Tuesday we went back to the cancer center after only three weeks in order to see how I was doing on the new regimen of two weeks on the Votrient, one week off. In the interim, there had been one slight scare. I hadn't had much pep (or "many peps," as one of my French friends used to say), so a week ago Monday, we had decided to out for dinner. By 7:30, I was ready to go. "Are you ok?" Mohamed asked. I said yes; he said no, as blood was running out of my nose. The 1350 morning shots that Mohamed has given me over the last 3½ years are Lovanox, a strong blood thinner. It obviously was working, as it took an hour for the nose bleed to stop. Mohamed left to get take-out, and I ate well, but by 9:30 the bleeding had begun again, and we couldn't get it to stop. Big, stringy, gross globs of blood ran non-stop down my throat. Although it seemed silly to go to the ER for a nose bleed, by 11:30, when it was still bleeding, we decided to go. We spent two hours there. The doctor cauterized an artery in my nose, but I didn't have to have the inflatable balloon they sometimes have to use. Since then, there haven't been further problems, though yesterday we had a humidifier installed on the furnace.
Tuesday the blood work went smoothly, and there were no new problems. During the three weeks of the new schedule, the G-I problems had improved, and my blood pressure was relatively normal. The new regimen, however, meant that I was taking 1/3 the dosage of Votrient as I had taken when all this began. Mohamed was worried about the diminution, so during the consultation, we proposed increasing the dose by going to three weeks on, then one week off. So rather than this being a week without chemo, I'm still taking it. Next week will be the week off. As long as the three-week regimen doesn't have more serious side effects, we'll stay on it until the end of January when we have our next series of tests, including the CT scans.
Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, and a happy New Year that brings all of you health, prosperity, and joy.
