Trying Cyberknife on Hip Next

I had a phone meeting with Dr. V today and she still believes she can help relieve pain with the Cyberknife. They will schedule a date ASAP to have me come in to implant 3 gold bead markers as reference points for the plan. They give that a week to heal, then do another CT scan planning session. Then I'll do from 5 - 10 sessions with the knife. My hip will still be unstable so she may refer me to an orthopedist for an opinion whether anything can be done to surgically stabilize it. Most positive thing I've heard in a while.

She also encouraged me to go on disability. I really don't have a choice. Even after not leaving the house since Thursday, my one trip out for acupuncture had me really hurting in no time. But at least this could be short term rather than the long term I had anticipated.

More Pain

Just over two months since my last post and things have only gotten worse. My impression had been that everytime I did another round of Avastin it would get harder to walk. The walker helped only briefly at making it easier to walk, then became so difficult to use and exhausting that I finally decided to just pay for an electric scooter myself. I had to wait more than 2 weeks for it to get here, but it did make getting around easier. The plan was to leave it at the office and just take Harborview cases so I could zip around and see clients there.

Once again that worked well for a short time. But again, the pain in my hip continued to worsen. I can not be in any particular chair or hold any particular position for more than maybe 2 hours before hurting again. I started having to take Vicodin during the day too. I brought my camping recliner to work so that I can recline to take the weight off my hip for times during the day. But still I hurt every single day.

I did get an MRI of my head on Dec 16th that showed that tumor was once again stable. While there Dr. V did say she thought the Cyberknife COULD help with the hip pain and said she would consult with Dr. D about that.

My last chemo was scheduled for Jan.5th. When I saw Dr. D he was taken aback at how difficult it was for me to walk so he decided to skip the chemo and send me for a CT scan to see what was going on and maybe try the radiation after all. I heard nothing about the results all week. But by Thursday the 12th I could hardly walk, even with the walker. I came home and went to bed since I had no cases at court that day. I also called Dr. D's office to see when I might hear something about CT results.

The nurse called back with very little in terms of details, but said that he had not been able to discuss the results with Dr. V yet. She also said that it did not seem that the cancer in the hip was growing, but that I had an orthopedic problem that made my hip susceptible to fracture. Dr. V's office called to schedule an appointment shortly after so I see her Monday to discuss results.

My suspicion is that the Avastin (or maybe earlier radiation) has damaged my hip. I further suspect that more radiation actually will NOT help with pain and that fracturing my hip is inevitable. So I'm not expecting good news Monday.

I had also asked for a stronger pain med when I talked to the nurse Thursday, thinking I might get Percocet for "breakthrough" pain. Instead, I got MS Contin and Dilaunin, both very powerful painkillers, synthetic morphine based.

Soooo, I am am now contemplating going on disability, depending on the news I get Monday. Continuing work was extremely difficult and painful. I suffered every day. Without the kind assistance of my colleagues I could not have even done what I have done. But I did it with the hope the pain would eventually be manageable. If that is not the case, I cannot work like this. Sad news indeed.

BTW, Darcy tried to fill the pain med prescription yesterday and they could not do it. Might have been nice since the ibuprofen, Vicodin and Valium aren't really cutting it any more. I wonder if I'll be able to get some sleep on these new Meds.

New Chemo and Dealing with Pain

Been a while since I've updated, mostly because it's a long story that I haven't felt like spending the time on, so I thought I would just start with where things are out now and maybe fill in as I go along so I don't have to do it all at once. I'm back doing chemo again, this time Avastin by itself. My CA125 had gotten up to 192 before they decided to bring me back in. Just before starting it was up to 217, which is a smaller rise per month than I had been having. I get infusions every 2 weeks. The nice thing is that there are no real side effects. It only takes about an hour, with no pre-Meds and no need for nausea Meds at all. There are very serious, but rare side effects, like bowel perforations or strokes. Too soon to tell if it's working.

The hard part is dealing with the pain from the tumor in my hip. I did get referred back to the radiologist but he said you can't do Avastin and radiation at the same time. But more concerning, he didnt think more radiation would help with the pain. He said they would hold it in reserve and possibly go to it to preserve the bone in my hip. If my hip breaks and can no longer support weight, I'm screwed. So the pain has gotten worse since early September. Some days are better than others, but no days are good, except the day I took steroids to prep for CT scan.

So I'm trying various methods that might help some. I've done massage, which feels good in the moment, but lasts for only a short term and doesn't make walking any easier. I also started acupuncture which I think has helped a little bit, but it is early in the treatment. I finally saw a physical therapist this week and she recommended I use a walker instead of a cane. I tried one out and sure enough, it made walking considerably easier. Not that it doesn't hurt, but it's much better than using a cane. Insurance will pay for 1/2 and there was supposedly a 2 day turn around for them to get me one. I was desperate enough I didn't want to wait so I went out Thursday and got what would be a second one. Getting it up and down the stairs at home on my own did not seem practical so I plan to leave one in the house and one in the car to use when I'm out and about. My insurance one should have been here Friday and of course I have not even gotten a CALL from them to set up delivery so I'm glad I took the time the go out and get one on my own. it's going to take some getting used to and will make my arm sore until I get used to it, I'm sure.

I also discussed other methods of working around the pain and will plan to put up grab bars in the bathroom, get a "sock assist" that will help me put my socks on myself, and a tub bench and a couple other things. She gave me some very basic excersises to strengthen other muscles in my leg that are having to compensate for my worthless adductor muscles. Hopefully all this will help in time, but it will likely really come down to whether the Avastin is effective in stopping or reducing the tumors.

Officially back in treatment

Hi all

Been quite a while since I updated. I suppose no news is good news, but that hasn't exactly been the case. Things have been kind of ominously flowing along since April, May, June. I felt pretty good in April. So good in fact that I decided to try my old 2.3 mile walk around Seward Park on a Saturday morning. It was great! I felt so good I decided to do it again Sunday morning. Keep in mind, we had plans to go to Disneyland for a week in May and I wanted to get used to walking again. Well my Sunday walk started off fine, but half way around I started getting very tired and achy. Took me a full week to recover. After that I was worried about the Disney trip, but NO WAY was I going to miss it!

Made the trip and did pretty well for the most part. I had the hardest time with standing around, waiting in line or waiting for shows. I also felt like I needed more breaks than I had in Dec in WDW. We watched World of Color one night and I nearly got sick I was hurting so much from standing around. I eventually had to leave early. I was hurting the rest of the stay as well. Once back home, it took me weeks to recover some energy. And my legs were achy all the time, to the point I needed Ativan or Vicodin to get to sleep. I was in for a blood test after we got back and the CA125 was up to about 38. Disturbing, but I figured some of that might be accounted for by my leg achiness. The oncologist also wanted to me to go get my overdue MRI on my head tumor.

I scheduled the MRI for 6/6 and was to meet the doc right after to discuss. She kept me waiting a long time and finally came in to say some of the scans were missing but she hadn't seen anything on what was there. She said she'd call either way once she had the rest. Two days later I get a call that there is some new growth in one spot. She was going get insurance approval for more cyberknife treatment which was going to take some time, but no rush.

Also in June we had plans to go to New Orleans. My energy had pretty much returned after a lot of rest. I was worried about the heat and humidity, but I love New Orleans and wanted to do what I could. The weekend before our trip I felt, out of the blue, that old familiar pull in my groin that has been a precursor to my hip tumor growing in the past. I had a blood test that Monday and Tuesday they called with the results to 58! Twenty points in a month! However, my oncologist wanted to wait for a "doubling" of the marker and for the tumor in my head to be treated to see if that had an effect on the number.

So off to New Orleans we go. Two days after we got there, I was back to using a cane to get around. It was very hot and humid and sapped my energy quickly, but I'm glad I went. Still had a good time in spite of everything else. The groin pain also eased up after a couple days and I was able to get around OK.

I finally got the insurance OK for the Cyberknife and went in on July 12th for another CT and MRI for treatment planning purposes. Two days later my groin REALLY started hurting again, to where I could barely walk. I was practically draggin my leg around and in a lot of pain. I knew I'd be getting another blood draw on the 18th so I just gritted my teeth through it. I figured I'd be due for another CT scan and we'd figure out what to do from there.

So by yesterday I'm still waiting to hear when Cyberknife is scheduled and waiting for my latest CA125. They called mid-day to give me the treatment schedule: Starting today, 5 days through next Wednesday. I started on steroids for that this morning. My groin had felt better (being a relative term)yesterday and after taking steroids this morning, it was even better. So when the oncologist nurse called to say my number is now up to 98, I thought for sure I would be in treatment again. Instead she says the doc wants to do another test in October after I finish Cyberknife. I said, I finish Cyberknife next week. AND my groin hurts a lot! Though it had been better the last couple days. No real response to that. Hmmm. Makes me wonder if he has ANY ideas for more treatment. Or if whatever they do next basically worthless so why do it until I'm BEGGING for something. I have to say I was shocked.

Any way, I did start Cyberknife this morning. They were great as usual. I asked them if they could get me a disabled pass and they took care of it since they are the only place apparantly still treating me. I will also be on steroids through next week so hopefully my groin will be doing better over that time. And maybe I should get a referral to a PT or an accupuncturist for help with the pain. I also intend to talk to my PCP and the Cyberknife doc about options. And to get more Ativan and Vicodin for the pain. I'm about 1/2 way through my last presciption of 30 -- most of that in the last 2 weeks.


UPDATE

I got a call from the oncologist's office on Friday to clarify that when he said he wanted to see me in three months, the nurse thought that meant from that day. Turns out he meant from the LAST time he saw me, May. So I actually have an appointment in August now, which is much more reasonable.

The leg/groin has been more like it's old self: a bit achy, but mainly bothers me when I walk. Using the cane helps.

I am noticing a little vision problems from the radiation -- mainly a sensitivity to light. I was hanging white sheets on the line in bright sun yesterday and it took several minutes for my right eye to make the adjustment back to indoor lighting.

The Treatment Break Goes On!

I had my appointment with the oncologist this morning. My tumor marker had actually gone down a couple points, but is basically stable. So my break will continue until the marker either doubles, I get new symptoms, or the CT shows new developments. My next blood draw is mid-April, my next appointment with the oncologists is mid-May, and CT scans quarterly so probably due for another in June. Big relief. Now I can go to Disneyland with my 5 year old nephew in May!

A Short Treatment Break

It's better than no break at all!

It's been a long time since I've written anything because I just been plugging along with my last, lengthy round of chemo -- Adriamyacin. I had some concerns before beginning because the stuff has the nickname "the red devil" but I actually had a pretty easy time with it. The infusions were quick, and no steroid pre-treatment the night before. I was able to work the next day, Fridays, then felt my worst on Sundays and improved until I was back at work on Wednesday. There was some nausea but it had gotten to where the side effects from the anti-nausea pills bothered me more than the nausea. The two biggest side effects were fatigue and a gummy mouth and bad taste in my mouth. I was able to take a trip to Disney World in December and held up surprisingly well. My hair also grew back very slowly to the point that I quit wearing a hat and dyed it blue again in early January. But I was definitely ready for a break having been on chemo since early August.

At my last round on January 26th, the nurse practitioner told me my CA125 had gone up to about 19, which is not normal for me. That got me worrying a bit. Then when I went in for my pre-chemo appointment on Wednesday, before my last round of Adriamyacin, the doc told me it had gone up again to 28 or so. Not good. Since Adriamyacin is so hard on your heart, he thought it best to get a new CT scan to see what was up rather than do another treatment if it wasn't working anyway. So instead of chemo on Thursday, I had another CT scan. I just knew it would be bad news with that rise in the CA125.

Got the call yesterday that everything is still stable, though! That means,other than the slight growth in my hip tumor last spring, nothing else has shown growth or progression since finishing treatment in the spring of 2009. Gotta be happy with that! I am due for a MRI, but everything else is fine for now. That means I didn't have to do my last chemo and I don't go back again until March 23rd. Five weeks of no appointments. And 8 weeks off of chemo. Yay!

I do believe the plan is to start a new round of something in March, though. But I will enjoy this break while I can. :)

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.

No more chemo this week

But something new is coming down the line. I finally heard from my oncologist's office that I'll just come in for an appointment Friday morning to discuss a new chemo regiment. Makes me nervous, of course, because I've used the same thing since 2003. But maybe this will be something I can do in the infusion center and won't require overnight hospitalization. That would be a plus.

The other good news this week is that side effects from this most recent treatment have been milder. Hopefully I'll be ready to get back to work tomorrow. And have a good trip to Kodiak next week.

Keeping my fingers crossed. :-)

Round Two: Carboplatin failure

Things were looking up at first for yesterday's round 2 of chemo. Blood tests showed things were back to normal. I got checked in and was allowed to leave to get breakfast since everyone knew it would be hours before things really got started. Then we relaxed in the family room until the phlebotomist arrived to access my port. Shortly after that the chemo was ready so we actually got it started around 1pm. At that rate I had a shot at an early morning release. I wasn't counting on it though because it seems something always happens.

Sure enough things were going swell until I was nearly done with my second bag of carboplatin about 8:15pm when my palms started itching and turned bright red. I called the nurse in and she shut off the flow and called the doc for the next steps. As time passed, my arms got red and itchy, and eventually my knees. They finally got some more steroids and benadryl in me and the itching and redness went away. After some discussion they decided to try to proceed with more steroids. We finished bag 2 and got 2/3s through bag three. I was trying to sleep but my scalp started itching badly. I sat up and turned on the light and within a minute my arms and face were bright red and itching. The nurse came in and shut off the flow. By the time she checked in with the doc I was red from head to toe... except for my hands. I even had some hives. No problems breathing though...fortunately. They got it under control but decided to stop the carbo for the night until the doc could see me in the morning.

So I at least got a good night's sleep without the frequent interuptions. I slept until 9, when Darcy got there, with just a couple early morning interuptions. We finally heard from the doc that we're stopping carboplatin and likely switching to cisplatin, but they couldn't do that today because my treating physician wasn't around to make the final decision. So I'll hear from them Monday on the next plan of attack, which may include a return to the hospital next week for the cisplatin.

Hospital Admission was just a big mistake

I spoke with the doc covering for my oncologist's office this morning after my post and she told me when she talked with Urgent Care about the blood test results last night, they initially said the ANC (Absolute Neutrophil Count) was 700. They later said it was 300, which would require hospitalization. They couldn't explain that discrepancy to the doc satisfactorily so she had to admit me to run their own tests.

After IV antibiotics last night and further blood tests this morning, my ANC is low, but not so low as to require hospitalization. My total white blood cells had improved overnight so I was already on the mend. So they discharged me at 11:30. Needless to say, I pretty pissed at Urgent Care. The gave me a sleepless night, a bunch of stress, another sick day used over nothing.

Greetings from the hospital again

After chemo last week, I would normally start feeling better by Tuesday, but this go around, I didn't perk up as soon as I should have. In fact, I got a sore throat and started running a low grade fever by Tuesday evening. I ended up missing work all week. I felt a little better Saturday morning and met some friends for an event, but left early and crashed again after I got home. Felt bad all day Sunday as well. By Sunday night my throat was so sore I finally took a vicodan and was able to gt some sleep. Yesterday morning I felt much better, though I had no voice. I went to work and held up pretty well, though all the talking really made my throat hurt by the end of the day.

I was scheduled for a blood test at the oncologist's and I asked them about the sore throat. They said to see my primary care physician if I wanted treatment for that. After the test, they called and left a message that my white blood cell count was "a tad bit low" and I should see my primary care physician. I didn't get that message until after 5 because my voice mail is screwed up. So I got the earliest appointment I could get which was Wednesday morning. In an abundance of caution I decided to call the consulting nurse at Group Health to see if it was ok to wait that long. She told me to go to Urgent Care that night. After 4 hours and a bunch of tests, turns out my neutrofils were alarmingly low. They talked with the oncologist's office and had me admitted to Swedish about 1am. Got about 2 hours of sleep last night.

Spoke with the resident this morning and they are still running tests looking for signs of infection. They will give me a shot to boost my production of white blood cells, then let me go when my counts are closer to normal. I'm not looking forward to this. I hear those shots hurt.

Out of the Hospital after Round 1

I had high hopes of getting out early this time given that all the chemo orders got submitted early and I was showing up at 8am. I had my port accessed shortly after 9am... and the waiting commenced once again. From 9am to 2pm... nothing. Finally the pre-meds began a little after 2pm. Major frustration. I didn't finish the Taxol until 6:30 in the evening. Then... more waiting. The carboplatin had not been mixed yet and it was shift change. Finally we started with more pre-meds and the carboplatin commenced at 9pm. That put me on a release schedule of about 2pm Saturday afternoon. It also assured I would be awakened repeatedly all night. They gave me a big dose of benedryl to knock me out, then woke me up every 45 minutes to either take vital signs or change the carbo bag until 1:45 in the morning when they started the final bag. They decided to run it at a 10 hour rate instead of the usual 12 hour rate which put me back on pace to be out of there before noon. And from that point, I was only awakened every hour and a half for vital signs. Despite that, I still felt like I slept OK. I was so zonked from the drugs I barely woke when needed and fell right back to sleep. I love the night nurse. I remember her from my last go around.

I got a visit from the doc making rounds about 7am and got up and ordered breakfast. Then I got a surprise visit from my oncologist, too. That was nice of him to visit me while seeing his surgical patients. I asked about my CT scans and he said he got them, and didn't remember there being anything noteworthy in them. He also noticed my iPad and asked about it. I showed him a few things and said I loved it. By the time he left he said he would probably be getting one soon. Ha!

So I finished the last bag and they had everything ready to check me out. The nurse came right in, removed the access needle and I was on my way before noon.

I have decided I just need to be zen about the whole thing and just anticipate being there until Saturday around noon each time. I might try telling the nurse I will be downstairs until noon and to call if they get things ready earlier. That 5 hour wait drove me nuts. They did a good job of keeping me medicated and hydrated this time. That was encouraging. They even gave me a new 3 day nausea med, twice, and the usual zofran.

So now to get through the next 3 days. Sunday night to Monday night should be the worst. Then I climb out of the hole slowly... then wait to lose my hair again. Boo-hoo!

Chemo Begins Again August 6th

I saw my oncologist on Friday and went through the current treatment plan. I will return to taxol/carboplatin with the first infusion occurring this Friday, the 6th. It will be with the overnights at Swedish Hospital. I've already done the bloodwork and the orders should be in when I check in Friday morning at 8am, so I'm hoping they can manage to get this round done and have me out of there by Saturday MORNING for a change. I'm doing a CT Scan tomorrow for a baseline (things may have been growing since the last one on May 20th) and we'll probably do another after 3 treatments to see if it's working this time around. He had me stop with the hormones saying he doesn't believe they are working to control growth any longer.

My sister will be in town this weekend for a couple Seattle Storm games. I'll make the Thursday one, but doubt I'll feel up to Saturday night's game. The Blue Angels are in town for Seafair next weekend and I hope to get a good show from my hospital room. :-)

Sounded like my doc was thinking of giving me another week to recover from radiation, but I needed to start this week to be able to make my trip to Kodiak in September during a feel good part of the cycle. The sooner I get started, the sooner I'll be done. If things stayed on track, my last treatment would be the Friday before Thanksgiving so I could be feeling better for Christmas. Lets hope anyway.

Radiation update

Just a week left, but it's started to kick my butt energy wise. I don't remember being this tired the first couple times I did this, but I was doing chemo, too, then, and probably blamed the chemo more than the radiation. My hip is doing pretty well. Every now and then I'll have a stiff day, but I think it's getting better.

I called my oncologist about starting chemo and he says ideally they would want to start 3 or 4 weeks after finishing radiation. I rescheduled our trip to Kodiak to September so we can be in Kodiak for my sister's birthday and will just ask him to work around that trip. That means starting sometime in mid August. I would just as soon get it over with and to do it in the "ideal way" rather than take a break right now.

MRI results -- a bit of good news

I had an MRI today. The process was miserable. The headrest pad was too thin and the back of my head really started aching before we even got to the contrast dye portion of the test. FINALLY we got there and I only had about 10 minutes left. Then about a minute from the end, the tech comes on and says the contrast did not inject so we had to start that section over. Another 11 minutes on the table with no break. I was pretty miserable. As it was, I finished about 2:30 and had to be at the cyberknife Doc's appointment at 3:00. I rushed over there with a little time to spare.

The reward was that my head tumor is STILL "rock solid stable". Sweet! What I love about this Doc is that she always takes the time to answer questions and show me the scans to explain everything thoroughly. She confirmed for me that there has been no change in the spleen tumor. So only the hip and a tiny 1 cm tumor on the right side had grown any. She was very positive that this round of radiation would either kill or send into another long remission the tumor in my hip. She was also confident that I wouldn't have chronic pain there. She said I should take it easy, but it should be feeling better once radiation is finished.

What's more, she thinks the hormoe therapy is still being effective. She said sometimes if you have multiple tumors some will grow while others are responding to the treatment. She suggested asking the oncologist to delay chemo until the end of summer. "Scan it again in 10 weeks and take it from there." I'm sure I'll bring that up. :)

All in all a big mood booster when I really needed it. :-)

One Week Down, Four to Go

Finished my first week of radiation today and I can sure tell. My hip has been much sorer, even by the weekend. It was really bugging me last night and I had to up the dose of ibuprofen and make sure I stay on top of it. I do remember it getting worse when I did this back in 2008, but then it the pain went away completely. What makes me nervous was the doc's prediction that I would have chronic pain after this. Just how much remains to be seen. So that has me stressed out a little.

The sessions themselves are more trying, too. Lying still when my back hurts for 20 minutes wears me out each morning. Four weeks seems like a long time today.

First Radiation Session

This was something new today. I'm doing IMRT which is kindof like a crude cyberknife. Instead of 2 or 3 long blasts, they do a series of short blasts from one position, shifting the plates in the machine each time. Then on to position 2 for another series of short bursts. A total of 6 short burst sessions. Total time on the table is something like 20 minutes. The position I'm in is not very comfortable, but it's tolerable.

I won't finish radiation until July 15th so my planned trip to Kodiak isn't going to happen. I would imagine I'll also start chemo pretty quickly once the radiation is done. I gues I should call the oncologist to let him know the end date. Maybe I'll wait until I've got the results of my MRI scheduled on the 18th.

I should add that my hip has not been bothering me lately like it had been. I've been using the cane when I have to go any distance. So unless the radiation ramps up the pain, I'm doing OK for now.

Radiologist appointment: Good news/Bad news

I saw my radiologist today to discuss treatment. Sounds like the location of the growth is in a bit different spot... more in the bony ring at the base of my left hip. Those are thin flexible bones designed to flex when you walk. As such, they are more delicate to treat but it is treatable with radiation. He believes the treatment will again stop the growth. The bad news is that I am likely to have chronic pain there for the rest of my life. Unlike the last treatment when the pain was alleviated by the radiation, it likely won't get any better. He was ready to sign a form for a permanent disabled parking permit, which took me aback a bit. He also thought about sending me for cyberknife treatment, but thought better of it. Most likely because he didn't think insurance would approve when regular radiation would do the same job.

So... treatment planning session on Friday, a week to put a plan together and radiation will commence about June 7th. This will be a lower/slower treatment, so it will be drawn out over 5 weeks, unlike the 3 weeks I did last time. He also thought there would be minimal side effects, just like last time. Another tidbit of good news.

Latest CT Scan results -- Back to treatment I go

I was really expecting this, this time, but that doesn't make it any easier to actually hear it. For a full 14 months after finishing radiation to my hip I'd had no pain in my hip/groin at all. In February I pushed a big stack of carts at Costco into a holding bin and that evening started feeling that old ache in my groin. It got better after a while and when I had my March check-up the oncologist really felt around the groin area throroughly and didn't feel anything. Things kept feeling better until mid April when I really overdid it one weekend and my hip/groin got really sore again. It didn't really get any better and then it started getting kindof achy on top of that. I was scheduled to return for a regular check-up in June, but the persistent discomfort that was so similar to how it felt in November 2008 led me to call them up early for an early CT Scan. I had that done yesterday... got the results this morning.

The tumor in my hip is growing again. Apparently there's one in my right groin that has also grown a half centimeter, but I have no symptoms from that. My spleen is still stable and there is no new growth so that's all positive news. But I'm getting referred back for more radiation to the hip and will also get back on chemo once I finish the radiation. I'll be doing the taxol/carboplatin regimine again initially. If that doesn't work as well this time, he'll switch to another type. But I'll lose my hair either way. It'll be different being bald in the summer. Could be interesting. I'm considering dying my hair blue again right before it falls out. :)