First Radiation Treatments and MD Anderson Appointment

Last week on Wednesday and Thursday I had a couple of appointments to get me all set up with Radiation at Texas Oncology. At my first appointment, the radiation oncologist went through the images of my PET scan with me and showed me the cancer spots. I didn't know the cancer was actually in both femurs. I was surprised to find out there is also some in my lungs (just a little). She also showed me the spots in my ribs, right shoulder, vertebrae, a lot in my liver, lymph nodes and left acetabulum (hip area). As far as radiation is concerned, we are going to focus on my left and right femur and left acetabulum. I was hoping to start on Friday afternoon, but they needed a bit more time to prepare the radiation plan. Thus, Monday was my first appointment for radiation treatment.

This is the radiation machine that treats me.

Radiation treatment:

Immediately following the treatment, we drove three hours to the Houston area because I needed to be at MD Anderson at 8am Tuesday morning. Drew's parents were awesome hosts and the kids stayed there with them while we headed to the appointment on Tuesday morning. I was surprised to already be having negative side effects from my radiation treatment when we arrived to their home. As I walked around Drew's parents' house to try to get some steps in, I had intense cramping down in the pelvis area where I had the treatment. I also awoke the next morning feeling that achy flu-like feeling where the body is just exhausted feeling. Perhaps that is just my body getting used to things. Also, I did have treatment and then immediately sat in the car for three hours.

MD Anderson:

The appointment with Dr. Ibrihim at MD Anderson confirmed we are on the right track for treatment. I will be taking Orserdu (alecestrant), beginning Monday and continue the radiation treatment (10 total treatments, every day until finished). He said it is very likely if the radiation treatment zaps all the cancer in the areas it is treating, it won't come back there. The drug, Orserdu, will hopefully work at getting rid of all the other cancer systemically. If not, we will move on to Enhertu (not looking forward to that). We did pursue a possible clinical trial that Dr. Ibrihim had in mind for me that combines Orserdu with another drug, but unfortunately that trial was full.

New Drug:

This afternoon before my radiation appointment, I picked up the new drug that I will be taking. After speaking to the pharmacist at Texas Oncology about it, I am very nervous, to be honest. I would love prayers that I don't struggle with all the side effects she mentioned. She said the first week I could struggle with vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, flu-like symptoms and more (those four are the symptoms I am least looking forward to so that's why I listed those. :-) ). It should get better as my body gets used to the drug. But, to be honest, my body hates drugs, so, again, I would appreciate prayers on my ability to tolerate the drug and low side effects.

Prayer requests:

 Thanks again, prayer warriors! In summary, here are my specific requests:

• That my body can get through this radiation treatment with not too much pain/issues. I am sitting here in pelvic pain as I type this.
• That my body can handle the new drug with minimum to no negative side effects.
• That the radiation, drugs and all the alternative treatments work to eradicate all the cancer. That God would heal me.
• That I can find more time. :-)  Today I was away from home all day from 8am-4:40. Basically sitting in the car, laying down at appointments and waiting in waiting rooms. All the sitting just makes me feel horrible. I need time to spend with my family (my kids are leaving the house at 5p tonight and then I won't see them until 8:30 due to attending youth group and playing in the worship band), homeschool the kids, work on things for the class I teach at our homeschool co-op, edit photos, work on our co-op yearbook, work out, plan healthy meals, go to the grocery store, cook meals, fit in all the treatments, do my landlord duties and find contractors for maintenance issues and schedule those contractors, etc. I know everyone has busy schedules and deals with this every day, it just feels like a lot daily with cancer on top of it. Otherwise, normally I thrive with lots to do.
• Please also pray for my dad. He had another heart attack this past weekend and also is having stroke-like symptoms. In addition, he fell in the middle of the night last night at his independent living facility, where there is no nursing staff on duty. He is in Oklahoma, where there is currently a very bad ice and snow storm, with treacherous roads. So, it is difficult for my siblings to get to him. The ambulance took him to the hospital due to the fall, but then my siblings had to pick him up at 2:30am from the hospital to take him back to his apartment. A lot of decisions need to be made about how to get him the best living situation for his current condition.

I will try to keep everyone updated as things change. I'm guessing I will have another PET scan in 3 months or so. I will begin receiving weekly labwork beginning Monday to hopefully see tumor markers come down as time progresses.