The New Combo

The Wife here updating the blog for a change.

Today we had a doctor's appointment again, this time with the "head guy" so we were happy. The platelet count was still below 100 but the doctor said that now it looks like the disease itself is keeping it low. This means that the tumours may secrete something that keeps the platelet level low. However, as it has been low but on the same level for a while now he said the treatment can be started again so they started today.

The new combo is irinotecan (brand name Camptosar) and cetuximab (Erbitux) as injection, once a week this time, and the old friend capesitabine (Xeloda) as tablets for two weeks. The set of most common side effects from irinotecan is nausea, diarrhea, hair loss, and from cetuximab an acne-like rash in face and upper torso. There are effective medicines against nausea and diarrhea, and the rash may be milder with proper body lotions, and with hair we will just do the regular summer cut for Jan Arne already. But keep your thumbs up or pray, whatever suits you best, that the side effects will be on the mild side. There is, however, a chance he will finally start looking a bit different though. This far you have not been able seen at all that he has cancer.

We also asked about the CT scan results as the doctor last week could not say much about them. This is what the "head guy" replied: The unclear borders of tumours indicate that they may be growing (especially interpreted with CEA value). The mention in the CT scan report about lymph nodes next to liver being small means that they are normal size but that does not mean there wouldn't be any cancer cells in them. And about the number of tumours in liver: the six whose measurements we have been following (sixth one supposedly no longer seen in the most recent scan, according to the radiologist report) are the biggest and measurable ones, but that does not mean that there would not be other smaller ones in the liver as well. So no positive news really but I guess we already knew the answer.

Let's just all now hope (and keep our thumbs up, and pray, again whatever suits you) that the new combo will do the deed again and kick the cancer back a few notches! It is indeed a battlefield, no wonder they use a lot of war metaphors when talking about treating cancer.