Round #5 is Smooth Sailing; Scan Results Encouraging

As expected, Round #5 did indeed start on June 4th.  My CPK numbers were within range so there was no reason to delay my treatment.  My dosage was increased slightly this round to 1.0 mg/m2 (same as Round #3).  And fortunately for me, things have pretty much gone smooth as silk. No complaints or complications to report this round!

Scan Results

On Monday (June 17) of this week I had another set of follow-up scans.  They ended up doing a CT-scan of the Chest, Abdomen, and Pelvis (CAP) along with an MRI of the pelvis.  Just today I received the radiology report with the good news: about 12% shrinkage of the tumor and no further metastasis detected.  That's fantastic news and a huge relief for me!  The Yondelis is certainly working and (finally) I am tolerating it well.  I suspect we will "stay the course" with this Yondelis treatment until that tumor is shrunk down to next to nothing.

Round #6 Starts Tuesday

Assuming my counts all look good on Tuesday, I am expect Round #6 to begin that day.  I think there's a chance that my dosage might be increased slightly for this round, but I doubt the doctor will want to tempt fate too much (given my experience with Round #1 and #2).  I'll keep you posted.

That's it for now -- thanks for reading!

Back from Cruise; Chemo Starts Tuesday

Like most vacations, our days cruising on the Disney Magic just flew by!  It seemed nice and slow and leisurely at first, but once we started having port stops in Italy (which lasted the better part of a day), time quickly accelerated.  Before we knew it, we were on our last port stop in Nice, France and then headed back to Barcelona.  The weather was cooler than expected for the first few days, but then greatly improved about the time we hit Florence.  Our best days were the day in Nice and the day at sea following Nice.  The overall trip was wonderful!

Here is just a small sampling of pictures from the trip:

Sagrada Familia, Barcelona 

First night of the cruise

Naples/Sorrento -- it rained a little during our excursion

Triumphal Arch, Rome -- weather improving (no rain)

Colosseum, Rome

Florence -- weather getting good!

Florence -- our favorite city!

Nice, France -- nice weather!

Our ship in Villefranche harbor

Chemo Round #5 Starts Tuesday, June 4

Now back to the not-so-fun stuff.  Originally I was scheduled to start today (June 3).  I went in for my appointment as scheduled, bloodwork was done, but the doc was hesitant to start me today without first getting confirmation on my CPK count, a test which takes a full day to get results.  You may recall that my CPK spiked off the charts just before the cruise.  Well I did as instructed and drank a ton of water while on vacation.  I actually felt great the entire cruise!  But due to this high CPK number prior to the cruise, the doctor wanted to first verify that it has returned to normal ranges before dosing me with more Yondelis.  As he often says, "once we put it in, we can't take it out".  Therefore, out of an abundance of caution, it was decided that the best thing to do was delay until we have a verified good CPK number.  I return to the infusion center tomorrow morning with the expectation that I will start Round #5.

Happy Birthday Barbara!

There's another big thing that's happening tomorrow as well.  My youngest sister is having a birthday.  She has been with me at every significant step in my treatment . . . even back 11 years ago when I was first diagnosed.  Love you Barb!