Struggles, scans and successes

 I wish I could tell you that my third treatment was a breeze…. But it was far from it.  I started to react as usual with horrible nausea and then the fevers but this time my blood pressure dropped dramatically (75/52) and I started to develop joint pain overnight.  My joints hurt so much that I found it hard to move the covers on or off my body.

I went home after 24 hours (Wednesday) with the rotation of Advil and Tylenol for the fevers and joint pain in hope that things would clear quickly.  While the fevers cleared at the 48 hour mark again (Thursday evening), the joint pain worsened.  In the early morning hours of Friday I woke up in so much pain I didn’t know what to do.  I couldn’t move without excruciating pain.  Trying to lift my arm to grab the sheet caused me to cry out.  I actually found myself lying there questioning whether birthing a 9lb baby with no epidural was worse… I came to the decision that they were just different but comparable.  Ian had to help me get to a seated position and even had to dress me.  It was horrendous.  Luckily the medical team were again very quick to respond and I started on a dose of steroids which resolved the symptoms (for the most part) within 24 hours.  I thought at that point we were on the mend… then Sunday morning I woke up with a mouth full of blisters.  Eating and drinking was very painful… I couldn’t smile or even open my mouth all the way.  Continuing with the steroids and medicated mouthwashes, that improved over the following 48 hours.  While the mouth was improving, my skin started to become more and more itchy to the point that by Wednesday afternoon I felt like I was on fire from head to toe.  If you have ever had an allergic reaction to a bug bite and get that hot, swollen, fire-itch sensation… I had that all over my body.  It was making me so crazy that by Thursday morning all I could do was cry… I couldn’t stand to be in my own skin anymore.  Again the team at PMH went into action and got me 2 different drugs… but we still wound up back on steroids.  It was at this point that the team decided to get me in for an urgent CT scan.  I was due to have my next dose in days and I was still struggling with these side effects.  It was decided that we needed to see if there was any efficacy with this treatment before we put me through any more of this.  That is how I found myself in a CT scanner at 6pm on Friday praying that this was doing something and that I wouldn’t be kicked out of the trial and left again with no good treatment options.  

Fast forward to today and some really good news!

My tumors all reduced in size dramatically.  My doctors described looking online at the images on Friday night and getting excited that they could see the improvement with the naked eye (ie. not read by a radiologist).  This was such an answer to prayer.

Our go-forward plan is to give me additional time off treatment to allow my skin to heal and all side effects to subside before getting the next dose.  They are also going to reduce my dose in hopes of alleviating future side effects.  

So now I find myself with a whole week of no fevers or pain to look forward to!  Whatever shall I do with all this time???   I have noticed that it looks like good running weather….  We shall see how this goes 🙂 Although... Caitlyn and I are getting to participate in the free throw competition during halftime at the KW TItans game on February 4th.  They are honoring World Cancer Day and have teamed up with Hopespring Cancer Support Centre.  Thankfully my joints should be functional!!!  

Thank you to everyone who has reached out, supported us, held us up in prayer… Ian and I have felt the love and want you all to know how much you mean to us.