Day 29, Thursday, 05:55pm

Hello everybody,

Well, with all my fear about Tuesday night Anne made out just fine. She slept using the new bed wedge we had picked up. She only had to get up once all night, at 4:30am. She needed help getting out of bed and back in because the incisions were still pretty tender from the mediport implant surgery Tuesday morning. She didn't need any such help Weds night, so I'm encouraged that she is healing up.

Wednesday was pretty uneventful, however Anne wasn't comfortable at all. She was mostly anxious about the appointment with Dr. Ebrahim on Thursday. With all the anticipation about that, she hardly slept Wednesday overnight, poor thing. She wasn't looking forward to restarting the C/T, not at all.

As it turned out, the appointment this morning was a good thing. We sort of got a pep talk from the Dr. and it made Anne feel much better. I asked him if she would get 'credit' for the 1.8 C/T's that Anne had completed earlier, the one's that made her sick. He said a resounding 'yes', that those treatments were beneficial, and in those terms she does get full credit. He stated that he usually likes to complete the C/T the first 2 weeks and the last 2 weeks of R/T, so we did the math and discovered that we're pretty much still on schedule.

Anne should actually complete her C/T on Feb 22, and her R/T on March 1.

The new chemo program looks like this. Two half doses of Cysplatin next Thursday (rather than a half dose on two consequtive Thursdays). This will take almost all day, and it will be the end of that drug. Following that (same day) they will set Anne up with a fanny pack containing a 'pump' used to administer the new chemo (the one that is replacing the Iranetecan). This one is called 5-F-U and it has the same benefits, and many of the same side effects (and more as we have been reading), however they use the pump to administer this over a 4 day period, a little at a time. This is the plan so that Anne will better tollerate it. Keep your fingers crossed. We'll have the pump removed on Monday Feb 22.

Overall, Anne has had a fantastic day today. The anxiety was gone, and after R/T we drove out to Bug Light on Casco Bay and watched the waves, tankers, ferrys, etc. for a while. She was relieved, and she is still doing well this evening. She caught up on last nights sleep this afternoon.

Knowing that she will be finished with C/T a week from this coming Monday, Anne looked happier that she has for many days.

Dr. Ebrahim cautioned us that the R/T is a concern and usually creeps up on you and really starts to wear you down the last couple of weeks. Anne has 12 more treatments.

Labs were taken today to make sure the kidney function is ok.

Thanks for reading, mailing, caring, etc....

Your prayers help.