The blood count was OK yesterday so I started my first cycle of Xeloda this morning - 4 500mg tablets in the morning and 3 in the evening for 14 days.
I had an infusion of Avastin - just half an hour, though the wait for the chemo and the necessary flushes of the catheter meant I spent about an hour and a half in the Ivy Suite (clinic).
My oncologist is going to Chicago for a big cancer conference in early June. While he is away I am to have another CT scan which I hope will show some progress in shrinking the tumours. I was not happy to find my CEA has increased. It's now 1000, where it was 500 some weeks ago and 768 last week. The oncologist says that it is not too worrying - the CEA tends to go up and down. I guess it is still better than the 9000 plus of my initial diagnosis.
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CEA markers do go up and down. For my husband, they have not been a reliable marker of his progress. So, the doctor doesn't even tell us the reading any more. She depends on the scans.
ReplyDeleteRon is on Xeloda now and has been on it before. Talk about horse pills! Wow. They are really big. The worst side effect for him has been "Hand and Foot syndrome," and Neuropathy. Be sure to keep in dialoge about your symptoms with the Onc nurses. They know lots of tricks to help you keep them under control. If it gets too bad, the doc can stop your treatment for awhile and restart it with a lower dose. It also takes awhile for the drugs to build up in your system before you see side effects. This last time, Ron was symptom-free for about ten weeks. Then WHAM! It was like hitting a brick walll. Don't mean to scare you or discourage you. It just helps to be prepared. Everyone's cancer journey is different.
Thankfully, we can be there for each other. Good luck!
I hope Xeloda works well for you. Be well my friend and enjoy your weekend....:-) Hugs
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