November is Pancreatic Awareness Month

Pancreatic cancer is a major health challenge...

The American Cancer Society reports that pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cancer killer in the United States. The ACS’s 2010 estimates for pancreatic cancer in the United States are 43,140 new cases and 36,800 deaths. The lifetime risk of having pancreatic cancer is about 1 in 72 and is similar for both men and women. The five-year survival rate is 5 percent, and this survival rate has not changed in nearly 40 years.

YOUR support can help change these statistics. Not all supporters can donate time or money, but all supporters can pray. That's all we ask. Not just for us, but for all who are living with this disease. Pray it Forward.

As an awareness reminder, why not wear all the Purple you can through the month of November!

Vicki & Joe

Links (info)

http://www.pancan.org/

http://www.knowitfightitendit.org/

Change Happens (again)

No more extreme cold sensitivity or other strange and nasty side effects. I am off the oxaliplatin and Xyloda because they were not working. The tumor on my liver had grown, so Dr. Abbruzzese decided we should try something else. I am going back to Houston for another round of radiation. This time it will focus on the liver tumor. The good news is that the one area on my liver is the only area that has changed since last time.
We got a plan today after spending a little over 24 hours wondering if we would need to be back in Houston next week. The plan is that we will meet with the radiation oncologist, Dr. Crane, on Nov 10. Radiation would start on Nov 15. We don't know yet how long, or how many treatments, but we were told to expect about a month. Depending on the outcome of an appeal with the insurance, the treatment could be Proton Therapy or IMRT. Proton therapy is preferred by the doctor, but it is not an approved, or certified, treatment. IMRT is what I received back in March.
We will probably take our trailer again. That means we'd probably leave home on Nov 8. There are still plenty of details to work out.

Joe

Changing things

Yesterday I got a port. It's a small device implanted under the skin on my upper right chest that allows easy access to my veins for chemo, blood draw, and contrast injection for CT scan. It will eliminate the problem I had with my arm with the first infusion of oxaliplatin. Today for chemo I won't have to be stuck at all since the surgeon left an access tube installed in the port just for today's chemo. I assume after chemo the tube/needle will be removed and I will be left with just a bump and the staples showing. There are 2 small incisions that were closed with staples. It is pretty sensitive using my right arm for some things, but it is already getting better.
This morning I started the second round of Xyloda pills. True to form, the nausea started a couple hours later. It sure seems to take a while for those anti-nausea pills to work! This evening I will start the extreme sensitivity to anything cold on my hands, feet, and mouth from the Oxaliplatin I will get this afternoon. Thankfully that goes away after a few days. I hope to make it to work tomorrow, but we'll see how I deal with all the side-effects.

Joe