It was a busy week, relatively speaking. Last Wednesday, Marye had a CT scan at U of L to take a look at the tumor. We were expecting to see the tumor shrink, based on all of the chemotherapy she's had and because the tumor markers were down from the last blood test. The next day, she had to go to Norton for another ERCP to get the stent replaced. That went off perfectly, and the doctor put in a fancy, new, metallic stent that will last 6 months instead of the 3 months for the plastic one. It's much more expensive, but will save her having to go through the procedure so frequently, so it actually will be less expensive over time. He's been waiting to put in the metallic stent because he kept hoping that she wouldn't need it, eventually. That doesn't seem to be working out, as he said her bile duct was still pretty blocked without it. Anyway, that should hold her over until November or December. One less thing to worry about for the short-term.
During our visit to the oncologist yesterday, we got the results of the CT scan. The tumor went from 4.2 x 4.2 x 3.9 cm to 4.4 x 4.1 x 3.6 cm. While this shows very little actual shrinkage, the report noted lower central density of the tumor, indicating necrosis (it's dying). Also, the second lesion went from 2.2 cm to 0.8 cm, so that's great news. The chemo is effective. No new lesions in the liver or anywhere else and everything looks normal.
The only bad news in all of this is the debilitating fatigue that Marye suffers from. Even the steroids that accompany the chemotherapy haven't really had much effect, and she feels weak much of the time. Sometimes she changes up the pain and nausea meds and finds a little improvement in her daily fatigue levels, but it's fleeting. Overall, though, she's not nauseous or vomiting and the cancer is reacting to the therapy, so we'll just continue on this course of action for the foreseeable future.
There is nothing scheduled until her next chemo in three weeks, so if you don't hear from me, then everything's ok! Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!
-Chris
