In July 2006, my wife, Angelique was diagnosed with cervical cancer. After a radical hysterectomy and several rounds of radiation & chemo, it has metastasized to her lungs and recurred, or returned, to her pelvic region. Both instances are inoperable. The pelvic tumor is affecting her bladder & colon function. It would be possible to remove the tumor, but bladder, colon, and basically everything south of the belly button would have to come out too. She'd be a month in the hospital, might not survive surgery, and still have nodules in her lungs. The nodules in the lungs are not operable either. It would be like trying to remove the seeds from a watermelon, while keeping the watermelon intact. It cannot be done.
The tumor's recurrence was discovered in February of this year. Since then she has been on a 3-week protocol of a drug called Taxol. For one day every three weeks she gets an infusion. The Taxol zaps 90% of her energy. The early part of the day is better than later in the day. Also, she has lost all her hair. Although she can't understand how she can still have all that hair in her nose!!
The tumor is the cause of a great deal of pain too. She stays on Morphine 24/7, has a souped-up vicodin, called Norco, for breakthrough pain, and a liquid Morphine for episodes of extraordinary pain. Believe me, too often it takes all three medications to get her comfortable.
The last CT scan, May 1, showed the nodules in the lungs remaining stable (good news); the pelvic-area tumor grew slightly (bad news), and the kidneys both look ok (good news). So, on balance, that's two "goods" vs one "bad"--"good" wins! Yay!! She will remain on the Taxol regimen for the foreseeable future. Her next infusion is Friday, May 29, at South Austin Cancer Center. It takes about four hours. They usually give her Benedryl, so she sleeps most of the day.
The tumor's recurrence was discovered in February of this year. Since then she has been on a 3-week protocol of a drug called Taxol. For one day every three weeks she gets an infusion. The Taxol zaps 90% of her energy. The early part of the day is better than later in the day. Also, she has lost all her hair. Although she can't understand how she can still have all that hair in her nose!!
The tumor is the cause of a great deal of pain too. She stays on Morphine 24/7, has a souped-up vicodin, called Norco, for breakthrough pain, and a liquid Morphine for episodes of extraordinary pain. Believe me, too often it takes all three medications to get her comfortable.
The last CT scan, May 1, showed the nodules in the lungs remaining stable (good news); the pelvic-area tumor grew slightly (bad news), and the kidneys both look ok (good news). So, on balance, that's two "goods" vs one "bad"--"good" wins! Yay!! She will remain on the Taxol regimen for the foreseeable future. Her next infusion is Friday, May 29, at South Austin Cancer Center. It takes about four hours. They usually give her Benedryl, so she sleeps most of the day.
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