A few weeks ago Jacqui started feeling a familiar pain. She called her oncologist's office and after a short wait, he called her back himself to ask about her symptoms. He said he'd line up some tests for her and so in the last two weeks she has had a CT scan, a bone scan and a hip X-ray. Today we went in for the results and things were as we had suspected.
The good news is there are no new tumours and the bone scan and X-ray were clear.
The bad news is that the existing ones are growing rapidly. One has grown almost 2 cm since September.
So, once again, plans are changing and chemo is back in her future - very near future.
There are two choices for chemo. The first choice (Pazopanib - targets a specific pathway to interfere with the growth of cancer cells) is a newer treatment that is not approved for wide use in Canada yet, but it is approved for testing. The difference is cost - until it is approved for use, there is no insurance coverage. Her doctor is going to look into getting funding for it, but that's up in the air, we'll make our decision when we hear more. This is administered in pill form.
The second (Gemcitabine - interferes with the growth and spread of tumour cells) is approved for use and would be a fine option as well. This would be administered intravenously and he thinks it would be best to have a port because of the constant strain on her veins. That would mean a small day surgery to insert the port and then chemo could start right away.
Both have lots of fun side effects.
So - more disappointments and more losses - it never gets easier.
But we are thankful for a wonderful, caring, and very knowledgable medical team that take all the time we need. We are thankful for the people in our lives who we can be really sad or really happy with. We are thankful for the thoughts and prayers of so many - some of which we have never met.
We pray for peace and wisdom.
"All we can do is try to rise beyond the question 'Why did it
happen?' and begin to ask the question 'What do I do now that it has
happened?'" -- Harold Kushner
Jacqui and I had a brief chat this week. I felt bad because in passing she approached me to find out how I was doing. She had been in my thoughts the past week and it was in my mind to touch base with her to find out how she'd been... she beat me to it. The most I had done was to complement her on how good she looked in her jeans a couple days before! I just hope I didn't creep her out.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this post it makes it a bit more real to see what this girl is enduring. She carries herself with such a glowing, positive aura that she readily shares with others, and does so with such grace you'd have no idea what she's going through.
Jacqui, if there's ever a time you want to let those cute curls down to escape it all for even just a little while, you let me know. We'll make it happen. And by "we" you know who we are. Or even if it's just me, I'll make that time.
Thank you for sharing with us, Carol. It is appreciated.
Jazz