Monday, April 13, 2009

Stubble

I finally have some mm long stubble on the top of my head. It looks blonde and is not uniformly distributed but it is a start. Still I have some edema-very swollen hands and a puffy belly. I assume this is due to my friend Taxol which I haven't had in 5 weeks.

My hyacinths and daffodils are beginning to bloom. We had Easter Brunch with Josh, Julia and her sister Nicole. Julia had a nice spread of very tasty food. All I contributed was mango cold soup.

Later today Shanna has her ultrasound. Hopefully the baby will give us a sneak peak.

Today's cancer news was how Herceptin helps women with metastatic breast cancer even though their primary tumor was her2 neg. Two main explanations: 31% of her2 neg primaries convert to her2+ in distal sites and that Herceptin helps the true negatives also. See:
http://www.cancernetwork.com/display/article/10165/1314209?pageNumber=1
Lesson learned: If this nasty tumor ever reappears, Herceptin might be of value.

Also an interesting paper on basic tumor biology is that some scientists have found that blocking certain genes stops Ca from entering the tumor cells thus stopping metastasis. This is a long way from becoming a drug as this is only working in animal studies but it is a good first step.
My tenth treatment today. The onc thinks I am holding up well. I ran down by the river later facing a very strong wind in one direction. Hard to get this water-laden body going..

Naomi being able to drive has added a new level of irritation to my life. She didn't come home last night at the time promised making me stay up late waiting. Then she brought home a friend without asking permission. We definitely need an attitude readjustment here.

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