In Uncharted Territory

Today was supposed to be the day Denny started his chemo treatments for the week.  The plan was to expand the week to 5 days of chemo instead of 4.  The Topotecan is not holding.  When the oncologist saw Denny this morning, she said, "This does not look good.  It is very swollen".  She took the Topotecan out of the treatment plan altogether.  We are now in uncharted territory once again.

She plans to start a new chemo regimen with a drug in the same class as Topotecan; hoping to get a positive response.  This drug is Irinotecan.  Treatment has been delayed due to insurance pre-certification.  Normally, the insurance company requires a 72 hour pre-certification period before administering.  The oncologist is trying to push it through as an emergency.  Denny's tumor can grow at an alarming rate in 72 hours.  The paperwork is in progress and, hopefully, treatment will begin tomorrow.

Since his last doctor visit 3 weeks ago, Denny has lost 7 more pounds.  He is eating but not as much or as often as he used to.  Superman is still doing odd jobs around the house as he feels like it.  Life is still moving along and we are hanging on like a hair on a biscuit (a little southern saying that our son used on me a couple of days ago).

We don't know what is going to happen.  We don't know if the chemo will be effective.  We won't know if he can tolerate it.  We also can't worry about it.  We have faith that things will work out.  Please say a prayer for Superman that the pain remains controlled and the Irinotecan will halt the tumor growth. I'll update the blog when the new information becomes available.  Thanks for checking in and cheering Denny on.  We truly appreciate you!

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