saw my oncologist

jane65

Hi Ladies,
I have been kind of down lately, I know it's needing the double hernia surgery in Oct., developing lymphedema, and needing to restart chemo in Jan.
One negative blow after the other, I know many of you can relate to how that goes.

I recovered from the surgery, and had to immediately start a new chemo, Gemzar for the cancer which is in the pelvic lymph nodes again. The lymphedema has gotten worse and my entire right leg is swollen up to the pelvis.

My oncologist kept reassuring me that once Gemzar took hold, the channels will open as the nodes shrink, and the leg will drain.

I got good news today, the CA125 which has been spiraling up for months, has only gone up a few points last month. Oncologist says that shows Gemzar is taking hold and he expects the CA to start moving down.

He does not want me to do PT for lymphedema therapy, or have my leg wrapped. He's sure it will reduce in size with chemo.

My blood counts all 4 Gemzar treatments have held in the normal range, and he's very surprised but pleased..

I haven't been up to posting myself lately, but I've tried to be helpful when I could with posts to others.
Several new women coming for support, or familiar ones not doing well... it just gets to me.

That's my update, be well and have a pleasant day.
Jane

saundra

Thanks for the update
You are having a battle, but it sounds like you have the upper hand now. Good news that your blood rebounds from the Gemzar and it is working on the bad cells.

I hope that you are feeling better by now and are up to your old warrior status. One day at a time.

Saundra

Barbara53

lymphedema blues
Of all of my poor mama's problems, lymphedema has got to be the hardest one to manage. We had a similar situation over the weekend, when mom's leg started to swell but she had some skin issues so we couldn't use any type of compression. That in itself is an art, isn't it? We thought we were going to have to start wrapping, but lots of rest and elevation did the trick, so it looks like we've dodged this episode (whew!). Hope your leg decides to drain like crazy. By the way, we put a 2x4 under the foot of mom's bed to raise it up a bit, and sleeping like that seems to help the lymphedema a lot.