Tuesday, May 24, 2016

may you live in interesting times

It's been two weeks since my surgery and for some reason, I thought this would be the easy part. I don't really know why I thought that, except that both my surgeon a and my medical oncologist seemed to the think that putting the Ommaya in could have been like day surgery and I would be feeling like myself again in a week or so.

Not so much.

The nurses were much more cautious and they said to take it easy, be consistent in my activity and increase it very slowly. Ultimately, this is what makes sense. I just wish I weren't so damned impatient.

My surgery was on May 9th. I was in the recovery room for much longer than planned because there was no bed for me in the neurology ward. I ended up being moved in the middle of the night and sent home by noon the next day. And I was just kept in as long as that, so that I could get my three doses of IV antibiotics.

I had a good first couple of days at home (and it was such a relief to be there) but later in the week, after a fast taper on the Decadron (the steroid with which I have a hate-hate-like relationship), I started to notice that my eyes were getting swollen, as though the lids were filling with water. By Saturday afternoon, they were swollen to slits.


They got worse.
No one told me this could happen.

The next day, Sunday, my eyes were starting to improve but my head was hurting. In the beginning, all the pain had been around my incision. By the following weekend, the top and back of my head hurt and it felt just like my brain was swelling. Or a new tumour was cutting off the flow of liquid. It hurt and was very, very scary.

I debated going to Emergency (I hate the ER but the stuff I was reading online pretty much said it could either be a nuisance or kill me) but in the end, decided to take it very easy and call my surgeon the next morning (Monday).

My doctor's secretary made me an appointment and had me come in. My surgeon ended being called away to an emergency and we spent 5 hours at the hospital. It was worth the wait. A CT scan showed that there was no bleed and no obvious new tumour. My doctor put me back on the steroids (a drag but good for the swelling), shared a pretty decent MRI with me and a very hopeful story of a patient with leptomeningeal disease who he knows and has treated, who is still alive and active, two years after her diagnosis.

I told him that I'm collecting hopeful stories.

I went home in a much better mood but woke up in the night with a killer urinary tract infection, my second in a month and almost definitely contracted at the hospital. I have finished my course of antibiotics to treat that and am trying to consume as much probiotic as I can, to avoid a resistance to antibiotics. 

It's totally a case of two steps forward, one step back. On Saturday I felt pretty good and .possibly overdid it. Today, my head hurts again and I am tired from the steroid induced insomnia. I'm also feeling irritable and impatient. I am not supposed to bend down or lift anything. And I hate having to ask for each thing that I need to be done for me.

Today is my regular Herceptin treatment. I still don't have a date for IT Herceptin

At least I'm sitting in the sunshine as I type this. I just need to chose to be in better mood.

Or not.




p.s.: This totally reads like writing on speed. The steroids make my heart pound and my fingers fly!

Friday, May 20, 2016

beating the blood brain barrier

Ouch! My writing muscle hurts! I realized this week that I have not blogged since March 23. I have so much I want to say that I don't know where to start, so it feels a little overwhelming. 

About 10 days ago, I had an Ommaya Reservoir, installed in my brain. Compared to my other brain surgeries it was a walk in the park but I'm still dealing with all kinds of fallout from the anesthetic, pain and healing. I had my staples out yesterday, though, so the end of the tunnel must be in sight (although my head hurts as I type this).

You can see my incision and the staples here. It's in a semi-circle at the front, slightly to the right.

The good news is that we have decided to try something that is still pretty experimental: injecting Herceptin (also called trastuzumab, to which I have been a super responder. I have been on the drug for 9.5 years and since since going into remission, have no detectable cancer below the neck) directly into my brain, thus getting past the issue of the blood-brain barrierThis is known as Intrathecal (or IT) Herceptin. There is currently a trial happening in Montreal (and a resident who works on it was just in Ottawa, working with my oncologist) and there are stories of people going through the process in the Western US. I will be the first in Ottawa. I'm told that everyone in the hospital is very excited.



By artwork by Patrick J. Lynch, Kuebi = Armin Kübelbeck - own work, the brain is taken from Image:Skull_and_brain_sagittal.svg made by Patrick L. Lynch. Made with InkScape., Public Domain,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6066950


IT trastuzumab was effective in targeting extramedullary (LM) metastases. This resulted in the prolonged survival of our patient for 46 months, compared to a median life expectancy of 3–4 months for breast cancer patients following the diagnosis of LM without treatment []. Given that IV trastuzumab does not cross the blood–brain barrier or blood CSF barrier, IT trastuzumab offers a direct approach to the leptomeninges. (from: "Intrathecal trastuzumab: immunotherapy improves the prognosis of leptomeningeal metastases in HER-2+ breast cancer patient", US National Library of Medicine)

The decision to go this route is the first time I have felt hopeful in a while. My oncologist is nervous about side effects and finding the right dose. I had a very intense reaction to Herceptin when I started and because this kind of treament is still experimental there are potentially some very serious side effects (even death). There is also little clarity as to what dose would be both safe and effective.

Anecdotally, and in trials in Montreal (and elsewhere) the response has been very positive, over all. I'm glad my oncologist has been convinced to give it a go. Additionally, my latest MRI has revealed that the three tumours in the brain lining are all stable, so we are feeling less urgency. This is also good news, although I am keen to get started.

The bubble wrap is called a "Bear Hugger" and it's warm and lovely.
The drugs probably helped with that feeling.