Monday, October 26, 2009

A New Regimen

Today I had my appointment with my oncologist to decide on my next course of action. We are going to go with XELODA® Capecitabine tablets. I will take five pills in the morning and five pills in the evening for two weeks straight with one week off making it a three-week cycle.

So here are pluses from today's’ visit …
  • My PICC line was removed. No more weekly visit to the clinic for dressing changes.
  • There will be fewer visits to the clinic. I only come in once every three weeks for blood work and a doctor’s visit. CT scans will now be once every three months instead of every six weeks.
  • The fluid around my lungs will go down because it was likely caused by the Taxotere.
  • The bone scan taken last Thursday indicates that cancer on my ribs is no longer visible.
  • The pharmacist said that the Xeloda was a popular prescription and that there were many patients on it. I thought that was encouraging. I also asked her about side effects as compared to Taxotere and she said Taxotere is one of the tougher chemos. She did not say this one would be easier but I just feel it might be. 

The clinic gave me this handy dandy pill organizer to make sure everything goes smoothly. I start first thing tomorrow morning.

Over all I’m feeling pretty excited with this new plan.

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