The new chemo regimen

I did not get into the clinical trial, and the reason given leads me to believe I never will get into any. Apparantly my "primary cancer" is unclear. I remember way back when I was initially treated being told that my cells had some evidence of endometroid and some of ovarian but the endometroid dominated. For clinical trials they need it to be clear because they are researching ovarian cancer or endometrial cancer... but never a questionable origin. So I'm SOL on the new, promising trials.

So instead I am doing adriamyacin, without the cisplatin. Not sure why we didn't include that. I had to have a MUGA test Thursday morning to make sure my heart was working well enough to proceed. That involves placing an IV and drawing 3ml of blood which is then infused with radioactive material. After 30 minutes, it's reinjected through the IV, the IV is removed and you lay on a table for about 20 minutes while they take pictures of your heart beating for several minutes. From that they can tell what volume of blood your left ventricle pumps out. This test will have to be repeated while I'm on this chemo because it is notoriously hard on your heart and kidneys.

The nice thing is that the chemo treatment takes about 1.5 hours, most of that is taken up with giving the premeds. The chemo is injected by hand into the port by the nurse in two 50ml syringes, and you're done. That's a hell of a lot better than a day and a half in the hospital. So I can work mornings and get infused in the afternoon. If I do it Thursday, I can also work Friday. I do feel more prone to nausea, but the meds have taken care of that so far. I'm also pretty fatigued. That may be related to having less steroids and more benedryl/ativan this time around. I'm pretty tired and sleepy.

Now we'll see what the next few days hold. Sunday night to Monday night were always the worst with the taxol/carbo. I'm keeping my fingers crossed this is less harsh.

Meeting with oncologist and options

I met with my oncologist this morning and I am definitely done with the taxol/carboplatin regimin. He's trying to get me accepted into a clinical trial that has shown some good results for edometrial cancer. He won't know until Tuesday if I meet the criteria. If I do, they will bring me in on Wednesday to review the trial and sign me up if I agree. Then I would start that treatment when I get back from Kodiak.

If I can't get into the trial, they will try cisplatin with something other than taxol (also done in the hosptial with the desensitization process) and see how I tolerate that. If I can't handle both drugs, they'll do single agent. But sounds like my chemo options are running out.

Here's hoping I'm accepted into the clinical trial.