Hello everyone,
I finally finished the 6 cycles of Carboplatin/Paclitaxel on May 19th - bit of a slog, but overall not too bad and with no delays to treatment throughout. I tolerated the treatment very well with no adverse effects (apart from the extravasation in December that was treated promptly). Six weeks on, I'm feeling so much better than I have done for many months.
We were able to get away to Spain by ferry 10 days later, but the oncologist wanted a blood test before travel to check if anything was needed. Fortunately, no action was needed although neutrophils were low at 0.9 and Hb at 100 (which explained some breathlessness at the time).
The trip went smoothly without any issues and I was relieved to find that travelling with a stoma (albeit not flying, but ferry and driving) was more straightforward than I anticipated. However, due to the fistula (which led to Paloma's creation), I didn't go swimming or cycling to minimise any infection risk as it is still 'active'. A few days into the trip, I felt 'tender' in that area and in some discomfort. Then I noticed 'debris' emerging from the fistula, which reminded me of what I saw during the sigmoidoscopy last August (an angry-looking solitary rectal ulcer that led to my diagnosis). It had a hard edge the colour of the end of a fingernail with a blueish/grey area underneath it and about half the size of a little fingernail. Using a magnifying mirror, I could see the pink tunnel - quite weird!
Once the material had come out, the mucus I'd been experiencing over the last 8 months or so completely stopped, and I felt a lot more comfortable. I can only think that the material was the remnants from the tumour perhaps?
So far, so good and my head hair is growing back and thickening up, plus eyelashes and eyebrows, etc are coming back. Leg hair has also returned! I had the 6 month CT scan and MRI scans of liver and pelvis on June 24. Next meeting with the oncologist is on Thursday to get the results.
So, fingers crossed and I'm hoping for the best given I was Stage 4 at diagnosis T4 N1 M1 with one met to the liver. At the 3 month scan, the one liver lesion had reduced slightly in size (down to 25mm) with no evidence of new disease and no news then on the size of the anal tumour. As some of the tumour was external, I think it has reduced in size but difficult to tell internally as the stoma bypassed that route.
I'll let you know what the next steps are after Thursday.
Kathy
