Let’s just say I have become a big believer in radiation therapy. The fellow I saw before my first treatment last Tuesday told me it would be a couple of weeks before I could expect relief. In fact, every day has been a little better except for Monday when I missed a treatment because the machine was broken. I have been taking maximal doses of Ibuprofen and narcotic pain medication to sleep at night. Last night I made it without the narcotic. It's still at least 50% better than it was a week ago. What a relief. Pain makes it so much more difficult to deal with every other little thing in life.
The other thing to be dealing with right now is what’s next. I think I will probably be starting third line treatment with Alimta when I get back from my holiday trip to New Mexico at the end of December. My oncologist would like to combine that with Avastin but the insurance company has so far denied the combination. I’ve filed an appeal and we’ll see where it goes. My understanding about Alimta is that I should tolerate it pretty well and should be able to continue to work and live my life if I was able to do so on my previous chemotherapy regimen. It will feel good to be doing something to fight the cancer again.
I finish radiation therapy next week, work for a couple of days and then head to New Mexico with my family for Christmas. I am over the moon about this. I graduated from high school in New Mexico and did my residency there but moved away in 1989. It is where my heart, my sister and my best friend are. My family will all be there and my mother enjoys a big milestone birthday on the 26th for which we will all gather at our favorite restaurant in Santa Fe and celebrate the great woman that she is. There couldn’t be any better way in my mind to finish out this rotten year than with my family in the high desert
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