anemia?

Besides the usual weakness I have some extra weakness (or lack of energy--I can still lift stuff it seems) from anemia. I'm eating various vegetable a lot, an iron pill (multivitamin) and v-8 juice but I've got no gains in the week since I started that. I see the doctor in a few days and he might do something more dramatic, like give me some blood to boost my red blood cell count. It's a side-effect of the Afinitor.

Cough

The doctor gave me a cough suppressant which works a good part of the time. It's a pill. It stifles the urge to cough somehow.

Afinitor 20 days in

I went to see the doc today and he gave me a prescription for my cough (yay!) and he said that everything looks good except I have some anemia. He suggested some items to eat to control it (green vegies, liver, etc.) first.

Afinitor

It seems that there are similar side-effects to what I was taking (Sutent) but probably less with the exception that you can get a cough and shortness of breath from a lung infection with Afinitor. I have to watch this closely to cut it off quickly if it comes up.

3rd Sutent Scan

My scan was not good so we switched to a new medicine: Afinitor. It has less side-effects in general and works very differently from Sutent.

Cycle 3

I just took the first pill of cycle 3. Twenty-eight days of pills and then a scan. I'm plugging along like usual and even put up a lawyer ad in google and facebook to draw in some new cases.

Sutent cycle 3

I have a few days left on my 28 day 3rd cycle with the least side effects yet! The arthritis & tendonitis in my hands from the clinical trial last year is getting a bit better. I still don't have endurance for strong physical effort but nothing else!

Sutent first scan

I got scanned last week and after the first 2 cycles of 28 days of Sutent, we had 15% reduction for a good scan! Hopefully this is one of many quarterly good scans from the Sutent. The doctor was very positive. Sutent can keep the illness at bay for indefinitely so we are very hopeful!

Cycle 2

I'm 5 days into cycle 2 (28 days of pills; 14 days off) of the Sutent. Around the end of the 28 days of Sutent pills, I get scanned. Side-effects seem milder this time around. Hopefully a portent of things to come!

Sutent cycle 1 done

Sutent can be given in a couple doses and done 28 days on and 14 off or the easier mode of 2 weeks on and 1 off. I had some exhaustion after activity, some pain in my hands which may have been from the last medication (the clinical trial) and a fair amount of mouth sensitvity (making it hard to eat) and some minor digestion difficulties. After 5 days off I'm feeling the side effects fade (quicker than the other past medications). I do another cycle of 28 days and then get scanned. Side effects can diminish or get worse: I'm guessing they might get less for me since some were a bit diminished even during the cycle. This might be a good medication to be stuck with if it works!

Sutent

Three days and three pills and no side effects yet! That's a great start since you can have immediate reactions. Not it's a "wait and see" if anything cumulative starts cropping up which can happen now or far later.

Changing meds

My scan from last week was not good so they are taking me off the clinical trial of Avastin and Velcade and having me switch to Sutent. Sutent is a "first line" drug of kidney cancer but can carry some difficult side effects. When I was diagnosed last year it is what they prescribed for me while recommending that I go to Dr. Quinn to see if I qualified for IL-2. I'll start in a couple weeks. I could get none or all of the side effects but a couple would be the most common. Well at least I don't have to get IVs put on me twice a week any longer!

Scans

I got my CT scans and I have no new tumors, one that stayed the same, 2 that shrank and 1 that grew. Dr. Quinn says that this is a good scan and the sort of reaction that they would hope to see with the treatment. Not a cure but suspension of advancement. Very good news: Basically it has been a year and treatment has kept me as I was in 2009. It can go on like this indefinitely but if it fails at some point, there are many other medications to try and many in the works.

Side effects diminished!

My niece Debbie suggested that overdosing Motrin a bit, 3 tablets a day twice a day, might help after a few days since it has helped her and since we are closely related. I asked the doctor's assistant if Motrin was alright and got the "go". After 2 days of taking them it did help a lot and so here, a couple more days later, I have much of the joint pain reduced and can function much better. Thanks Debbie!

Cycle 2

Halfway done with cycle 2 and halfway to my next scan! My only side-effect is a lot of pain in the joints. I'm still up for walking though.