Cancer Treatment Update #7 and #8

A treatment update, a test result, and a hiccup.

Hey there! If you’re new here, this is a cancer update for my husband, Bryan — not my usual Wednesday newsletter. For the backstory, you can see previous updates HERE. If you’re here for the non-cancer content, I’ll be back on Wednesday with The Usual.

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A Treatment Update

As of July 31st, Bryan has officially made it through the first phase of his chemotherapy! Hard to believe it’s been three+ months already — six infusions of the FOLFOX drug cocktail, administered every other week. This included Oxaliplatin, the drug responsible for his neuropathy symptoms and nausea.

After Bryan’s July 31st infusion, the Oxaliplatin was dropped, and he’ll continue to get the 5-FU infusions (which, as we discussed earlier, stands for FLUOROURACIL, not Fuck Up or Fuck-U). This is the one he gets in the pump to take home for 72 hours, so our appointments have been shorter sans the Oxaliplatin 2-hour drip. The most notable side effects that will continue from this drug are fatigue and nausea.

Here’s a video from August 14th on our way to Bryan’s seventh chemo infusion — this was before the pulmonary embolisms were discovered:

Fred Hutch is a research hospital, so we said give us all the research! They enrolled Bryan in two studies at no cost to us that will help inform treatment for future cancer patients. One is studying the use of acupuncture to relieve symptoms of nerve and cold sensitivity caused by the Oxaliplatin. He was in the control group that did not receive acupuncture during the treatment, but is able to receive sessions now that the trial portion is over.¹

It’s pretty cool that Fred Hutch is experimenting with acupuncture as one of their integrative care tools.

Just sitting here with dozens of needles sticking out of him. No big whoop.

Test Results

We got the results back from Bryan’s third Signatera² blood test a few weeks ago, and it came back NEGATIVE. This means that his specific cancer continues to not be detected in his blood!

Signatera is a fancy test that’s tuned to the DNA of Bryan’s specific cancer cells, and it’s designed for early detection of relapse. He’ll continue to get this test every three months for the next couple years, which gives us a little peace of mind going forward.

I recently learned that this particular clinic/building Bryan’s been getting chemo in since May only opened March. We get to sit in a comfortable, private room, and all of our providers for the day come to us. If you’re interested, I can write more about the model of care this team shifted to about three years ago that led to creating this new space.

A Slight Hiccup

I mentioned a new symptom in my previous update — phlegm and coughing — and this has continued. But then Bryan started experiencing shortness of breath, and I was getting worried. He would get winded taking a short walk through the yard, had a hard time sleeping, and even had trouble taking in air after a coughing fit at one point (which is a scary thing I’ve experienced and didn’t like watching happen to him).

The oncologist was concerned enough to order a chest x-ray, and a small cloud of pre-pneumonia was discovered in one of his lungs. She put him on antibiotics to see if it would clear up.

Hooked up in the ER, getting his heart checked.

Okay, so everything above this point was drafted a few weeks ago before Bryan was in the hospital for three days with bilateral polminary embolisms. I won’t repeat all the details and drama here, but you can read a detailed account HERE.

Over Labor Day weekend, Bryan was in the emergency room again with multiple incidents of chest throbbing over several hours that we were afraid were blood clots near his heart. I don’t even know if that’s a thing, but his hospital discharge papers said we should return to the ER if he experiences further “chest discomfort.”

A surprisingly slow night in the ER. We were here until after midnight.

He received great care while there, and we binge watched season one of The Lincoln Lawyer during the six+ hours we waited. His blood work came back looking great, as well as the EKG and CT scan. They didn’t really have an explanation for why he experienced multiple episodes of a throbbing chest, but they felt comfortable sending him home, and it hasn’t happened again.

We didn’t get home until after midnight and spent all of Monday resting. I was emotionally drained. Bryan keeps reminding me that we have a lot going on and sometimes it’s okay to lay on the couch all day. Still, it feels weird.

Today’s News

I drafted most of this update mid August, then added the latest on September first. Just this past week Bryan said he feels like his clarity is returning, and he stopped taking his anti-nausea medication because the nausea has subsided. Yay!

1. Prior mention of the trials in this post:

Next Steps for Bryan's Cancer Treatment

2. You can read about the Signatera testing HERE.