On Rememberance Day, 11-11-11, I am happy to announce I have now gone through the 6 chemo applications for the Picasso III Trial! It is now time for a small break in treatment. YEY!!!!!!!
It means I will now still have a series of very important tests over the next 3 weeks on my major organs to ensure all are functioning properly. Even more vital, I will have a CT scan to again assess the effectiveness of the treatment delivered in this trial. This will all be followed up by monthly checks and surveys over the course of 2012.
Following the final CT scan at the end of November, a team of specialists will meet and assess my progress and decide the next course of treatment as we head into 2012.
For the future, chemotherapy is definitely on the table; Ifosfomide is the next standard treatment, and this typically requires a stay in hospital as it has highly toxic side-effects. Another possibility is a hot off the press medication which is an alternative to chemotherapy and is given orally in tablet form. It is called PAZOPANIB. It would mean having a longer break (potentially), from chemotherapy. It is a treatment in the USA, but not currently available in Australia. My specialist may be able to apply for it on compassionate grounds.
For now, I need to continue to manage the known side-effects from my latest chemo and still avoid contact with infection. Thanks for your understanding by staying away when illness has struck. Remember, Skype is a fantastic form of contact and I am loving it when some of you folk get in touch. Cycle 5 was rough and I am expecting the same for this one.
A special thanks to our wonderful friends who visited from Adelaide for my chemo session at Peter Mac today- you know who you are. It was such a treat, and the Movido lunch afterwards capped it all off!
Love your life,
Georgia
Hey G, well done you trooper! I'm excited bout the new 'Pazopanib' seems like a great next step, fingers crossed.
ReplyDeleteLOve Rach
georgia,
ReplyDeleteit's mary-jo from the USA your cousin, i'm just at one of my jobs and had a moment to come over to your blog and peruse how things had been going. i'm so encouraged by your amazing attack of this invader called cancer. you have an amazingly resilent and wonderful spirit and your intensity in understanding and TEACHING us along the way...well i'm sure that's just who you have always been but i'm able to understand and appreciate it from afar by way of looking over your blogs.
keep positive. keep your strength and know that your family though maybe far in miles are in thoughts and spirit holding you up no matter how far we may be in bodily form.
i looked here to see how to encourage you and find myself encouraged. thank you for that and good luck to you.
i also have a skype thingie...but i must admit i don't use it often. perhaps one of these days we can have a skype date! i'm always up during australian time due to my crazy wacky nurse schedule.
ok ok enough i've monopolized your comments :)
Hellooooo Georgia, it is Fiona your psych assessor buddy and fellow prestonite. How are things going?
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear you have finished your last round of chemo for the time being, so now you can expect the CC (chemo curls) to crop up. Due to CC my hair matts like a surfie dude and I look like a sheep (BAAAAAAAAAAAAA).
Good to hear there are other plans in the pipeline for 2012 to get those darn imposter cells. Are you sick of having blood tests yet? And getting jabbed everywhere just to find a vein not bloody hardened from chemo (clearly I still have bad memories about that). I read you are having a CT scan, I had one of those as well and to be quite open here, I felt like I wet my pants during that process and was extrememly embarrassed and worried about getting out of the machine. It was just a weird sensation I experienced, not sure if you get that, or it was just me.
You sound positive so try to stay positive and try to keep laughing. And here is a tip, I used to go to the market bald and the old ladies in the stalls felt sorry for me so I got things cheaper. So while you can you may want to play the cancer card to your advantage (LOL).
I do hope all the medication you need all comes through and is successful.
And I hope you don't mind me blogging here, I got the details from Karen at assessing. Yes I went through that hell again, that was really really hard work this year!
You take care of yourself, put yourself first and I will continue to read your inspiring blogs.
Fiona