On Monday November 18th, Jane met with her team of doctors at MD Anderson to review the test results as she completed the first three cycles with the single agent treatment plan using the drug Avastin. The tests indicate that the disease is essentially unchanged, in that it is not growing, which is great news for Jane. We'd obviously like to see the cancer shrink down to zero but, at this point, a stable disease is really good news and we need to take it one step at a time. Jane still continues to suffer from small side effects with the Avastin drug although she has tolerated the Avastin drug regime a whole lot better than the other drugs.
At this point, the plan is for Jane to take three more cycles of Avastin, which would involve three - three week cycles of taking the drug at the beginning of week one and then using the next two weeks to recover. This plan would take Jane through the months of November and December and then Jane would be ready to be "restaged" in about two months or mid-January. Jane feels a lot better and her spirits and outlook are much improved.
As we head into the Thanksgiving holidays, we all have much to be grateful for and we have been blessed with the love and support of so many friends and family over the past two years. We will continue to pray for all of you and hope you have a great and safe Thanksgiving with your families and loved ones.
Update...{November 7, 2013}
On Monday October 28, 2013 (apologize in advance for the late post), Jane started the third cycle of taking the drug Avastin. Avastin is the third different drug Jane has taken over the past two years to battle the adenocarcinoma cervical cancer that has metastasized (which means the cancer has spread from the original site) after being dormant for over ten years. The first two sets of chemotherapy drug treatment protocols were experimental in nature with Jane experiencing a pretty rough set of side effects with each regime, but the effectiveness of those drugs had pretty much run their natural course and the disease was no longer responsive to either set of drugs. With Avastin, Jane continues to handle this drug fairly well, with only minimal side effects at this point. Jane, however, continues to take daily doses of pain medications to manage her pain levels and the doctors are closely monitoring Jane's kidney functions which needed earlier treatment. Jane's blood work and kidney function test results from Monday October 28th came back in the range of "normal" for the most part, which is a really good sign.
On Friday November 15th, Jane will undergo a series of tests at MD Anderson including a CT scan, and those test results will be reviewed on Monday November 18th, at which point the doctors will again recommend a path forward. It has been over two years since we learned about Jane's recurrent, metastasized cancer and we are just grateful for each day and incredibly thankful for the gifts of friendship and unconditional support from so many wonderful friends and family. Please know that each one of you are in our daily prayers of thanksgiving.
On Friday November 15th, Jane will undergo a series of tests at MD Anderson including a CT scan, and those test results will be reviewed on Monday November 18th, at which point the doctors will again recommend a path forward. It has been over two years since we learned about Jane's recurrent, metastasized cancer and we are just grateful for each day and incredibly thankful for the gifts of friendship and unconditional support from so many wonderful friends and family. Please know that each one of you are in our daily prayers of thanksgiving.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)