Here We Go Again

We met with the hema-oncologist today and my scans continue to look good, with no tumor progression and very stable imaging results. I have been able to return to part time status at work and continue with patient care. Recovery continues to be slow, but I am happy to be at a point where I can function a little more normally. My seizure meds are still a little jicky so I will have to work with the neurology team to get my meds properly adjusted. Currently I am taking 2g of Keppra daily and they have dropped me down to 200 mg of dilantin (I was having trouble with the 300 mg). I suspect they will want to up my keppra dose and wean me off the dilantin since they didn't want me on dilantin in the first place.

The next course will be 6 more rounds of chemotherapy. I will be on the full dose of temodar every 28 days orally. I will take chemo 5 days a week in a pill form and then I will rest 23 days. We will do this for 6 months and then we re-evaluate and see what things look like. I start chemo again on Monday (A little sooner than I anticipated). I'm a little nervous about this next chemo round as I will be on a much heavier dose, so I'm not sure how I'm going to respond. The suggestion was made to take the chemo at night before I go to bed so that I sleep through the potential side effects, but it is a wait and see thing. I did very well with the last round of chemo, but I was also in much better shape and feeling better physically. I have lost 8 lbs since this process started. I would say that is awesome, but the weight that has come off has been muscle mass and I am now down to 147 lbs.  I am hoping that in a month or so, I can receive clearance from the neurosurgeon to start a light strength training program. I miss exercise desperately and I am really looking forward to getting back into a weekly routine to build muscle strength and more energy. The good news is that I am getting some good walking in daily (although not much). I'm usually able to get about a mile or so in of walking at work so it certainly better than when I was bedridden for two weeks, but I crave movement and I'm beginning to find that just walking is not satisfying enough, even though I can't really tolerate much more than 4 hours of work in a day without being pretty tired.

Tomorrow my mom will be returning to Austin for a few weeks and Jeramy and I will work to get back into a routine with just the two of us. We have been able to work out a schedule so that Jeramy can take me to work and pick me up to take me home after my half day shift. It will be a good change, but I am sad to see my mom go because she has been such an awesome force in my life over the past few months staying up here to take care of me. I've gotten so used to her being here that It is very emotional to let her go. This is a challenge that you cannot anticipate when you are so far away from your family. I've been incredibly blessed to have family and friends that have been here to walk me through this process and help me when I am in need.