A New Approach

Today we had a marathon session at the cancer institute because of a new drug the oncologist added to my fight. The drug is called Erbitux, and the initial infusion which they call a "loading dose," takes two hours to infuse. The future infusions will require only one hour which is good news. It was a long and arduous day.

I will be no longer taking the Avastin since one of its possible effects is internal bleeding, and we suspect it contributed to my most recent bleed. Erbitux is somewhat gentler and effective against tumor growth in other ways, although chills and fever are a possible side effect. I experienced severe chills at the infusion today, and tonight, I have spiked a fever of 101.8. We called the hospital suspecting a blood reaction, but the nurse Susan spoke with said such a reaction would have been within 24 hours! Whew! No trip to the ER, praise God. I'm treating the fever with Tylenol, and hope to bring the fever down so as to sleep well tonight.

Due to a mistake in planning Susan had to make two trips to the center, returning home to fetch a house key and to get it to our children who were at the Young's house for the day. Our very late infusion (we got home at 6:30) meant that our children needed to return at 5:00 since a very generous meal was on its way for our enjoyment at about that time. Susan is exhausted, so please pray for her as well that she sleeps soundly and nourishingly after a long day of driving!

Also, plans are underway for a CT Scan on Monday of next week, time to be determined. We'll keep you posted as details emerge. Pray we'll get some good news through the scan!