Just had my 3rd Gemzar treatment

Hey there everybody!

I just thought I'd post a "check in" thread- I've had a few pm's of people checking on me- thanks, guys! I'm doing fine- the Gemzar has treated me pretty well, so far as side effects not being to bad. The 5FU that I'm also getting has given me some nasty hand/foot sydrome- actually just in my feet, not my hands. The Udderly Smooth cream has really been great for that, though. My original plan with starting the Gemzar/5FU on 3/17 was to take 4 treatments (equals two cycles), then scan. I just had my 3rd treatment of it yesterday & am feeling fairly good today. I know the worst will hit this weekend and Monday, as has been the pattern, with it mostly relating to the 5FU and getting unhooked from it Friday.
I will also see my onc Friday when I go in to get the pump unhooked. When they drew my labs yesterday before treatment, they also drew for a CEA test & I will get those results back at my dr. appt tomorrow. CEA has always been amazingly right on the mark for me, so I will know tomorrow if the Gemzar is starting to work in me or not. My CEA was at 81 the day I started all this, so hopefully tomorrow's results will show that it's now gone down, or at the very least stayed the same but not gone up. IF it has gone up, I will probably not take treatment #4 (since I'm paying $1350 a bag for it), and try to get the scan done sooner. I'm taking in printouts of 4-5 clinical trials that I've been looking into. If the Gemzar isn't working, then that's the route I have to go. If it is, I'm not sure how long we can keep up paying for it, although we probably would keep it up a little longer if it actually is working.
I'll update tomorrow afternoon when I find out what my CEA level is at & what my onc says.

Until then,
Lisa