GREAT NEWS!!!

I had a brain MRI this morning, then we had our appointment with Dr. Young (radiation oncologist) this afternoon.  She said that my scan looked very good - as good as we could possibly expect!!!  We got to see it and most of the spots are gone - one that was pretty big is very very small now and another one that was fluid-filled with a ring of some sort around it is now very small with a barely noticeable ring.  I will have another MRI in 6-8 weeks and we will monitor the brain that way for awhile.  Otherwise, Dr. Young said that if the spots stay the same as they are today, with no activity, she wouldn't mess with them at all.  We are SO-O-O-O excited!  Actually, I think I'm still in shock - it hasn't really sunk in yet.

I'm on my 3rd prescription medication for nausea, but I think this one is finally working - yay!!!  I still don't have much of an appetite but it's getting better.  I'm sure being a bundle of nerves the past couple of days hasn't helped things.

December 1 I will have a PET scan - that will be to look at my lung and adrenal glands, to see how the chemo drug is doing. 

I get to start driving myself to work now - yippee!!  Thank you so much, Brandon, for taking me to and from work these past few months - Bob and I really appreciate it!!!

Thank you for the prayers!!!  They're working so far!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!  I'll write more after the PET scan on Dec. 1

Nausea is Better - If I Can Just Stay Awake!

I talked to Marilyn (Dr. Bova's nurse) yesterday evening about the nausea I've been experiencing (like it makes me gag just to open the refrigerator door or walk into the kitchen when food is out).  Seems as though the drug they gave me to take with the steroids for "nervousness" - Ativan - is also good for nausea.  Well, I still  have some, so I took 1/2 a pill last night and didn't even make it through our t.v. shows (oh yea, it's main side effect is drowsiness). . . . but I wasn't nauseated.  I took another 1/2 this morning and haven't felt the nausea and haven't fallen asleep on my desk.  I do feel just a little dizzy/fuzzy, but I'll take that over the nausea.  We'll see how it goes!!!  I'm sure Bob is getting tired of eating frozen dinners or going out because I can't stand the smell of cooking food!!!

Update

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile - there really hasn't been much going on with me.

Last Friday I had an appointment with Dr. Bova (Oncologist).  We hadn't seen Dr. Bova since before she had her baby several months ago, so it was good to see her again.  We just talked about how I'm feeling and about some of the side of effects of the Tarceva.  Things are going pretty well, except for the nausea I feel a lot of the time (she put me on a medication for Thrush and we hope that will take care of it).  Her office should be scheduling a PET Scan for the end of November but I don't have that date yet.

I also had an appointment with Dr. Young (Radiation Oncologist) on Friday.  She said she was ready for me to have another brain MRI to see how the radiation did.  It is scheduled for next Wednesday, November 10.  It will be at Mercy in OKC in the morning, then we'll get the CD and head to our appointment with Dr. Young that afternoon.  I'm starting to get a little anxious about the results - I just hope and pray that they're good.

I still don't have any hair - hopefully it will start growing soon, bald heads get cold!!

Besides for the little bit of nausea and the continuing skin rashes/acne I'm doing pretty well.

Bob and I appreciate your continued thoughts and prayers - we're hanging in there.