some answers

Hey all- Well I wanted to wait to write until I had gotten all the results and all the doctors appointments out of the way so I could give a full report. We were glad we made the trip to Omaha. It is always great to see Dr. Foster, even if I don't get all the answers I want, he still gives us so much hope. He was a bit concerned that I have been having more pain, so we ended up getting a CT done on Monday up in Omaha. Ugh, I had to drink that stuff again, would someone please come up with a better way to get the GI CT scan so I don't have to drink soooo much barium. It isn't even the taste that makes me sick, it is the quantity! Anyway, the results from briefly looking at the CT was that things were atleast stable. It seems like the bulk of the disease that is left is in the pelvis, no where else. That is good! The problem, from his standpoint, is that to get into the area, you have to work around the bladder and there is a great risk of having to end up removing the bladder and ending up with a urostomy, which is the last thing I want to have!!!!!! So, a bit hesitant about that. I had a CEA done there which was 7.9, but then I had it done here in KC the next day (thought i would go ahead and have it done to compare the two labs).. The result here is 5.1 so I think that is good as well. Things aren't progressing, they are atleast staying steady. I am still curious though about what exactly is in the pelvis, it could be more inflammation so I would like him to atleast go in and look at some point if possible, just to try and see what it looks like in there. That may be a possibility.
Overall, now we are going to stay the course until the two doc's can talk and put there heads together about the best plan. We are going to watch my CEA level a bit longer to see if it is staying about the same or going to go up. If it goes up I may have to start new chemotherapy. If it stays the same, I may be able to go on a break from chemo or do a pill form for maintenance for awhile, to give me a break from infusions. That would be nice too.
I saw the pain doc yesterday. He seems to agree that the source of the pain is from the ureteral stent. So he is going to talk to my urologist about the necessity of the right stent at this time. If I could get rid of that stent, now that we know my left kidney is a bit better than we thought, we might be able to remove the stent and possible decrease my pain significantly. IF not, I am just going to keep taking what I need to control the pain and hopefully can reduce the amount when the pain subsides a bit. I also probably have a UTI so that may cause the worsening of pain and now that i am on antibiotics, the pain may decrease a bit.

Whew... How was that for a summary. Was that too much info? I feel like I am having to write a summary for my boss or school or something, hehe. Let's talk about something else. Today I am going to go work out with one of my neighbor friends who is a trainer. We are going to "play around a bit" to see what I can do. THis will feel good. I am really wanting to start getting back into fitness and toning myself up and gaining more energy, strength, etc. This weekend is going to be a busy one, we have lots of people we are trying to get together with because we haven't seen so many of our friends in so long. We are also working on setting up a trip, we are looking into a Mediterranean Cruise. That is something I have always wanted to do, an area I haven't been yet. Ella is on a field trip with daycare today. She will be back with me tomorrow. We usually have a down day to rest up for the weekend. That is all for now. Talk to you all soon. Shawndra