Feeling a little apprehensive this morning we headed off to see our oncologist this morning and we got the best news ever - Brian is still cancer-free! His MRI has shown no malignancies or bone lesions (although still shows degenerative disc disease in his spine) and his bone marrow was clear!! What a relief for us both, I think we were bouncing when leaving the hospital and then decided to celebrate and went to Red Lobster for lunch!
Having said that though, Brian is still far from feeling normal. His peripheral neuropathy is really not any better than it was a month ago when chemo stopped, he still gets nausea for which he needs to take anti-nausea medications and his appetite and energy are certainly not what he wants it to be. The chemo has done its job by ridding him of the cancer but has been very hard on his body as well. Dr. McCarron has prescribed gabapentin which she hopes will help with the peripheral neuropathy, and otherwise we just need to have patience to get Brian back to a place where he feels "normal." It may take a few months, maybe even up to a year, but he should hopefully start to feel better as time goes by. She said our short-term goal is to try to get off the narcotics which I really want to happen as well. I think the nausea he has is caused by the hydromorph Contin, but we also have to do that slowly, so she gave us a plan today which we will work towards. I am hoping that once the gabapentin takes effect, that will then help Brian with his leg issues, and he may not need the narcotic medication anymore. So patience is the key, but knowing that he is cancer-free, is a big plus as it definitely puts you in a better frame of mind!
She is going to monitor Brian on a monthly basis for now to see how he manages with his peripheral neuropathy, and if he starts to do well, those visits to her will get further apart. In the meantime, for the next two years, he will get his monthly injections of the pamidronate to keep his bones strong and he has to take acyclovir (antiviral) for a full two years as well, but that is okay, hopefully it keeps any pesky viruses at bay.
So today was definitely a good day! Now that the weather is better, and we can get outside more, I'm sure things will slowly improve for Brian. I will continue to update how things go over the next little while! Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers....we are truly blessed!
