Well, Steve has started Cycle 2 of his chemotherapy treatments. After this Cycle (three treatments and an "off" week make up a Cycle), they will do another CT-scan in order to assess effectiveness.
The lab numbers from today were all very good. His bilirubin is almost in a normal range. The high end of normal is 1.3, and Steve's number is 1.6. This is down from a high of 5.5 a couple of weeks ago. Bottom line is that his liver is functioning much better than it was.
Other numbers that indicate tumor activity are still elevated, but have gone down dramatically from the initial diagnosis. All of this would seem to indicate that chemotherapy is doing its job.
They decided to give Steve the maximum dosage of both chemotherapy drugs again this time. He has not had the full dose since September 10th, so we will watch side effects carefully. Our Nurse Practitioner also recommends that he continue coming in for fluids twice a week, in addition to the chemotherapy day. It is a grueling schedule, but if it helps minimize his chemo-related adversities, it is worthwhile!
We have been here since 8:30am, and it's after 1:00pm now. Steve is excited to get home to eat! And there are some yummy enchiladas from Dawn with my name on them : ). We are counting down the time left. Should be out of here within the next 15 minutes...
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