Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Back on chemotherapy

... no, not me: my wife.

Teresa was diagnosed with breast cancer in Aug 2002. By the time it was discovered, it had metastasized to bone, where it would live forever.
About 3 years ago the nasties metastasized to her liver.
The litany of her treatment protocols takes more than a minute to recite, but she's still with us - and doing pretty well, considering.

In November, 2009, the treatment protocol came close to killing her - suppressing her immune system to the point that she acquired "neutropenic fever". Her neutrophil count was 0. (Neutrophils being the infection-fighting white-blood-cells.) After a week in hospital, pumped full of IV antibiotics, and a couple of transfusions, she recovered.
She was on a "chemo holiday" till January.

On the "chemo holiday" she felt pretty good... But we figured the nasties were also feeling pretty good. It was a delightful surprise to discover via CT scan that liver lesions were shrinking, and no new lesions were discovered.
She started a hormone therapy - similar to what she was first on, 7.5 years ago. That first treatment regimen worked for about 2 years, so we were hopeful.

Last week's scans were not encouraging.
Liver lesions growing & multiplying.
She started yet another chemo routine today.

Yes, G-d presents us with these little challenges to help us build character... But still, I sometimes wish G-d took less interest in my personal development!

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