Hi Rich -
Sorry, I forgot she already had the xeloda.

Got that while you were arguing about HER2 level - seems Xeloda did her SOME good. Maybe a combination would be even better?

Indeed, a long month for you all. Just keep your spirits up best you can. Like I told my Dad, "turnabout is fair play!"

I agree about Xeloda. Determining incremental/partial benefit seems to be a difficult area. I thought it would have been more telling to continue Xeloda and add H in. He feels it is important to see what H can do alone. He has told mom to hang on to her remaining Xeloda pills..might come back to it at some later point.

update: Serum Her2 went from 14 to 8.5 So....maybe it's doing something.

Hope she's feeling better today.

So, Rich -
Your Mom's serum Her2 level is almost as low as mine!

Heep it up!

Great news on the Her2 low levels, Rich. My prayers continue for your mother and you.

shobha

A couple prominent IR spheres docs (Nutting, Salem) read mom's PET/CT and suggested focus should be put on controlling a highly active nodule in lung. PET showed activity in liver was less in scope and intensity than was feared. Not sure why the current onc didn't ask for PET before..gave critical information a CT can't. Maybe he was going strictly by liver function tests which have been pretty good for a few months. The IR who ordered the PET/CT wanted to go forward with spheres.The other IR docs suggested cyberknife for the lung nodule but the onc wants to try chemo first. A little nervous about not zapping the nodule as it is reaching limits of RF ablation and I am not sure what's too big for cyberknife.
Today, Mom is getting a chest CT followed by her2 serum test and labs, then Herceptin, then new addition: Navelbine. Navelbine will be weekly for a few cycles, maybe longer interval after that. Haven't received follow up appointments. Meanwhile, Dad's in a different hospital again with an infection.

Rich, continued prayers for all of you. Mom is one of my silent heros, trudging forward and fighting battles one cannot see. I keep her in my heart as she encounters and beats off the evils of this disease one big bump after another.

Dad too remains in my on and off again thoughts, blurred by the conscious and unconciousness of my days. I have had him there in my prayers some time now because he too fights his own battles.

I think of you all yet again this morning. I thank you for being such a terrific son. I pray for the plateau in your lives when things are more controlled. I pray that when this time comes your family shall celebrate with all the vigor those journeys have contained.

I am also still chuckling about my spelling error and once again thank you for making me laugh with that special and warped sense of humor only you have. Thanks for being a Warrior in your own right. You not only fight for Mom and Dad, you are right in our corner at the very same time.>>Believe51