Bits and pieces of info

Yesterday my oncologist let slip one bit of information that really sunk in. He said there have been no cases where pancreatic patients have recovered without surgery to remove the cancer. That is important to me because I have inoperable pancreatic cancer. You might be able to see how career limiting the meaning of that information could be to me. I pondered that information for a while. Then I started researching the claim. Seems that for the most part it is true.

Very few pancreatic cancer patients survive six months after diagnosis. I have survived nearly 9 months now and put on 25 pounds while doing it. Most of the data that supported those claims were a few years old. I called the National Cancer Institute and asked them a few questions to get recent data. First, what are the survival rates for pancreatic cancer patients with inoperable cancer? The answer is a very low number, less than 3% over five years. Next, what kills pancreatic cancer patients? Mostly the behavior of the pancreas, it either stops producing enough digestive enzymes and the patient starves to death, or the pancreas swells and blocks the digestive track and the patient starves to death. Or the cancer metastasizes to another site and takes over that organ it fails and that finishes the patient off. Most of the good news they had to share involved the administration of gemcitabine, Gemzar is the label name. I am on the Gemzar, Taxotere, Xaloda (GTX) chemotherapy regimen. Apparently I got the Cadillac regimen right out of the chute. Lucky me.

So here is where I start the possibly self delusional stuff. I put on weight while in chemo, the cancer has shrunk to half the original size and is currently stable. The metastasized cancer on my liver is gone. None of that seems to be going in the direction necessary to set any of the criteria in place for my passing. But there is a chance the cancer can build immunity to the chemo, but that is yet to be ascertained in the general case. So, for now I am properly deluded and I feel better. Also this morning my blood sugars were 135, as compared to over 400 the other day. Thank you Primary Care Physician man for the Novolog, it is working marvelously. Now I get to sleep in late, (slept till 11:30 today) claiming I am on chemo and need all the restorative sleep I can get.

For now I am feeling better about my health, such as it is. I have no idea where I will be in six months. My bet is bald again, fat still, more lazy and whining in my blog about how the chemo is making my life miserable. There is no cure for totally neurotic behavior after all.