From DDs to Diagnosis

My first ever cancer setback came in the form of finding out there was too much cancer to remove in my surgery. Fresh from this disappointment after a few months on trial drug Arimidex we had to accept that it was failing. It was around August 2016 that lesions had appeared in my chest and I was hospitalised weekly with bowel obstructions from cancer blocking my bowels. It came to a head when my kidneys were blocked on a trip to Uluru with my parents and I was admitted to Alice Springs hospital, vomiting uncontrollably. I was hooked up to fentanyl overnight and monitored plus had a CT scan which showed that my kidneys were blocked and I would need kidney stents.

Uluru was a stunning place, but I was wracked with illness and in pain most of the time, taking away from time with my family. I was also heartsick over my breakup that was in the works and inching closer. I knew this couldn't be what successful treatment looked like.

Once it was official that Arimidex was a no go it was decided that I would go back on chemo - Carboplatin and Caelyx, 6 rounds, which became 9 rounds followed by indefinite Caelyx. I would keep my hair which vain me loved and I looked anxiously forward to seeing if chemo would work and buy me more time. It has worked so far, and now after my 9th round of Carbo knocked me around causing nausea fatigue and vomiting I am just on Caelyx. My CA125 (cancer marker) has spiked, but that might just be an anomaly fingers crossed. My chest lesions feel the same size so I am optimistic that this is the case. Whats next? If Caelyx fails me we are trying an immuno trial but wont move on unless Caelyx fails to get as much out each treatment as possible. Such is the life of shopping for treatments when you have advanced, incurable metastatic cancer, it involves a lot of uncertainty and trust in your oncologist.