He is encouraged by her progress and says that we should be able to have her PleurX drains removed in another couple of weeks if the fluid output continues to decrease on both sides. Over the past few weeks the right side has diminished to only a few drops per session and the left side has dropped from 150cc to 100cc to 50cc on Wednesday.
Dr. Burke said that is a good sign that the chemo is working at slowing down the cancer. He told us that she would not have chemo today since he wants to go ahead and move her over to the 8 day plan he had discussed while she was still in the hospital. He said that they now normally delay this because of some complications patients experienced from the IP infusion if it was done too soon after surgery. This is the standard course chemo therapy for optimally debulked ovarian cancer.
On Monday, 10/4/10, she will receive about a 3 hour IV (upper port) treatment of Taxol. On Tuesday, she will return for an IP (lower port) treatment of Cisplatin. This will likely cause nausea and bloating. Then Wednesday- Friday, she will go in for IV fluids to help offset the possibility of dehydration. After the weekend off, she will return on Monday 10/11/10 for an IP treatment of Taxol. After a two week break, she will go back in and do it again.
She had blood work done today to check her CA125 (ovarian cancer specific cancer antigen) to see if it has dropped since the initial surgery and first round of chemotherapy.
If Cheryl continues to feel as well on Sunday as she does now, she will be attending church for the second week in a row. This is also our church's homecoming service so everyone will be glad to see her there.
Pray that this next round of intense chemotherapy will not be too rough on Cheryl.
All the news sounds most encouraging. It seems that your doctors and doing a very thorough job. We praise God for the good signs concerning the plural fluid. I'm so glad you're feeling better Cheryl and will continue to pray for the Lord to heal you and help you through these unpleasant treatments.
ReplyDeleteAs for those extra calories... Chris said "Darn the cholesterol! Eat some butter!" :-) So see, now it's a doctor-approved idea.
ReplyDeleteI like Chris's idea... How about a butter sandwich?
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