Odds and Ends

So far, things have been pretty uneventful on the cancer front. Tomorrow it will have been two weeks since my first infusion. Other than an unrelated fever I had last weekend, there hasn't been any adverse effects. The doctors really didn't think I'd have any, but you know how Murphy's Law goes. Next infusion is next week after Labor Day.

Since updates would be as periodic as they have been, I'll likely post a bit more infrequently. The times I'll likely get on here are:

1. After a doctor/hospital visit to let everyone know how things went.
2. If something comes up related to the cancer
3. When I think of a good post related to myself and how I'm dealing

This is going to be one of those last type of posts. It will kind of go along with the two previous posts I did about how I cope, and more specifically about using humor to stay upbeat.

An in-joke among cancer patients is something we refer to as "the cancer card". This is where you use the cancer to your advantage to get your way. Of course, most people don't use as their own personal pity party excuse; it's mainly left as a satirical way to poke fun at this illness and ourselves. Obviously there are some people that really can't do anything for themselves and need a caretaker, so there are times when we need to be hesitant to use it. But among friends it can be pretty funny.

I thought I'd end out with a quote from Neil Gaiman.

"Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten".

Ipilimumab

It seems like they always like to make these drug names as tongue twisty as possible. Ipilimimab, which I will refer to from here on as Ipi, is also branded as Yervoy. Ipi is quite different than the Vem I had to take. Vem was an oral tablet, just like popping pills for a headache or something. Ipi is a drug which needs to be infused and given intravenously. It is a very potent drug, very much like standard chemotherapy (except I should again state that it is not chemo, just the process is very similar). The potency means they can't just give me a shot and send me on my way.

Ipi Week 1

So it's been a week since I have been off my previous medication. Yesterday was my first infusion for the second part of this trial. I knew it was going to be a long day, but I didn't realize exactly how long it would turn out to be. I'll probably gloss over some of the more detailed stuff for the sake of brevity, but will try and take you through the whole day.

Coping 2: Electric Bugaloo

Before I start, just a quick update on my condition. I can tell the side effects are starting to slowly diminish, but they are still noticeable. The rash is starting to fade, although I still have the goosebumps (mainly on my legs). The redness in my face is beginning to go away and hopefully with it the dry skin will shed and refresh itself. The joint pain is still present, but doesn't seem to be as severe as before. Right now, my hands still ache but the rest of my body is trying to get in line. My hope is in the next few days everything will be unnoticeable.

Vem Phase 1 complete

So as of today, I have finished with my Vem cycle. My last dose was this morning. I had planned an earlier mid-week blog post, but didn't have the energy to type anything up.

This week has been kinda rough. My joint pain intensified greatly, but I am unsure whether it was due to my own doing or just how it happened. Where as before the joint pain was fairly dull, with only one part of my body being affected by sharp pain, this past week almost all my joints hurt at the same intensity at once. This made my past weekend very uncomfortable.

For the past couple of weeks I had been taking an Aleve along with my Vem doses to help curb this joint pain. Even though I was doing this, it didn't seem to really help. I was hoping it could cut the pain right out, but it never did 100%. So this past week I switched to taking some extra strength Tylenol instead, to see if it would work better. A couple days after the switch I noticed much more pain and it took me another day or two to make the connection before I went back to taking my Aleve. It could be just a placebo effect but the pain has again decreased to just one area of my body. In this case, it's my right wrist.

Even though I'm finished with my doses, I don't expect my side effects to completely wear off by tomorrow. In fact, I know that I'll likely still be the same leading into tonight, as taking my doses 12 hours apart never gave me any respite. We will see how things are going by this weekend. In the meantime, I'll keep taking my Aleve if the joint pain gets too bad.

So what's next on the agenda? Well, this next week I won't be doing anything. The doctors want to give me a week for the Vem to wash out of my system so it doesn't interfere with my next treatment cycle. Then next Tuesday will be a long day for me. I'm going to try to get out another update before then, but I'll likely not post again until after the first Yervoy infusion day.