Eight Weeks Into Chemotherapy

I've had four chemo infusiions of Avastin and have been taking Tarceva daily for nearly eight weeks now. They refer to those of us in this trial as the Avatars! I've been feeling fairly good, much better than about 3 weeks ago. This change may be due to the fact that the doctors at NIH have started me on thyroid meds. I'm much less fatigued, and often skip naps entirely. This is a big step!

My side effects have been relatively minor compared to some chemo treatments--fatigue, weakness, skin rash and acne, hoarse voice, digestive issues. While I haven't lost all my hair, it is definitely thinner. Last week my hair stylist attached a feather in my hair, in celebration of the fact that I still HAVE hair. Sadly, this morning the hair holding the feather came out. :(

On Saturday I'll leave for my 8-week check up at Bethesda's National Institute of Health. This time another group of friends will travel with me-Lena, Karen, and Bernice. Officially I'll be conducting their tour, although I won't always be with them. I have four rather full days at the clinic with scans and tests scheduled. But they will have several activity-packed days, and we will meet up in the afternoons and have dinner with Eric when he is available.

These will be the first scans taken since I began treatment in July, and while it is probably too soon to hope for any positive results, I'm hoping anyway. Hoping there will be positive changes in the tumors.

I had my Avastin last week at North Star Lodge here in Yakima, but am waiting to hear whether the insurance will be covering the treatments. There is an exclusion clause for trial drugs in the insurance policy. Both drugs are FDA approved. The only trial involved is the combined use of the two for certain kidney cancers like mine which don't respond well to just one. Even though NIH sends the Avastin to North Star, my cost for the biweekly visits would be about $1100! Each. The doctor here is appealing to Regence Insurance, but if they deny it, I'll go to D.C. twice a month. I can see why they say most of us are just one serious illness away from bankruptcy! And I'm one of the lucky ones: I have insurance!

My friends and family have been so supportive-prayers, food, specially made smoothies, ginger ale and gold fish crackers (a tried and true combination from a young chemo patient), homemade creams for my poor dry skin, special masses in my name, prayer shawls, flowers, laughs, berries, ice cream, hugs and more. And as Frank says, "Grandkids are often the best medicine!"

Thank you for your kind thoughts and deeds. I'll post an update once I have something to report from the tests.

Sincerely,

Gayle