Hey Folks,
There were some big developments last week, and I'm sorry I haven't posted lately, but it's been pretty busy here. So, we went to Brown Cancer Center on Wednesday for Marye's scheduled chemo treatment, but we had to talk to the oncologist about the activities from the previous week. Marye still had quite a bit of pain in her side, i.e. the oxycodone was not working. Even though she was taking every four hours. But, prior to her chemo, she took the usual steroids, and actually had some relief from the pain.
So after kicking it around with Dr. Riley, she decided to get an MRI of Marye's liver before she would give her a chemo treatment. She doesn't know what is causing the pain, but the fact that the steroids relieved it led her to believe that it's some kind of inflammation. Also, with the new lesions showing up on the last two CT scans, she wants to get a better handle on what the cancer is doing. The plan is to see the MRI, then decide if it's time to change chemo drugs.
She also gave her a new pain medication that's not a narcotic, but a strong analgesic, and put her on a low-dose steroid. Well, Marye is feeling much better due to all of this. The steroids are giving her a good boost of energy, without the side-effects that steroids can cause, and the pain is there, but not too bad. Anyway, she's much happier now, and actually drove her own car for the first time in 4 1/2 months. They did the MRI on Friday, so we don't have the report yet, but we're scheduled to go back on Thursday to find out and get the chemo. Again, the oncologist will make a decision on whether to change the chemotherapy when she sees the MRI report.
So, until then, it should be fairly quiet. Hope everyone is having a nice holiday season, and you'll hear from me on Thursday or Friday of this week.
-Chris
