Great News!

By -
Greg and I received an excellent report from the doctor last week, my scans were clear and my CA125 (the tumor marker they check in my blood work) was great, less than 5! At this point I am officially considered NED, No Evidence of Disease!  My appointment went a little longer than expected though because my Magnesium was still too low from my previous chemo treatment.  I ended up getting IV Magnesium for an hour before we could go home.

My doctor has decided to put me on an enzyme inhibitor that will help prevent any estrogen that may be left after the hysterectomy.  Estrogen is dangerous to me now because it is what "feeds" ovarian cancer.  This is a precautionary measure because there is no way to be sure that the chemo eliminated 100% of the cancer cells and we don't want any cancer food floating around in my body.  Goodbye Estrogen, Hello Menopause!
 
Unfortunately, ovarian cancer has a high rate of re-occurrence and most often re-occurs within the first two years.  So, in addition to the medication, my doctor will monitor my labs and/or do scans every three months for the next two years.  There are no good indicators as to whether someone is more or less likely to have a re-occurrence.  We hope and pray with the "optimal" debulking surgery and the most aggressive form of front-line chemo, I will be one of the lucky ones.

Now What?
Great shirt I received from a friend :)


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pathologies

By -
Image
Just a housekeeping update.  We received the pathology results back from my partial nephrectomy (removing a piece of my kidney) and they were exactly what my doctors expected.  The spot on my kidney was a malignant tumor.  Specifically, it was Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma. CCRCC is one of the most common types of kindey cancer.   This is exactly what my urologist was expecting, so no surprises for us.  He was able to get all of the tumor with clear margins so I was officially diagnosed and officially declared cured simultaneously. He will still continue to follow up with me and my CT scans that I get every six months through my gynecologist oncologist, although I statistically have little to no risk of developing kidney cancer again.  (But let be real, slim odds have kinda been my thing recently.  I told someone that I didn't win the billion dollar powerball because the odds weren't slim enough on this one) I met with my geneticist and she decided to run a full cancer panel
Read more

IV/IP Chemo Logistics

By -
Image
After months of waiting I was finally healthy enough to begin the chemotherapy regimen that my doctor recommended.  This regimen is known as IV/IP (intravenous/intraperitoneal).  The chemo drugs are delivered two ways, one through my veins in my IV port and one directly into my belly (aka - peritoneal cavity) through my IP port.  This regimen is on a 21 day cycle, and every 21 days the cycle is supposed to start over for four total rounds of treatment. On the first and second day of the cycle I am admitted to the hospital and stay over night to receive my medications.  To the best of my understanding, the only reason I am admitted to the hospital is because I receive a 24 hour continuous IV treatment of chemo called Taxol (which I received a lower dose of during "chemo lite").  An outpatient center would not be able to accommodate this treatment for the simple fact that it takes so long.  Once the IV treatment is over they switch to the IP treatment.  They load me up wi
Read more

HUGE Changes for the Virgin's

By -
I quit my job on December 31 to grow a business with Stephanie.   Sixteen months ago Stephanie and 1 were moving forward in our lives trying to start a family, grow careers, and take the next step in live together.  Things did not go as planned and the last 16 months have been a roller coaster of surgeries, treatments, and recovery.  I like to believe the events over the last year would cause any rational person to question their lives and whether they are on the right path.   When I asked Stephanie to marry me I would never have imagined that so soon in our marriage I would be acting on the “…in sickness…” vow.  A serious illness like cancer in your wife forces you to think about precious time and how limited it could be.  It is precious time that has motivated me to do something drastic.  To do something that will allow me to savor every precious moment I have with Stephanie.  We have decided to grow a Real Estate business together! This was not an easy decision to make.
Read more