Update 3.31.07

Good Morning,

Well, we made it back from Houston last night and I thought I would send the news of what transpired on our trip. My Mom had her scans and tests on Tuesday. We received the results on Friday morning. Unfortunately it was not the news we were hoping for. The tests showed that her tumor marker was higher than it has ever been. It also revealed that the tumor on her pancreas has grown and her liver lesions have grown and maybe have multiplied. The good news out of it was the spot on her lung had not changed. So she is off the investigational drug because obviously it is not working for her. She will begin a much stronger chemo regimen beginning Friday, April 6th. The program is called GTX (sorry cannot remember the drugs it stands for). It is 3 chemo drugs. One of the drugs will be a pill that she will take 2 a day twice a day for 14 days. The other 2 chemo drugs are through an IV. This will require us to go to Houston on Mondays for the infusion. Each cycle runs for 3 weeks, which include having chemo for 2 weeks and then having one week off of the drugs. She will do this for 3 cycles (9 weeks) and then she will be rescanned. All of these drugs are FDA approved and have been used together to treat pancreatic cancer. It is a very tough chemo and she could have more side effects then she has had in the past. Some the side effects are hair loss/thinning, fatigue, diarrhea, skin cracking in her hands and feet, sensitivity to sunlight, nausea and/or vomiting, low red blood counts, suppressing the immune system, etc. It does not mean she will have all of these or any of them but those are the main side effects that they told us about. They did say more than likely she will loose her hair but it would obviously grow back once chemo is over.

So next Friday she will begin the pill form of chemo and then the following Monday we will go for her infusion. They will give her anti-nausea meds before her infusion. They will also monitor her dosage level of the chemo. If it is too strong for her body to take, then they can lower the dosages. Again, there is no time length on how long she will be on this chemo. We just know she is on it for the next 9 weeks until she is rescanned and tested to see if it is working.

Our spirits are good. It was obviously not the news we hoped for, but at least she can start another chemo right away. We hope and pray that this will get the cancer under control and my Mom’s body can tolerate it all. Thank you for the calls emails and cards. We appreciate the love and concern. It has been a long year and we appreciate each of you supporting us all. I will try to keep you up to date on my Mom’s new chemo regimen.

Enjoy your weekend, and hopefully the rain subsides for some of yall and you don’t float away!!

Love –
Crystal