The Rollercoaster Ride

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It's been almost a month since my last post, things have been a little hectic and finding time to write has been tricky. Travis' 6th round of chemo happened on May 24th, we had been looking forward to it because it was the last round of chemo before his first CT Scan since his diagnosis in early March. The doctor told us the best case scenario would be that the scan shows significant improvement in his liver and then Travis might be able to switch over to an oral chemo. It was a beautiful day outside and Travis' mother was able to make the trip over from New York to join us. Everything went as expected and Travis was scheduled for his CT Scan on Friday June3rd.

Travis was even up for a road trip Memorial Day weekend, so we headed down to Rhode Island to spend some time with friends and family at the beach. It was very nice to get Travis out of the house and officially kick off summer! He was a little tired during the trip but was able to get a good balance of activity and rest in over the three day weekend. Travis went fishing a couple of times following our trip and caught a huge fish! It's great to see him out and about and doing things that he loves again!

On Friday June 3rd, Travis had his CT Scan first thing in the morning, later that day the hospital called. They informed us that Travis has a blood clot in his abdomen. It is not life threatening but we do need to keep an eye on things and make sure that he is feeling ok (symptoms can include swelling in the arms/legs, chest pain, shortness of breath...). Travis is part of a study at the clinic that keeps a close eye on blood clots in cancer patients and has been taking an oral dose of blood thinner daily. Travis returned to the hospital on Monday afternoon to meet with one of the team members and he was informed that he will need to start taking daily injections of medication that will hopefully help break down the blood clot.

Tuesday June 7th we returned to the clinic for a meeting with his doctor to find out the results of his scan. Travis' doctor was running late so there was a lot of waiting that morning, which was a little nerve wracking. When we finally met with the doctor he informed us that he had just gotten off the phone with the radiologist who was looking at the CT scan. The good news was that a lot of the cancer that was visible on his liver the first time around seems to be shrinking and "dying". The not so good news is that there is a new spot on his liver that was not there before. With that being said, he informed us that he could not even see it on the scan, and that the radiologist had to point it out to him. To be safe they decided that Travis should start another type of chemo in addition to what he is already taking. They are being proactive and aggressive with his treatment plan because his cancer marker has gone up, and he has handled chemo incredibly well so far. If Travis can tolerate both of the doses of chemo he will continue that for the next 6 rounds, if not he will just continue the new chemo.

The addition of the second chemo adds about 2 1/2 hours to his chemo session. After meeting with the doctor we arrived in the infusion room shortly before noon, Travis was the last one out of the clinic that evening around 6pm. This new chemo made Travis incredibly loopy and out of it, he said he felt like a zombie. When we arrived home he became incredibly nauseous and he was exhausted. Luckily he has a couple of options to fight off the nausea and he was able to take some and go to sleep. Travis has been tolerating his chemo like a champ, like it doesn't even phase him. This chemo session was a different story, it hit him like a mac truck. I am hoping that the next session is a little better, but only time will tell.

Thank you to everyone for your continued thoughts and prayers, they have been a huge comfort for us. Travis' disability application is still pending and we will most likely have another two months before it is finalized. As of right now we are hanging in there, I think that we are both a little disappointed that he will be undergoing 5 more rounds of chemo over this summer, but also hopeful that it will work! For now we hope he will be feeling good on his off weeks and we will be able to spend some time away from home and enjoying summer! We'll keep you updated!