I went to mom's appointment today and it was kinda frustrating. Her port didn't work, which totally set her off. So they couldn't do blood work (although after I left they were going to try again). Then she's been complaining that she feels like she has to go to the bathroom, only to get there and have a trickle come out. So they asked for a sample, she went in the bathroom and dropped the pee cup into the toilet. So she was frustrated again.
Doc came in, looked at her chest and there are more nodules on her chest. Not a lot, and not big, but there are new lesions. So I asked why that wouldn't have shown on the PET scan and he said because it's skin. She was also complaining about a lump under her left arm, he felt around and she was grimacing in pain, but he didn't feel anything.
He is going to order a bone scan, because they didn't do that with the PET scan. Mom also asked if she could start taking something to make her happier, so he is putting her on Paxil.
Now for the news you've been waiting for. He is taking her off of IV chemo. She is going on Afinitor and Aromacin, an oral chemo and a hormone blocker. He feels that mom has no life-threatening disease right now and that we can "safely" try the oral chemo. He said it is going to take awhile to see the effects, but that is the route he would like to take. Mom never even suggested it!
So, she'll actually start the oral chemo today. This makes me very nervous with her track record of oral chemotherapy not working. I do trust out doctor and he sees that mom needs a break. the oral chemo will take a longer time to work, so he tried to prepare us to not freak out if more nodules appear before they disappear.
I think I would have felt better with two more rounds of IV chemo BUT I will trust in Dr. G. and pray that it works. The above bolded words give me hope. Now to cling onto it for the next 3-4 months. Oy.
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