And the doc says....

I saw Dr G today and he was extremely pleased with the way the Doxil appears to be working. First he said I "looked good," then he reviewed last week's labs and had more blood drawn from my port. I didn't stay long enough to get those results but they will be mailed to me.

The plan is to have an ultrasound of my abdomen next week to check on the liver mets. If they don't appear on the ultrasound, which Dr G says is possible even after only two treatments of Doxil, he will order another CT scan after my fourth treatment. (Ultrasounds and CTs give different information. He doesn't want me to have too much radioactive contrast, which is given with CTs and not ultrasounds.) If that future CT looks clear, then I will have two more rounds of Doxil for a total of six altogether.

This assumes that I continue to tolerate the Doxil well, with manageable side effects, and that it is indeed very effective.

I am also going to have a bone scan some time in August, date tbd. I haven't had a bone scan in more than a year and of course bone mets wouldn't show up on a CT, which looks at soft tissues.

Dr G also gave me a tip on managing hand-foot syndrome. He told me that the Doxil won't enter a chilled area as easily, so I should rest my hands and feet on ice packs while getting the chemo. Ice packs are now on my bring-to-chemo list.

In the meantime I have some mouth sores, a sore throat and pain swallowing (more drugs for that), and stinging hands (Vicodin helps, as does the glutamine and B6). All of these side effects are manageable at this level, if annoying. Even more annoying is that I have lost almost all my eyelashes. All the lower ones are gone, and the upper lashes I can count on the fingers of one hand each. So a lot of dirt is getting into my eyes, which eyelashes would normally filter out. Wearing my glasses only keeps some of the stuff out. And of course I am trying not to rub my eyes so I can keep the remaining lashes.

Still: Doxil is turning out to be manageable, well-tolerated and apparently very effective.