Radiation? Chemo one done.

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It has been a week and a couple of days since Laura’s first chemo session. She is feeling much better now after a few days of nausea and fatigue. The nausea medication worked but also had some strange side effects on Laura. Her vision blurred and she was tired and had equilibrium problems at times. But, she seems pretty normal now. However, she is getting some tingling in her scalp, a sure sign that her hair is thinking about falling out.

On Thursday, June 25, Laura met with Dr. Kristine Kokeny, a radiation oncologist at the HCI. She explained the issues involved in deciding whether or not to recommend radiation treatments after the chemo sessions are complete. The doctor sited several studies that she felt most closely matched Laura’s situation. Radiation is clearly useful when tumors are larger than 5 centimeters. Also, premenopausal women fit in the radiation group. It is also recommended if the cancer has reached the lymph nodes. Laura’s situation fits each of these closely enough that Dr. Kokeny recommended Laura go through radiation treatments. She predicted an 18% chance of recurrence with chemo alone improving to a 5% chance of recurrence with chemo and radiation. She suggested a 33 dose treatment cycle. It would be every weekday at the same time with the weekends off for 6 ½ weeks. The treatments would start a few weeks after chemo ends, finishing the entire cancer treatment cycle sometime in October. The reconstruction surgery will take place about a month after the radiation completes.

We discussed it for a while and finally decided that we would like to have a doctor in the Ogden area give a second opinion. Dr. Kokeny gave us a referral to a Dr. Gary Whipple, who is a radiation oncologist at McKay Dee Hospital. If he also recommends radiation after chemo we will probably have him do the treatments. The procedure should be identical to that of the HCI but will be half the distance from our home. This is a large consideration with 33 sessions.

It is still up to Laura whether or not she will undergo the radiation treatments. She has time to decide still, but she said earlier in the course of this battle to do all that the doctors recommend. It will be more time, effort and inconvenience, but in the long run, we will be glad to improve the odds of a complete recovery. Laura understands the odds but also feels conflicted because of her desire to have the treatments end as soon as possible. It is hard on her to see the end date moving further away.

Laura’s next chemo session, the second of four, will be Friday, July 10, 2009.