No port for now . . . And CT scan results

I saw the wound care nurse today and she felt that my wound is not infected. And Dr. K didn't see any signs either, but he gave me a prescription for Levaquin, in order to get rid of any infection I might have - some bug that I may have picked up this last weekend. I took the first dose this afternoon, on an empty stomach and it's made me a little queasy. Now that I have eaten some, I am feeling better. But I got off my schedule a bit with the Ibuprofen and Tylenol, so I have had chills and a headache again. I think I am getting back into it again and I am feeling better.

However, I didn't sleep well last night -aches and chills, then too hot and sweaty- so I have been tired and that coupled with the ongoing fever and chills, I find myself really weepy. I don't feel strong today at all. And I don't like feeling that way.

I asked Dr. K about the port issue and he explained how both the chest one and the arm one work. He did say that it might be better to get the arm one because of the scar tissue and the swollen areas under my collar bone. However, he doesn't want to put in a port at this time because of the fear of infection. If the armpit wound gets infected, it would cause the port to be infected, too, and it would have to come out. So until the wound heals, no port. For as long as my veins can handle it.

As for Abraxane, I will be on it for at least two months and then we will reevaluate. If it works, then I will go on it for another four
months. That gets me within the timeframe for when the Herminator-2 cells should be working well, so with any luck, I could go off Abraxane then.

Then the CT scan results. The bad news is that in addition to the main lesion and satellite lesions in my armpit (the main one being about the same size), the radiologist felt that there is now a lesion on my liver (although Dr. K didn't seem to be completely sold on that idea), there are spots above my right collar bone (which I knew about), in the upper center of my chest (where there was some extra tissue after reconstruction -it seemed bigger and more tender), some suspicious pictures in my right groin and also some growth on a vertebrae in my spine. The good news is that the largest lesion in my left lung only grew 0.1 cm since mid-July. So the biggest problem areas from July appear to be about the same size, which I hope means that the t-cells were doing their job in those areas. Maybe, just maybe, this means that the lesions that were there at the time of the t-cell infusions have stabilized (meaning that it is working) but new spots that have cropped up in the last couple of months (remember no Herceptin or Zometa since late July) are not yet affected by the Herminator-2 cells, that my body's immune system is not yet primed enough to work on these new spots.

So, yep, it's time for Abraxane. I will also get Zometa again.

I have been trying hard not to feel too sorry for myself. I don't like feeling helpless. But hard to do when I am also fighting an infection.

However, I already feel less weepy now that I have had the Levaquin. Can it be working that well already? And I am back on track with the Ibuprofen.

P.S. My temp is now 97.9, about three hours after I first posted this entry.