Update on Chris

Hi Everyone

Sorry if I've been conspicous by my absence, but it's all been a bit hectic with Chris & I, plus our holiday as well.

Chris became really poorly early November with swollen & very tender/painful arms after her chemo on October 30th (her 11th in this sequence since August). Her legs, which reacted in same way earlier in year (after her first 10 Gemcitabine treatments), this time were only slightly affected. She suffered two weeks of misery, barely able to lift a fork to feed herself. After CT scans, ultrasound on her arm & Xrays we established there were no blood clots or further cancer spread, although she had a little fluid in her right lung/chest & we were told to monitor her breathing closely. Her oncologist decided that in order to make sure we were able to take our cruise to the Canaries - he's very keen on maintaining quality of life & has been very supportive of our rather ambitious holiday programme since Chris was diagnosed in January - Chris should have a course of steroids.These a some bloody things, aren't they??!!

They did the trick in terms of reducing the swelling & thus reducing the tenderness/pain so we were able to set sail on Nov 25th. However, Chris was never at full throttle on holiday. She kept getting new pain in different areas - shoulder, left leg, right groin, chest etc - which apart from her chest we put down to the steroids. She has also suffered extreme heat/sweatiness which she has found very uncomfortable.

We returned home last week, only for her to be sent for chest xrays, which confirmed that the fluid had greatly increased in her chest/lungs. Our GP has written to oncologist proposing that she be drained, which doesn't sound very nice.

Has anyone else experienced any of these side-effects? Also, she has had no chemo since Oct 30th & it is likely there will ne more until January.

In reality, Chris is doing amazingly well although permanently tired & unable to do virtually anything except keep rested.

That's all our news, I'll update again after Friday but the great thing is Chris will be here for Christmas & her 60th birthday on the 27th.

God bless

Trevor

Hi Trevor

Glad to hear you managed your cruise, even though Chris wasn't 100%. She really does seem to have suffered with the chemo, poor thing. Hope they can make her more comfortable when they drain the fluid from her chest.

My hubby has been a lot brighter since he stopped his chemo, although he has had a lot of problems sleeping and this week has had constipation, for no particular reason, which does cause him a lot of pain and discomfort. Despite these things, I am also so very, very grateful that Brian will still be here to enjoy Christmas and his birthday on the 29th. He will be 59, so they are not so far apart in age and birthdays! Let's hope they both enjoy their celebrations.

Wishing you as happy a Christmas as possible and hopefully some rest and relief for you both from the trauma's you have been through.

Best wishes

Ellie

Hi Trevor

I'm so glad that you and Chris managed to enjoy the break, despite all the pains etc. Ted's not had fluid on the lungs but I do know the draining isn't too bad normally, though umcomfortable. They normally inject a local anaesthetic and then make a small cut which they push a drain through. The person I know who had it done (they had an accident and a rib punctured the lung allowing fluid build-up) said that the relief after the procedure was so great that they really didn't mind the discomfort.

Hope you have a wonderful Christmas and that Chris enjoys her birthday - I'm positive that you'll ensure she does!

Nicki

Hi Ellie, Hi Nicki

Good to hear from you both, thank you for support. Amazingly, Chris doesn't feel herself that she has suffered too much from the chemo - which is perhaps an indication of her positive approach. We've discussed briefly with her oncologist, but will do again greater detail at next meeting, that we should perhaps stop chemo after the next nine & take a month off again. It is odd that in both the summer & in October it was after the 10th (11th in Oct) that her troubles hit. Prior to that, although it knocks her out a bit & she had two bad days per treatment for the other five days of week she was actually not too bad, able to go out to lunch etc.

We have been told that the cycle of 3 weeks chemo, i week off will continue for as long as she wishes to continue. Because she has her treatment locally just 10 mins away in Kidderminster, it is very convenient & causes her minimum discomfort. Bearing in mind the original diagnosis (less than 6 months) we consider we are operating in a miracle!

I just hope that they can drain the fluid, get her off the steroids & return to the "normality" we have somehow achieved this year.

We hope you both have a great Christmas & that miracles happen in 2010 for all of us

God bless

Trevor