Wibbly Pigs!

I seem to have neglected to write anything, for the whole of May, and half of June!
I'm still here anyway, and have added two baby guinea pigs to the family..





As far as health stuff goes, I saw my onc's registrar yesterday, after having a liver scan a couple of weeks ago.

The liver scan showed no change from January. Which in turn, showed no change from the previous one (in November 2007, I think). I find this quite hard to believe, considering how poorly I was with my liver, from January to April. But that's what they say, so..
Apparently there are lots of clusters of small tumours scattered throughout the right lobe of my liver.

The last time I saw my onc, 3 weeks ago, and the time before that, my liver function was getting worse. It seems to have improved slightly this time (even though the numbers are still much higher than they should be), which is as good news as I could hope for now.

I was at the lymphoedema clinic today (which is located in a hospice, so I always try to not look in the wards), to review the compression glove they gave me last week. And to get some trendy compression socks, for my swollen feet and ankles.
These things always come in 'American tan'. Does anyone actually have that colour skin?!

I'm off on hols, to Jersey, a week on Sunday, so just keeping my fingers crossed that I stay relatively well for that!

Myself and t'other half are going to Silverstone International this weekend, to an MG 'do', so fingers crossed for nice weather. I haven't figured out how to keep dry yet, when I'm in the wheelchair! Hoping to see some familiar faces there.

I had my zometa (bone strengthening drug) infusion yesterday, which always wipes me out for a couple of days. So I think I might go have a kip!

Hospital Today

Thought I'd better write about today's hospital visit, before I forget what's what..

Saw Dr P, who informed my that my bilirubin levels are almost back to normal now. Normal is 4-22. Mine's 24. Which, considering it was 250, at in January, is good!
We don;t know if it's because of the stent, or if the chemo's shrunk the tumours, so reduced the obstruction in my bile ducts. I suppose it's likely to be a combination of both.

While my bilirubin's gone down, other liver function results have gone up a bit, which could be cause for concern.
It could mean the capecitabine's not working as well anymore. Or it could be something else that's affecting it.
It's not great that they've gone up anyway. Liver scan's been ordered.

Over the past month or so, I've been having pain in my shoulder too. We know there are bone mets there, so it's likely that they're worsening too.
I'll be having a few blasts of radiation on my shoulder, to hopefully help with the pain.

Dr P's also referring me back to Nottingham City Hospital, now we know the Lapatinib/Tykerb trial's still open (for now). I just hope I'm still eligible for it, and I manage to get there before the trial closes.
While I was there, I got my prescription for cycle 6 of capeciatbine/Xeloda.

Not much else to report today.. I'm tired from hanging around the hospital all day.
Dr P was running behind, which I never mind, because I know he doesn't rush his patients. He always has plenty of time for us.
Then I had my zometa infusion. They found veins to take blood, and for the zometa, first time, which is quite unusual for me!