Just got home from the Oncologists office and am writing this while watching England and Croatia play in semi-finals of 2018 World Cup. And I'm pretty stoked. Although you wouldn't know it as I haven't done a fist pump or anything...it's more of a quiet contentment. Maybe it's the chai latte or maybe it was the meeting with the Oncologist.
Before I get to the results of the meeting I have to tell you that Dr. R has his hands full with me. Today he called me Weird. Weird because I am not like his other patients. His weird comment came from our conversation about my itchiness due to the Temsirolimus. I am not itchy for the first three days after chemo (most likely due to benadryl or dexamethazone) but once those wear off I break out in a rash wherever anything touches my skin. That's weird isn't it.
Nurse S. once said to me that I was the most complicated patient she has had in 29 years of nursing. Lots of course had to do with the unusual positioning of the tumour on my pancreas but there have been enough examples along the way that are leading me to realize I'm not only weird in the real world but am also weird in the world of cancer.
I guess I should continue to be proud of being different in this case. It's the Unicorn blood I think.
Ok, now to the results of the meeting. I had a CT Scan last week and today Tracey and I were getting the results of the scan. Going to bed last night I had a little conversation with myself as I wondered what the results were going to be. As it turned out my mind was fully accepting of any result but was keenly aware that it wanted to see some improvement.
I was going to name this post Good News. Bad News. Again. But the comment about me being weird seemed rather apropos.
All my blood work was good, although the creatine levels continue to be something we need to keep an eye on. The good news is that the higher creatine level could be due to the fact that I am gaining muscle mass and one of the results of muscle increase is the subsequent increase in creatin. Either way less salt, more water is in the plan. Again.
The CT Scan is being seen as a positive one for sure, but as always there is the good news and the bad news. It's a sneaky pattern indeed.
Majority of the tumours in the lungs have been reduced and no new tumours have appeared. The right lung base seems to be holding its own and working well with the chemo. The pancreas has also been reduced slightly which would give evidence to the reason I haven't had a hospital visit in seven weeks. So that's good.
The theoretical bad news is that a new nodule seems to have appeared on the outside of my liver. It pairs well with the other tumors that are floating freely in the peritoneal cavity. The reason I say theoretical bad news is that we don't quite know whether it is nefarious or benign - is it a metastasis or is it abscess that has landed on the liver as a result of the many procedures I have undergone. I guess each time I have an ERCP or other surgical procedure it can lead to some action that may cause an abscess. Dr. R. wants to investigate further when he does his Tumour Rounds next week.
And the part that is weird in this case is that renal cell carcinoma mets never show up in this location. The nodule is on the outside lining of the liver in the area facing the peritoneal cavity. It’s as though the cavity is storing all sorts of tumors/nodules and saving them for a rainy day.
In the end, it's good news and that darn liver and peritoneal cavity are just like me. A bit weird.
