Latest CT Scan Results

I generally get a CT scan after the third in a series of infusions. After receiving seven infusions beginning in December 2011, I had a four month break over the summer, and my last infusion (before the one I got today) was the sixth since I restarted chemotherapy in late August, so I had a CT scan last Friday.

I haven't seen a copy of the radiologist's report yet, but my oncologist said that the trend toward smaller tumor size continued. Given my background in educational assessment, I am leery of the reliability of small changes from CT to CT given the many sources of error inherent in the CT process, but I am encouraged by two successive CTs showing positive results. At the very worst, my mesothelioma is stable.

Consequently, I had another infusion this afternoon. This will be an interesting one to experience because my last infusion produced almost no sense of unwellness, and almost no fatigue which was very unusual. I'm not sure what happened last time, but it may be the result of my taking my anti-nausea medicine for only two days instead of my typical habit of taking it for three or four days. The prescription says to take the medicine as needed. How do you interpret that? Having a great dislike of vomiting, I had decided long ago to take it regularly until I was sure I was not going to become nauseated. However, last round I went online and looked up information on the drug, ondansetron, and found that it was only given for a short duration in the studies that demonstrated its effectiveness. I also learned that it slows down the movement of food through the body and promotes constipation, so I decided to take it only on the day of the infusion and on the next day. The result was that I had no nausea, and I believe I have been taking it for too many days in the past. Whether stopping the drug contributed to the relief of my sense of abdominal unwellness and chemo fatigue, is uncertain, but I'm not going to take it after tomorrow and see how I feel this time.

As I'm sure I've reported before, my chemo drug, pemetrexed, is reasonably well tolerated, and I want to continue taking it (with perhaps another summer break) as long as my cancer remains indolent.