Monday was the start of a new round of chemo. Last Friday, the oncology nurse called to move Ken’s chemo to this Thursday. When I asked whether our oncology appointment would also move to Thursday, the oncology nurse checked with the doctor and called me back. “Never mind,” she said. “Doctor says Ken has to start chemo immediately.” And so we arrived at the cancer center at 8 Monday morning.
As usual, bloodwork is first because it takes about an hour to process and chemo can’t start until they confirm that it looks okay. The radiation has taken its toll on his WBC, lymphocytes, etc. Everything is very low but doctor wants to see if the numbers start to rebound now that radiation is over.
The chemo cocktail is partly new and partly familiar. Over the course of the day, he received: FOLFOX, which is a combination of 5FU, Oxaliplatin, and Leucovorin (2 hours); Vectibix, some sort of cousin to Erbitux (1 hour); and benadryl, to ensure that he doesn’t have an allergic reaction to the Vectibix (1 hour). And finally, he received a push of 5FU and then went home attached to a pump infusing more 5FU for the next 48 hours.
Tuesday was another “big day.” We met with the surgeon to discuss Ken’s current health status and surgical options (timing too). The appointment did not go as expected, at all (talk about understatements!).
From the beginning, we’ve been expecting that chemo and radiation would be followed by surgery. Since he hasn’t had a PET, we don’t know whether there’s still cancer present but we’re smart enough to know there’s a reason that Ken’s leg is so swollen and that he’s back on chemo. With that in mind, we went to the appointment thinking that surgery is probably sometime next year (12 weeks of chemo, 4 weeks of recovery, then surgery).
Turns out that the surgery might be never. Since Ken’s been dreading the colostomy bag, that’s good right?! The doctor explained the surgery that Ken would require; it’s extensive and will also require plastic surgery for reconstruction. The twist in the story is a little harder, believe it or not. “Wait and see” might be a better approach for Ken because .. well, because Ken’s illness is not curable — treat to extend life: you’d think they’d come up with a better label.
So, now we have some thinking to do and maybe some planning.
