Sunday, January 27, 2008 10:42 AM, CST

Hi Everyone,
We made it through the holidays but never did send out Christmas cards!!! I can’t believe it’s already the end of January! We’re plugging along and doing our winter thing. I haven’t posted in a while….
A two Parter
Part I
I had a PET scan on January 18 and received the results on Friday, the 25th. The news is not what I had wanted but it’s not the worst news in the world.
There is increased activity in the lymph nodes in my mediastinum and there is some increased activity in my left lung. The right lung, including the main tumor, is quiet. And there has been absolutely no growth anywhere—which is a good thing.
I’m sad, I really am. But I’m also hopeful that I can kick this back again. Dr. Walsh would like to put me back on the Oxaliplatin starting on Monday, February 2. The big question for me is whether to add another drug called Avastin. I think I’ve told you about it before. It cuts off the blood supply to a tumor. However, the main side effect that I’m concerned about is the fatal lung bleeding. Yeah, it’s kind of a freaky thing to think about. And there really aren’t any warnings. Once you’ve started to bleed in your lungs, there’s not much that can be done to stop it. You basically die. Hmmm…I’m trying not to die so I’d like it if the drug I’m using to keep me alive doesn’t have death as a side effect.
I think Greg would like me to give it a try (not because he’s rooting for the death side effect but because it’s proven to work). Dr. Walsh understands my apprehension and doesn’t blame me if I don’t choose to use it. Avastin is used a lot in colon cancer and is successful. My fear is that my lungs are already compromised because remember, I have colon cancer in my lungs not in my colon or my liver—two places where you would normally have colon cancer. The lungs are a metastatic site for colon cancer, but only after it has hit your bowels and your liver. Mine skipped those steps and decided the lungs would be a great place to start. The fatal bleeding of the lungs happens to those who have compromised lungs and that just so happens to be me.
Dr. Walsh told me that my decision to use Avastin depends on how much I’m willing to risk. I’m still on my first line drug which is great but because of that, I might not be willing to risk the lungs bleeding to death. I can still add Avastin another time with the Oxaliplatin and I can use it with second line of drugs if needed.
Dr. Walsh feels like the Oxaliplatin worked like a charm the last time and thinks it will work again. Just in case you’re wondering, the Oxaliplatin fights the cancer by stopping the cells from multiplying. It binds together the strands of the cells’ genetic material, DNA. DNA is needed for growth and multiplication of cells. Oxaliplatin damages the DNA inside the cancer cells and therefore prevents them from multiplying.
First line drugs are the treatments you receive that give you the best possible chance of beating the type of cancer you have. Once it stops working, you move to second line drugs and then third line if there are any. The good thing about colon cancer is there are two great protocols for it and one might not be that much better than the other. I’m using FolFox, which uses Oxaliplatin as its main drug as my first line treatment. My second line drug would be FolFiri, which uses Irinotecan as its main agent.
Oxaliplatin never stopped working for me. Instead, I reached maximum toxicity back in August. Therefore, we can take it back off the shelf and use it again and hope for the same success.