Been a while …

General – There have not been any new things to report since the last post (26/10/2024). For another week or so, the last chemotherapy, which was infused 14 October, will continue to sensitise the cancer cells to radiation. The last three radiation treatments are Monday 4 Nov to Wednesday 6 Nov. As you know, the main side effect for me has been nausea which fluctuates from vague to intense, seemingly without cause. Other small things have happened – a bit of a rash for a few days; radiation treatments tire me, not so much in treatment, but by the time I get home I feel like a lie down which often leads to sleep; and the cumulative impacts of radiation fatigue seem stronger now than earlier. That means that I sleep more often.

Radiation treatment review – I met with Dr Wenchang Wong, the radiation oncologist on 29 Nov for a weekly treatment review. There was nothing new to report from the program of treatments. I have had virtually no side effects from radiation other than the fatigue. Wenchang stated that until recently, a cycle of 30 radiation treatments was the standard and extent of treatment received by patients with my stage of cancer. What has changed in the last couple of years is that patients now receive concurrent radiation and chemotherapy followed by targeted therapy or immunotherapy. Essentially, I am almost done with radiation. There will be a CT scan in 6 weeks to review the effectiveness of the chemoradiation therapies (complete response, partial response, stable disease, or progressed disease).

Dietitian review – When I went to the dietitian consult this week I found that Tegan was covering for the permanent dietitian (Jackie) who was on annual leave. It was kind of weird changing personnel so late in the program. Anyway, we needed to go over some territory that would not have been necessary had Tegan seen me through to the finish. No problems with Jackie – just different personality. The good news came at weigh in this week. Last week (22 Nov) I weighed 87.1kg. We were worried that I had endured a foul week of strong nausea which made me reluctant to eat and that would probably mean I would have lost weight. I should not have worried. Nurse David had done it again. I weighed in at 87.25kg. Bravo. That story may sound like a bit of a non-event. In reality, for a patient on chemoradiation for 6 weeks, who suffered a week of debilitating intense nausea, not losing weight is a major achievement. AND … I actually put on a small amount of weight!