Once again I just realized how long it has been since I posted anything to this blog. Guess the old saying "no new is good news" applies here.
Dave is doing pretty well, all things considered. He has now finished two months of his Sutent treatment, with minimal side effects. The first time around his beard started turning a stark white but this time around that didn't happen. He has not had the foot and hand syndrome associated with this protocol, either. Last time we went in for a check up (he goes every 3 weeks for monitoring) his vitals were perfect. Sutent can cause extreme high blood pressure, but his was just about perfect. His oncologist is both surprised and pleased with how well he is doing on this treatment. The telling tale will be when we go for MRI/CT Scans in another week.
If the tumors are shrinking, we will dance the hallelujah dance, so keep your fingers crossed for a good report from that. We also have a scan to check on the brain tumor to see if it continues to be static, which is the good news we hope for.
All things considered, things are going okay now. Still have extreme fatigue, sometimes has to sleep most of the day and night but that isn't the case everyday. One thing that occurs on this drug is depression and that is hard to deal with some days. The upside is that it is mild and some days I think it might just be intense boredom. On the two weeks off Sutent, life almost resumes a normal pace, although the back issue continues. The two off weeks last time were interrupted by a Zometa treatment, which made him intensely ill for about 4-5 days, so we didn't enjoy it too much. Hoping this time that the two off weeks return some symblance of normalcy to our lives. We'll see. It is weird to have your life dictated in these two and four week cycles. Guess it could be a lot worse.
Like I said in a previous post, this is not a simple or easy path we are following right now, so every little positive thing seems huge. Sometimes I feel like there is a great cosmic stopwatch ticking away but then I remember that Dave says that time is a man-made invention that keeps us all its prisoner, so I should shake off my perceptions of what time really means. I try very hard to do that. Who am I do challenge the Great Mystery?
Anyway, before I get too out there,let me just ask that you keep sending those good energies, prayers, etc., our way. We have a lot going on now and sometimes it is just not a good time but please, if nobody gets back to you when you call, keep trying. We will eventually catch up with you.
