A Different Wholeness

Yesterday I finished the first two-weeks of my Xeloda “adjuvant therapy” (a fancy medical term for additional chemotherapy after the primary treatment is over, to lower the risk of recurrence). I also had an appointment with my oncologist Dr. Fekrazad so he could monitor how things are going. The bottom line: “so far, so good!”

I haven’t really noticed any significant side effects from this round of Xeloda. I had some brief stomach cramps the first couple of days I took it, but discovered if I take all my various supplements about a half-hour before the Xeloda pills, I don’t seem to have the cramps. I started to suspect that putting about 15 pills in my belly at one time was maybe a bit too much! I’ve also felt just a little fatigued in the afternoons – so some days I just succumb to it and lie down for a nap, and on other days I seem to manage to push through it. In general, I haven’t experienced anything really debilitating, at least not yet.

Some of my daily regimen...

Yesterday’s visit to the Cancer Center was my first in six weeks. Everybody who saw me commented on how good I looked! I know I was pretty pathetic looking during my daily visits last fall, so it probably didn’t take much improvement for them to think I looked better! Nonetheless, it felt great to have a bunch of people seem so happy to see me doing well. I think one of the things that makes the job of working in a Cancer Center fulfilling is watching patients get well.

I had to have blood drawn while I was there.  Since I don’t have the port any longer, I’m back to getting blood taken from a vein in my arm. Fortunately, they had no trouble this time. Since I’m still on Lovenox (a blood thinner), that may have helped make the whole process a tad easier.

As of today, I’m on a one-week break from the Xeloda. After that, I go back on for another two weeks, following the pattern of two-weeks on, one-week off for the next six months. Here’s the rest of the plan Dr. Fekrazad laid out for the coming months:

• I’ll see him every six weeks, unless I have a problem and need to see him sooner
• They’ll draw blood at those appointments to look for specific cancer markers
• At the end of March, I’ll have another ultrasound on my right arm to make sure the blood clots haven’t returned
• If there are no clots, I can then stop taking the Lovenox (yay! no more nightly shots in the belly!)
• In June they’ll schedule another CT scan to look for signs of cancer anywhere in the body
• In July I’ll need to have another colonoscopy (that should be weird – they’ll have to go in through the stoma since there’s no “other entrance” any longer)
• And, finally, if all goes well, I’ll stop taking the Xeloda in July (right around my birthday!)

So, that’s what there is to report health-wise. Happily, it looks like I may need to start blogging about more exciting things than my good health very soon! On that note: I went to a yoga workshop over the weekend (yes! a yoga workshop!), so perhaps I’ll give you a post about that next time…