Ben’s Chemo started October 30th, 2010 Gemzar and Cisplatin

Round 7 done! Ben just finished round 7 of his Gemzar/Cisplatin cycle on Thursday. The doctor started giving him extra fluids the following day to battle fatigue and that definitely seems to be helping. He is a bit tired the first couple days after chemo, but he seems to be bouncing back (but still with one or two naps a day). With only one cycle left, we are still quite thankful to be in the position we are as we are still living our normal routine. All of his blood counts, bilirubin, etc. continue to be at normal healthy levels.

I am now curious what happens after round 8. The Dr. said he will need a break, but I’m wondering how long it will be (I am sure that will depend on what the scans say). I have been researching what others do after they finish their Gem/Cis protocal, but so far haven’t found too much but I will continue to search the board.

Take care everyone,

Tom

Wow, I can’t believe it’s been almost a month since my last post! I’m sorry for not posting an update for so long but there really hasn’t been much to write about (which I am very thankful for) and we have been so busy here!

Ben just completed the first administration of chemo on his seventh cycle yesterday (March 3rd). It’s still amazing that he continues to do has well as he is. The only side effect he continues to show is increased fatigue, otherwise no increased hair loss, no increased neuropathy – just a little bit of “chemo fog” which usually shows itself as a bit of memory loss.

To help deal with the increasing fatigue, the doctor has been giving more fluids during the last few rounds of chemo – and for this round he has asked Ben to come in the following day (today) for additional fluids. He is hoping this helps ward off the increasing fatigue.

The doctor continues to be very pleased with Ben’s overall health. All of his blood counts continue to show those of a healthy man. Only once during round six did his white blood cell count drop a bit lower, but they bounced back the following week.

So, for now – the fatigue is the biggest factor. He now tries to take a couple of breaks during the day – with at least one nap of an hour, but given everything he has been through that seems pretty minor. He has stopped going to the gym as that wears him out too much, but he is still very active around the house, with friends and with our local town activities. His brother and sister in law were in last weekend and stayed with us and we had a great time. Ben even got on our jetskis for a while – and gave me my first lesson….so I was thrilled!

The doctor told us the plan right now is to finish 8 rounds (so three more administrations) of chemo, then take another scan then determine our next plan of action from there. He actually seemed quite optimistic – he even used the words “IF the cancer is still there we can decide how much of a break you might need, or if there is just a small amount, possibly continue a bit more”. In the end, he said it will be up to Ben and what the scans show, how he is feeling etc. All of it sounded good but of course until we get the scans it’s hard to say. I actually thought the doctor sounded more optimistic then he should – but hey, I would love to have that then the opposite, so we will just see what happens by the end of April.

That’s it for now – pretty much status quo (which is good news as far as I’m concerned). We are still just living our normal lives outside of the “bother” of chemo once in a while and just fitting in a few more periods of “down time” and naps.

If anything happens for better or worse I will certainly keep everyone updated, but if you don’t hear from me, it just means things continue to move along. I still don’t get out here as much – selfishly it can sometimes be very difficult to keep up with everything and I’ve been so busy with work, visitors and Ben it’s hard to keep up.

But, anyone can always reach me on my personal email if you don’t see me out here (although I do check in from time to time, I just don’t post much anymore).

Take care everyone – you are always in my thoughts.

tom

Marion, I would live to meet you in Miami for the conference. I probably can’t do the whole week with my schedule, however, I would like to do whatever I can so we can touch base as we near October. No matter what, we definitely need to meet since you will be so close to me, I would love to meet one of my inspirations on this board.

We will be in touch,

Tom

I guess it’s been a while since I posted an update in this specific section, but I did give an update in the “Good News” section in January where we had found that Ben’s primary tumor had shrunk over 20% when it was measured after his fourth round of chemo!

So he’s now been through five complete rounds (10 administrations) of the GEM/CIS combo, with the start of his sixth round coming up this Friday, February 11th, 2010.

All in all, everything is still going well – Ben still has minimal side effects. His hair is still somewhat thin, but it really hasn’t gotten any worse since the first couple of weeks. Still no nausea. He is becoming more fatigued and we are finding it is taking him longer to bounce back and feel “normal” again after his chemo sessions. Early on, he would feel almost normal after the first couple of days, now it seems to take about a week to get back to that “normal” feeling, but I suppose that’s to be expected.

He is also experiencing some neuorpathy in his hands – he seems to have a bit less feeling in his finger tips (as he demonstrated to me the other night as he was stabbing his finger with the pointed end of a knife – which I subsequently scolded him for)….so we will continue to watch that.

So for now – everything still going pretty well, just watching the neuropathy and dealing with a little fatigue, he’s not going to the gym as much – just resting a bit more a couple of times a day, but he is still quite active around the house (as he was out powerwashing the pavers all around the house the other day), so still thankful about all of that.

That’s it for now, I’ll be back as we progress. I don’t get on here as often anymore but I do try to stay in touch just in case I can offer any help to anybody….but if anyone has any questions feel free to email me.

Tom