2/16/07Happy Belated Valentine's Day. This week's photo is one of my archived PET scans, with a few modifications for the amusement of my oncologist and the staff at the treatment center. This is a little game that we've been playing since October, so there are some altered scans for Halloween, Christmas and Hannukah. I think my oncologist felt cheated that he didn't get a scan fixed up for Groundhog Day, and I'm at a loss for President's Day right now. I'll entertain your suggestions for the remaining holidays in the year.
This week's title says it all. I started taking Erbitux last week and had it again yesterday. I was warned that one of the side effects that I could expect to see within 0-3 weeks was a case of acne. It took only 4 days in my case. And they weren't kidding - I'll spare you the unpleasant details other than that my entire upper body looks like I have chicken pox. The paradox is that this is really good news because it means that I'm responding to the treatment. My understanding of how Erbitux works is that it interrupts one of the growth pathways associated with both tumors and with skin cells, so if my skin is showing a response, then presumably my tumors are also experiencing what I hope is a swift demise. We won't have tumor marker numbers back until my next visit, and probably won't do another "portrait sitting" in the CT scanner for a few more weeks. This is an exercise for me in how I view myself - my mental picture of my mottled appearance is probably far worse than how it appears to others. Until now, I didn't fully appreciate what women who lose their hair from chemotherapy go through with self image. It's a humbling experience, and while I never really worried about losing hair, now all I can think about is how I must look. A 49-year old teenager.
The administration of the Erbitux alone is not as quick as I had expected. I still get the Benadryl ("your eyelids are getting very heavy.......") and they have to watch me for a full hour after I get the Erbitux to make sure that I don't have an anaphylactic reaction (throat swells closed and I become more colorful "oh, what a pretty shade of blue") - I didn't have a reaction by the way. We have to do this every time I get it, so the visits are almost the same length of time as my biweekly full-meal-deal when I get all of the drugs. So, a good time to catch up on reading, and some Benadryl-induced nap time.
This week's inspiration didn't happen at the treatment center. I've mentioned the daily cancer blog that commentator Leroy Sievers posts. This week's posts were pretty good - give them a read. The link is on the right side column.
And don't forget to hit the "subscribe" button so that you'll receive notification when I post new material. Enjoy your President's Day.
-bob
