11/28 exam

  The doctor said that I had growth including to lymph nodes in my back and that we should treat those like everything else. I had some growth.  The cancer and itching should be effected by the chemo (which I can't name right now).  Red blood count is staying  stable.  This one is 4 pills once a week.  I'm still going to have side-effect problems for a while.  My new medicine is VOTRIENT (not afinitor).   It attacks how a tumor gets nourishment.

Trying another direction

  My time off Afinitor has not full got me through the lingering side-effect.  The doctor has decided that I can't tolerated Afnitor and to go on to something else.  I'll get a scan Monday and see the doctor on the following Monday  (11/28) to decide to go a new type of medication depending if I had no growth or growth while I was off Afinitor.   If it no real new growth, it will be something that works like Afinitor but with other side-effects possible.  Or we'll go a different direction with something that works differently.

It's complicated!

I went to the doctor today while finishing the 3rd week off Afinitor due to my continuing to have greater weakness, itchiness, loss of sleep and coughing.  We're trying to time out the itchiness to heal after the week of Prednisone and weeks of cortisone cream.  The nurse practictioner is concluding that the weakness is due to my calcium being too high (11+) in my blood.  She proposed staying off one weak, giving me a monthly treatment for the calcium (a shot which may or may not be needed) and a transfusion (because my hemoglobin is 9+).  It's the morning after and I feel a bit better and not so disabled.  It should get a bit better for another day (on the transfusion) and for many days on the shot (actually just put into the transfusion IV).  We'll see!  Then I go in Monday to start Afinitor again.  Being off it, she explained, might make me worse in some days due to just having the tumors can cause many  problems like my coughing.

Side effects

  I'll be off Afinitor for the third and last week while hoping to get my skin to settle down.  My arms are healing well after the prednisone but other areas that  are more mild, but still itchy enough to keep me awake, have not settled down yet.  Once we go back on Afinitor, if the rash comes back then we'll use prednisone even though it's not generally recommended with Afinitor (or any steroid).  That is a general rule but it had worked for me so we'll try them together to try to subdue the itchy/rash side-effect.