Impact of Treatment

Hi Everyone, just wanted to provide a quick update on how the "new" treatment is going:

So a few weeks ago, I received my first dose of the increased intensity regime, and it seemed to have hit me harder than I expected.  I expected that it would be similar to what I was feeling with the previous regime, just a bit more fatigue, as I was under the impression that it would just be introducing oxaliplatin back into the mix, but after my second dose of the new regime this week, I found out that I was also receiving leucovorin, another chemo drug, which puts me at 4 out of the 5 major drugs I was on last year.  The regime I'm now on is called FOLFOX (when the irinotecan is added back in, it will be called FOLFOXIRI).  I'm also back to carrying the portable pump for another 48 hours after the conclusion of my infusion at SCCA, and having to have it disconnected either at home, or returning to SCCA.

While this doesn't bother me that I'm on this regime, it explains why I am taking longer than I expected to bounce back.  As such, please bear with me as I try to get back on my feet after my chemo regimes.  I will continue to take a few days off of work after each infusion, but I'll try to minimize it as much as reasonable.  I am now experiencing increased fatigue and nausea (I was so close to vomiting after my infusion), along with neuropathy (tingling in the fingers), cold sensitivity, sunlight sensitivity, sound sensitivity, and anemia (everything goes black when you stand up too quickly).  After restarting this regime, it truly feels like I'm a cancer patient again.  

Also, on the genetic test front, I received a letter a couple days ago from Premera that they would not be covering the test, so I'll have to file an appeal to try to get them to reconsider.  Their reasoning for this decision is that it is "not helpful in determining the risks of cancer development", which doesn't make sense, because it's already been determined that I have the disease, and this would help better inform the doctors in formulating a treatment strategy, at least that what was presented to me by the doctors.  I'll post more as I learn more, but it would be great not having to shell out some cash to cover this test.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you continue to have a great summer!

- Jerome