Run a half-marathon... checked

Not me, Marie-Josée. You remember she was training for that. She wanted to do it in September 2008 but things happened.
Well she ran the hypothermic half-marathon this Saturday February 21 at Parc Jean-Drapeau.

A race of 21.1 km along the river at -15 celsius with westerly winds of 25 km/h. She did it with an injured knee but still managed a time of 2:34. Note that I'm not saying that she finished it, because for me that was a given. It's her time that impresses me. Imagine in the summer with a healthy knee she will certainly do it in 2h15, a very respectable time for a second half-marathon.

After that I feel small when I can not kick myself in the ass to go 3 km on the treadmill.

Here are some photos:

Chemo #14

I'm sitting at the dining table sipping my green tea after my peanut butter toasts. Marie-Josée is in front of me making her morning tour of her favorite websites (Facebook, email, blog about cancer, my blog, news). I take the time to write this blog before leaving for the hospital where I should receive my chemo # 14 (3rd Folfiri).
Yesterday I had an appointment with Dr. L.. Guess what? He talked to me about surgery. He said he had reviewed my case with my surgeon and Dr. P the best radiologist in the hospital. They agreed that the reduction in cancer was important. This led me to ask if I was in remission. He said in partial remission ... YES!

Then he told me he had spoken to a surgeon at Maisonneuve-Rosemont for the super specialized operation called HIPEC. The surgeon, given the presence of a spot on the liver, no matter how small, has refused to take my case. He considers that I need to continue chemo to reduce whatever is left, the less there is the better.

But in our conversation with Dr. L. we talked about another surgeon that can do the HIPEC, Dr Y.
Dr L. said he would call to ask for his opinion. We must understand that in the case of this kind of surgery there is no consensus among surgeons. Dr Y is at the CHUM (Montreal University hospital network) therefore practice philosophy is sometimes different from one hospital to another.

Yesterday evening I received the call from Dr. L who told me that he spoke directly to Dr Y about my case. The latter agreed to meet me in 3 weeks. This will be a preliminary meeting where I expect he will explain the reasons why I am a candidate or not for this surgery. Dr Y has requested a PET scan before giving its final decision on the feasibility of the operation. As this examination requires a cessation of chemotherapy for a period of 3 weeks before, we will take this opportunity to go to Dubai. We will be there 2 weeks and my stepfather and his wife will be with us for 8 days (they live in Kuwait, just next door ;-). They will retrieve my Piccline and I'll get a port-o-cath installed when I come back. A Port-o-cath is a system of distribution for the chemo which is implanted under the skin like a pacemaker. This has the advantage of allowing me to bathe, take a shower without worry of a bandage and a direct opening to my heart.

All this to tell you we were excited yesterday, partial remission, exploration of the possibility of surgery, yes sir!
There was just a little news that brought us back on earth, my markers went up rather than down. My CEA were 8.8 (6.2 last time). Dr L. as usual is quite stoic. His comment was "This shows that we made the change in treatment at the right time." In other words, it could be a possible indication that FOLFOX started to lose its effect. There was a slowdown when one considers the trend of the CEA markers(13, 12, 10, 7, 6.7, 6.2, 8.8). Of course the toxicity forced us to change but what he says is that the efficiency points to this change also. So for him Folfiri is a good deal at this point.

I gotta go. There may be no blog for a few days but don't worry too much.

Confirmation of the good news

Tuesday I went to the hospital because I had an appointment with a haematologist. It was also the scheduled day of chemotherapy but the results of my blood test on Monday was 1.1 so in theory too low for chemo. I will talk further about it later. In the absence of Dr L this week I met Dr. C. a haematologist who returns from a one-year fellowship in Australia. We were told she was excellent and very nice. She saw my file for the first time. As soon as we entered the office her first comment was.
-Wow! You have an excellent response to Folfox. Marie-Josée and I have looked at each other with an amused look. Our faces seemed to say: Well! We kind of thought so but we were waiting for confirmation from a haematologist.
At this point I said:
-In fact, it's over with Folfox since I had a severe reaction to the oxaliplatin, so we started Folfiri two weeks ago and that is why we have this appointment... a question of checking if there is any issue with the new treatment.
- And how are you?
-Very good. I answered her.

Then she takes a glance at my record, she looked at me and said: "I imagine that you want to receive your treatment today. Again Josée and I looked at each other with a smile. Well, for sure it would be great but I'm 1.1, we are kind of resigned for a delay.
She replied:-There is no reason.
She continued.
-Recent studies have shown that the treatment may, in some cases be given at 0.5. As you were at 1.1 yesterday, I am convinced that you are this morning at 1.3 ... 1.4. Plus you look young and fit then I see no indications against treatment today.
Should I prescribe it?
-Let’s go!

That sums up the story of the treatment that was cancelled but finally got prescribed. Nurses were kind of ready for it to happen because it seems that since Dr C. returned she is somewhat rewriting the established guidelines, with a smile of course. Looking at my records she raised another important point.
-You have consulted Dr. W.
-Yes, we were referred, and we wanted a second opinion on the exploratory surgery in July (see blog of August). In addition, this allowed me to be listed as one of his patients for surgery when appropriate.
It was a question of planning.
-What did he say?
-He confirmed the report and confirmed with great empathy that I was a very advanced case. He also opened the door to hope by saying that if the chemo worked well and I became a candidate for surgical specialist (called Hipec), he would submit my case to his colleague.
-Dr Younan.
-No, Dr Loungnarath.
-I know Dr. Younan and if you want I can submit your file to get his opinion as to the suitability of your case for surgery. Naturally in agreement with Dr. L.

Here, I went wild. A month ago I had the idea that it would be a longer battle than I had visualized. Finally, the doctor gives me hope that a late spring early summer could be possible. In any case it is the first haematologist to open the door to the surgery which was the objective from the beginning.
I was so pleased that throughout my treatment Josée observed that I had a smirk just like a little boy. She smiled widely herself.

In conclusion, an excellent day for our family. I continue to work on the remaining small spots around the liver and we’ll be talking about surgery soon.