Gratitude changes everything...

Today didn't turn out quite as we expected. You'd think that I'd be used to that by now, but I'm not - not even a little bit.   The good news is that the radiation treatments seem to have worked and my hip is showing improvement!  (hmmmmmm..... does that warrant a new celebratory tattoo?)  The bad news is that there are some areas on my upper spine that clearly show progression.  The decision was pretty obvious - time to change meds ....again.  

For now, I seem to have reached the end of treating this disease hormonally and am venturing into the realm of more traditional chemotherapy.  We have decided on a drug called "Navelbine" as my next treatment.  This is a very mild chemotherapy treatment that will hopefully knock these nasty cells out enough so I can go off all medications for a while.  We expect very minimal side-effects. Fatigue and a low white blood cell count are the two most common side-effects, both of which I have experienced before.  

The drug will be administered through an IV line.  The infusion takes about two hours and I will have one treatment a week for three or four weeks followed by a week or two off to recuperate.   I will have to have blood tests before each treatment to make sure that my white blood cell count doesn't drop too low.  Our goal is to get through two complete cycles (6-8 treatments) and then we will scan to see if it is working.  If it works, I'll go through one or two more cycles and then be off ALL medications for as long as there is no evidence of progression.  I have been on medication for four years, so the possibility of being off of them makes me almost giddy with excitement.

Today was full of bad news, good news, bad news, good news.... I've lost track of the score, so it really boils down to this thought:  Today's scan was MUCH better than it was 18 months ago and that scan was MUCH better than it was four years ago and even though today seems like a step backwards, I'm still ahead of where I started!