Meeting with Radiation oncologist

Today we met with the radiation guy. He was an hour late. Parveen, my aunt and myself were there--full house.

He said what we already knew/suspected and what Dr. A said.
Radiation will/may do more harm than help. The pancreas is sandwiched behind the stomach and small bowel so that causes more nausea when the beams go through those organs.

Radiation only adds a few months to ones life anyway...so no. He said he's available in the background and meets with Dr. A regularly. He's the "aggressive treatment" guy.

If ever we get to a point where chemo etc. doesn't work, he's there.

Oh well. At least we looked at yet another option.

Round 2 Cycle 4

Hello everyone, short update. Mom is doing well, no swelling of her feet after chemo this Friday.
We're awaiting an appointment with the radiation oncologist this Tuesday. Parveen is going with mom.

Since the tumor showed no change but no new sites of disease they may try using both methods to combat her disease/manage it.

Dr. A did mention that radiation makes people sick and I wouldn't want that, the family also agrees. She is doing well with chemo, household chores, cooking rice, laundry. We are content with this increase in quality of life. We want to keep it this way.

But Dr. A didn't want us to think he isn't doing everything he can and that he's keeping options from us so that is why the trip to the radiation doc was booked.

If anyone has read any good papers or studies on radiation and its benefits to PC patients, please feel free to e-mail them to me.

Goodnight.

Mother's Day

Today we celebrated a very nice mother's day weekend. I spent one day with Dan's family for Karen Saturday night and today Dan came over and spent time with my family. There was BBQ with shrimp, spicy chicken sausage, lamb chops, pasta salad (made out of orzo, feta, and cherry tomatoes), and Parveen baked a banana cream pie.

I gave mom some Crabtree and Evelyn hand therapy lotion because her skin can get so dry (in general it's always been dry but the chemo they said would make it worse).
For aunt I got her a beauty gift certificate and Parveen got her a mani pedi. On Saturday I went out with Parveen to get mom's haircut (which was Parveen's present to my mom). It was great.

The hairdresser was very emotional seeing mom and doing her hair again. We've gone to Debbie FOREVER because Uncle's mom Alice used to go get her hair cut by Debbie.

She's not loosing hair rapidly because of the chemo; she's always had fine hair. But it is thinning out a bit but that's OK she has so many pretty scarves she can wear if it comes to that. I'm not sure about this because Gemzar doesn't actively cause hair loss the way other chemotherapy does.

It was very nice to have dinner with everyone and have a day when the mothers didn't have to work hard or feed us. We thought about doing burgers but Jeff said to Parveen "your mom always cooks, we'll make different things" (aunt has a burger recipe that we love and she always makes the burgers and Jeff grills them).

I had a hard time getting them to relax and sit down and do nothing. I have to say I failed but that's OK they just don't know how to sit still and relax for an entire day. It's just not how they're wired.

Anyway I hope everyone had a good mothers day, that is if they celebrate it. I'm definitely very lucky to have my mom and aunt. I may not be a perfect little girl all the time but I do tell them this all the time.

CT Scan Results-- Round 1 Cycle 4

The scans show that the tumor did not shrink. There is a 3mm spot on her liver that they are watching. It could be anything, it's not giving her trouble (if it was cancer she would have jaundice and other hepatic problems).

She is, however, doing much better so the chemotherapy is helping. She currently has gained three pounds since her last visit (roughly).

The doctor says that he will take the liberty of making her an appointment to see a radiation oncologist. He cautions, however, that radiation can make her sick and we don't want that. He recommends that we stick with the chemo and do another CT scan in 2 to 3 months.

He did not address any "time frame" as in long term life expectancy, so I don't think that issue is on the table right now.

I asked to see the before and after scans. It's very hard to tell what's going on in them but he guided us through it. In February her pancreatic cancer tumor marker called Carbohydrate Antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9) was 1955 or something like that. The benchmark for a healthy person of CA19-9 is 30. For a cancer patient that's pretty typical to have a CA19-9 level like that. Her last blood test showed that it's gone down to 500. This is a great sign because the CA19-9 level is an indication of tumor growth and proliferation. It means that it's not acting up right now.

I think these are great results. Though the tumor did not shrink, her symptoms are improving. He is very happy with her progress.

We'll just watch that spot on the liver and hope for the best.

More updates to come. Inshallah it'll just be more good news.

CT SCAN

Hello everyone, I've been a little preoccupied with planning/thinking about the wedding and haven't posted in a while. Mom has been doing GREAT.

Her weight is staying the same no huge gains there. The nausea's under control. She doesn't shake as much as before because we lowered the dose of her anti-nausea medications.

I'll have more updates after the review on Friday when we go over the CT scans.

some nausea and illness

Hello quick update. Mom wasn't feeling well today while I was at work around 3pm...then she ate a very small dinner and subsequently threw it up.

Anyway it's OK at the moment, she has a doc's appt. tomorrow for treatment which is good. I don't like it when it happens but I like that we can get to a doc sooner rather than later.

There isn't cause for alarm just yet, we've decreased her nausea meds a great deal per the doctor's orders but I guess we'll have to increase them again, even though it causes her to have shakes. Oh well, trembling mom is better than a sick mom.

I'll let you all know what the doctor says tomorrow.

Round 3 Cycle 3

This Friday mom will have her 3rd round of Chemo for her third cycle. After this Cycle in early May a CT scan will reveal her progress. The family and I are very anxious to see the results.

So far she's continuing her progress. Her shakes are minimal because the anti-nausea medication's been dialed way back. This past weekend she went to a Pohela Boishak party Sunday (Bengali New Year--Indian Bengalis and Bangladeshi Bengalis all celebrate this holiday).

Last week, however, the scale showed she lost two pounds. She wasn't too happy about it but we'll get back up there.

I will post an update again after the CT evaluation in the first week of May.