Christian

Hey Everyone, Just wanted to share that the chemo pills (Cabozantinib) and the immunotherapy drug (Durvalumab) were both approved by my insurance! I am going to start the new regimen on Monday, April 25. I have to be at the Cancer Center at 2:30 pm to get my port accessed, meet with Dr. Paluri, and then begin treatment.  I am so thankful that my team was on top of this and the approval process didn't take that long. Please continue to pray that this new treatment will be effective enough to shrink these tumors. I am nervous about taking the chemo pill everyday, but Dr. Paluri said it is usually fairly well tolerated. The immunotherapy infusion will be every 4 weeks. I hope everyone has a great weekend. We are going on a little camping trip with my sister and her family. I am definitely looking forward to relaxing a little before getting back to it on Monday. With Love, Christian 

We got to the hospital at 7:30am this morning. Christian had her port accessed, labs drawn, and then we went down to Radiology for the CT Scan. She got the CT done, and had her port de-accessed. It was around 9am then. We had an hour to kill before her 10am meeting with Dr. Paluri, so we walked over to Starbucks and got a coffee. We met with Dr. Paluri and he went over the results of the CT Scan, the CEA & CA19-9 Levels, and the next step on the path moving forward. First, the CEA & CA19-9 levels are once again elevated. Second, the CT Scan showed us that there were no new nodules in the lungs or the liver, but what was already there has grown. The tumor marker levels being more elevated, and the enlargement of the tumors was enough to make the decision that the current chemo regimen is not being effective to stop (or shrink) the cancer. Since the current chemo regmins are not effective, we need to change gears here, so Dr. Paluri presented another option. It is a different typ...

 Hi all, it has been a little while since we have posted. She had her 15th round on March 21st. If you have been keeping up, you know she was given Folfox (Oxaliplatin & 5FU) for that cycle. She did not have any cold sensitivity (which usually lasts a few days) at all with that round. She also did not have any increase in the lingering neuropathy from that cycle. The fatigue however was something else. Out of the 15 rounds she had done, none of them had wiped her energy the way it did. As usual, it starts hitting hard middle of the day on Wednesday after treatment, and lasted until mid-day Friday. That is when she begins to see signs of improvement, and it is usually mid-day or end of day Saturday before she starts feeling back to her normal self. So that is the catch-up on the last cycle. She had #16 (Folfox again) this past Monday. She doesn't have enough fingers to hold up a 1 and a 6, so she did the "strong arm selfie" instead. It is something that has been shared...

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 ...

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 forw...