I had my first appointment with my oncologist this afternoon since the hospital stay. They gave me a week off my Tagrisso to fully recover from all my nausea, diarrhea, lung congestion, etc. all the stuff I was dealing with during my hospital stay. They were concerned Tagrisso was adding to those side affects so they took me off it to be eliminate some variables. I had to confess I started back on Tagrisso as soon as I got home “against” doctor’s orders. I was feeling well enough and I wasn’t going to give cancer another week to work against me. I told him he was allowed to be mad at me, but he didn’t, he said he was happy I stayed on it. Whew! I am not in trouble… like I am not already in enough trouble! lol!
He said the start of the treatments could be rough sometimes as we adjust to every individuals’ responses to medications, so I had a rough start especially with radiation. The treatment goal of reducing pain in my spine through radiation has been achieved. I am no longer in extreme back pain, so we agreed radiation is officially done.
Going forward, we will only do Tagrisso for the next couple of months to see if we could get to a stable period where the medicine can take effect. I will get blood tests every two weeks and stay on a good and easy routine.
Tagrisso is the pill that blocks the gene mutation that produces cancer cells. During the hospital stay, with all the complications going on, they put me through several CT scans. Although they were not meant to measure the effectively of Tagrisso, the report did comment on slight shrinking of the tumor in my lungs and improvement on my nodules. Hopeful signs there.
My energy level has been up and down since my week long hospital stay. I am adjusting my activity levels as I can. Some days I am up, some days I am down. Generally speaking, I am getting better overall. I was able to do a slow set of tai chi here and there. It feels good to be able to get in touch with my body again through tai chi.