Yesterday it was time for our once-every-six-weeks visit to the KU Cancer Center.  Because Mohamed has classes Friday mornings, the appointment had to be in the afternoon.  Between the morning waits to eat after taking thyroid and chemo meds and the not eating for four hours before a CT scan, I was hungry, tired, and a little grumpy by the time the exams began.  Because of the tight schedule, they drew blood at the same time they put in the port for the CT scans.  The department where they do x-rays, MRIs, and CT scans was very busy, so the wait was long, but luckily, a new New Yorker had arrived just as we were leaving Topeka, so I had good reading to fill the time.  The scans themselves go quickly.

Then it was time to go to the second floor and wait for Dr. Van, who was "only" 40 minutes late.  He apologized for his lateness, and I wondered why since he's never been on time in the last 2½ years.  But I shouldn't complain because all the news was good: the kidney tumor hasn't grown, nor have any of the other spots in the area scanned, including my lungs.  I felt a little silly in that when Dr. Van said they had scanned the lungs, I insisted that they hadn't, that they had just done the pelvic area as usual.  And then the scans appeared on the computer screen, those of the lungs included.  I really hadn't thought that I had gone farther into the machine than usual, and they hadn't asked me to remove the chain around my neck with its small green sapphire and small gold chai.  But I couldn't argue with what was on the screen.  Everything continues to be stable--very good news indeed.

The last couple of months haven't been great.  After we reduced the Votrient from 600 to 400 mg per day, the diarrhea had improved for a couple of months, but by September, it had returned, along with a lack of appetite (though I had actually gained a couple of pounds at yesterday's exam).  For the last three weeks or so, I've had a number of aches and pains, especially in my back.  We considered changing the chemo to see whether that would mitigate the stomach problems, but since the Votrient
has been so effective, we're reluctant to try something new.  Or we could reduce the dosage, but we were all hesitant to do that as well.  So I'm going to take a break of a week in taking the Votrient to give my body the opportunity to "reboot."  We'll see whether that helps.  And we'll continue to monitor the pains in my back, since there are small tumors in my spine and ribs.  If they don't improve, at my next session, they'll do an MRI.

After the good news, neither of us having eaten all day, we stopped by the cafeteria, which was closed.  There was a vending machine, but the way the sun was reflecting, it was impossible to read the labels on the sandwiches.  I ended up with a meatball and cheese sandwich, which I gobbled down and for which I later paid the price.  I stayed awake almost the entire way home, but then conked out for an hour.  Neither of us made it past 10:30, but at least we went to sleep relieved and grateful for all that modern medicine can do.