Cancer Champion

The doctor said there is some swelling there. But he doesn’t know if it more tumor or if it’s fluids. We have to wait for another MRI to see what’s going on. We have one scheduled this Saturday. He strongly suggested another chemo called Avastin, which is an IV chemo. I think she is going to try that for a bit while we pursue alternative and adjunctive treatments.

She has lots of headaches all day long and isn’t able to do much besides walking with me when I walk the dogs and checking emails. So, she is cognitively able to do stuff, it’s just her body stopping her.

I’m doing okay, a little tired and sometimes frustrated, but I am getting a lot of help from her mom and some friends and people from church are bringing us meals every couple of days. So, that is a blessing.

Thank you again for everyone’s prayers!

Yesterday was the last day of radiation! She is very happy that it is over. :yes:

Her spirits and energy is high and doing pretty good, walking the dogs, and the Sifus would be happy to know, she is doing eight pieces of brocade. :-)

Last week of radiation!  It’s almost done!  :D

Christina is doing much better, by the way, she is walking the dogs and heating food up some times.  She does get waves of energy and fatigue though.

Today is the end of the third week of treatments.  We are half of the way there! :yes:

She is still looking good and feeling good, there are some ups and downs here and there, but it’s mostly good.

I can’t wait till she is done with the radiation treatments.

I am looking for volunteers to help me occasionally drive Christina to her radiation appointments.  She has appointments every weekday in the early afternoon.  Her family has been very helpful already and I wanted to know if anybody else can help out so I don’t have to only ask them all the time.

Just a warning, the drive is about 45 minutes one way, without traffic.

Let me know if you can help and I’ll coordinate with everybody.

Thanks!

Well, after 5 days of chemo and 3 days of radiation, she is feeling pretty tired. :no:

But, at least the headaches and nausea are mostly gone. I’m hoping she will get better rest now and have more energy.

Had the first day of chemo and radiation today.  She seems okay, just as much energy as before, but it’s only the first day.

She was a little week kneed about half hour after taking the chemo drug.  We’ll just have to be careful right around that time.  The physician assistant did say to make sure to have lots of water and a good breakfast since she can’t eat for 2 hours before and 1 hour after taking it.

Also, I want to send a big thank you to Alex, one of my best friends who is a post-doctorate at UCLA.  As soon as he found out about Christina’s condition, he helped me get in contact with the director of the neuro-oncology team at UCLA, who is going to take a look at Christina’s reports and MRI to give us a second opinion.  They may have access to more clinical trials there that can help.

Title: Radiation Treatment
Location: Radiation Oncology PET/CT building
Description:Rebecca and John Moores Cancer Center (La Jolla)
Radiation Oncology PET/CT building
Start Time: 13:00
Date: 2011-09-22
End Time: 13:15

We had a somewhat long day at the doctors yesterday, follow up with the neuro-oncologist at 3pm, blood draw and pharmacy right after that, then we were late to the 4 o’clock appointment for a CT scan simulation.

The news is that the clinical trial she was qualified for is now closed due to funding and low success rate.  So, now it is back to just the standard treatment of radiation and chemotherapy.  They (the doctors) have a lot of confidence in the standard treatments, so that’s a positive.