Piece of Cake ;-D

Hi everyone,

So I had my first treatment of Avastin yesterday. My mom went with me for support and to keep me company while going through my first IV cancer treatment. Luckily, it went just like my doctor, the nurses and my friend who is taking Avastin said... total piece of cake. I had NO side effects and even the IV didn't hurt nearly as bad as others I've had. The nurses were totally awesome and, other than feeling bad for the older folks who were having a much more difficult time with their chemo, it was an almost enjoyable experience.

We also learned something new that I thought was pretty interesting. I had been told that Avastin isn't actually considered chemotherapy, but I didn't know what classified something as chemo vs. not chemo. I'll probably get this kinda wrong, but this is how I understand it. Apparently, chemo is a type of drug that attacks all rapidly growing cells in your body. Tumors are groups of rapidly growing cells, but so are hair cells, the lining of your esophagus, and your bone marrow. Therefore, in addition to attacking the tumor cells, it also kills your hair cells (making your hair fall out), the cells lining your esophagus (causing nausea) and the cells in your bones, where your white and red blood cells are made (causing fatigue from low red blood cells counts and a weakened immune system from low white blood cell counts). The amazing thing about Avastin is that it works differently. It "inhibit(s) angiogenesis, the process by which new blood vessels develop and carry vital nutrients to a tumor." (Science Daily, 4/14/09) So basically, it cuts off the tumor's food, starving it to death, rather than attacking the tumor itself. I just think that's really cool :)

My doc at UCSF said that, after having Avastin treatments for 6 weeks, if my MRI at that time shows my tumor/adema have either stabilized or (hopefully) shrunk, then he'd like to schedule me to do it for a year, with treatments every 2 weeks. This new reality has been almost more than I can take, in a good way :) It has given me fresh hope when I honestly thought there was none. I still need to be realistic and accept the fact that I have a brain tumor that has begun growing twice now, but at least it appears that I will be able to make some new plans for the future and spend quality time with my loved ones.

My left leg is still partially paralysed and I kinda hobble around all gimpy, but I figure if I can laugh at myself, it makes it much less frustrating. A few months ago I signed up to walk a half-marathon in SF in October & would love to still be able to do it. I might be the last person to cross the finish line because I'm REALLY slow these days, but that'd be a pretty cool accomplishment :) I'm really hoping that my new medicine might shrink the tumor and/or adema enough that I will get full control over my leg again, but I'm not counting on it. This is just my new reality.

I hope you all are doing well & I'm sending my love and appreciation out to my awesome support network. I'm a lucky girl to have you all in my life!

XOXO,
Laurie