Steve’s Cancer Updates

Steve finished his 8th round of chemo about a week ago.  This was the 2nd round of chemo with the reduced 5-FU (along with a reduction of all meds due to his weight loss).   The first time he didn’t see much of a difference as far as side effects go, but the second time he did. The 5-FU is responsible for the mouth sores and the tingling in his hands, fingers and feet mostly.  I guess it’s also responsible for the exhaustion because this last round he wasn’t as tired either.  He thought we has getting a mouth sore but it never really turned into one.  And his taste buds finally came back this weekend.  When he woke up Friday morning and realize that we…

Steve had his 8th round of chemo this week and he’s pretty happy it’s over because he has a break and won’t be back to the infusion center for 4 weeks. Why the break?  He needed it for so many reasons and without it, going forward would have been way too hard. First of all, his CEA number is down to 11.  So that’s GREAT!  So if he’s going to take a break, now is a good time to do it since the number is still going down and the chemo is still working. But the real reason for the break is because he needs it physically and mentally.  Even with the reduction in the 5-FU, he’s still getting the mouth sores, but not as…

Steve finished his 7th round of Chemo last Friday and it went well.  He started eating more as his mouth sores healed and had a generally good weekend. I just heard from the doctor and he said the surgeon doesn’t think that there is any need to worry about what they saw in the CT scan and they are leaving his colon as it is.  They will just keep an eye on how he’s feeling and if he starts to have any problems. We are relieved because surgery means no chemo and we are not ready to stop because the tumors are still there. This past round of chemo the doctor reduced one of the meds to hopefully stop the mouth sores from coming back….

When we arrived at the infusion center today, they didn’t have the new orders for Steve’s reduction in the 5-FU chemo.  Thankfully she mentioned out loud that due to his weight loss, she needed to call the doctor to have him adjust his meds.  We told her that the Doctor said he was reducing one of them and she noticed she still had the old orders.  Glad we were paying attention. It took about an hour but he called in the right orders and he began chemo #7.   We did figure out which one the 5-FU is – it’s the one that he comes home with.  Before we leave they give him a push of it into his IV to give him a big dose…

Today we met with the Oncologist to get Steve’s CT Scan results and his latest CEA number.  The appointment wasn’t what we hoped for last week going into the CT Scan.  Steve and I both had different ideas of what to expect and neither of those expectations happened. First of all I’m very happy to tell you that his CEA number is 21.  Last time it was 64 so this was a nice drop and we were very happy to see it so low. That was good. Next is the size of the tumors.  They’ve decreased significantly in both his lungs and liver.  Which is great news!  But, Honestly this is where I was surprised as I assumed that one of his organs would be…