Over The Half Way Point

Just wanted to let everyone know that I am officially over the half way mark on my radiation/chemo treatment. Whoo Hoo.

Tomorrow (Monday - 1/25) will be treatment #14. With a total of 24, that will mean after tomorrow, I will have to go only 10 more times. I won't be sad at all to say "adios" to that place.

The treatment themselves aren't that bad. I lay down with my hands over my head. They line be up (using tattoos and targets drawn on my stomach and sides), then rotate the radiation machine at seven different angles to zap me. That way the tumors are getting over 100% of radiation, but since it is hitting me at seven points, my skin is not getting burned.

I am also taking Xeloda, an oral form of 5FU chemo. No horrible side effects, but in conjunction with the radiation, it is making me really tired. I have the weekends off (no radiation or chemo), so by Monday I start to feel somewhat normal, and then by the end of the week, I feel pretty crummy.

So, you might want to know if this is being effective. Honestly, I have no idea. I had my tumor markers taken right before I started the treatment, and I am sad to say, they jumped pretty dramatically since last time. My CEA (normal is between 0 - 2.5) went from about 7.6 to about 21 before treatment. I had them taken again last Wednesday, and the CEA is now at 29.3. Quite a jump from just a couple of months ago. The CA 19-9 went from 40 a couple to months ago to 56 before the radiation treatment started to 65 from last Wed. To say the rise is disconcerting is an understatement. I'm not sure what would cause the quick jump, besides tumor growth that is.

So, apart from all of that, I am doing relatively well. Tired a lot, but I am getting some exercise with walking Elke. When it's nice out, I take her to the dog park so she can play with other dogs, which helps tire her out.

After the radiation and chemo, we will head back to Omaha to meet with Dr. Loggie. I'll get another CT scan to determine if the treatments did any good, then he will decide if it is worth doing another surgery to try and get the remaining tumors. I would love it if he said something along the lines of "The radiation was more successful than we thought! Looks like the tumor is dead and we don't have to do any surgery." That would be sweet. The other possibility is he will say something like, "The radiation was successful, and has shrunk the tumor enough so I can go in and remove them." The worse thing that he might say is, "Hmmm... doesn't look like the radiation did any good at all. Not much else we can do now but continue to just wait and see..." That would suck.

That's it for now. Your thoughts and prayers are, as always, appreciated.

Kevin