I had my oncology clinic appointment this afternoon so I decided to make a day out of it. (In other words I decided I really wanted a MaccyD breakfast even though that meant having a few hours to fritter away before the appointment.)
About 3 miles from home I had a lovely encounter with a family of deer. First the teenage fawn leapt into the road in front of me. I say teenage because he/she is nearly full grown but still has his/her spots. Next came the doe followed by the buck. They were stunning and each of them stood and looked at me for several seconds before leaping off again.
After McDonald's I caught the park & ride into town then picked up a few things from Lakeland and a couple of new fleeces. I then settled in at Costa with a medium vanilla latte (with extra vanilla obviously). I got to the hospital about an hour before my appointment so wandered into the League of Friends cafe for another coffee. Maintaining caffeine levels is important.
Clinic was running to time! Dr. P. is over the moon. She says all my scans show that the TDM1 is doing precisely what it's meant to do and doing it very well. My CA15-3 level (tumour marker) is the lowest it's ever been since we started monitoring it regularly. Having said that, she acknowledges the horrendous toll this is all taking on my body. She's going to reduce the dosage which a) should have no effect on the efficacy of the treatment but also b) reduce the side effects. She says I have been and am doing far better than anyone could have predicted. There will come a time when TDM1 is no longer effective and other options will need to be considered but for now we will continue as we are (with reduced side effects hopefully!).
I'll have another heart scan in the next few weeks. Dr. P. is also requesting my next CT scan for the week commencing 31 October. That should tie in with my next MRI.
Oh. She's also cleared me to have a holiday as long as I book it between treatments.