[If you aren’t a daily reader, and you haven’t seen the CT Scan results from earlier in the week, be sure to check them out first!]

There were a few questions from yesterday’s comments (as well as from some emails) about the tumor on my spine. Unfortunately there weren’t many definitive answers on that from the oncologist. It’s entirely possible that it’s gone, she couldn’t see anything in the CT Scan results, but she admitted that she’s not the greatest at interpreting those results. But she did note that the radiologist who looked at the results didn’t mark anything in that location so it might be gone. That would be consistent with the amount of shrinkage seen in the chest tumor.  But remember it wasn’t until the PET Scan that they noticed the involvement of my vertebrae the first time, although after it showed up on the PET Scan they were able to go back to the CT Scan and could then see evidence of it when they knew to look for it. That was then confirmed by an MRI. Still while it doesn’t appear to be there anymore, I got the impression that she wasn’t willing to give it the “all clear” yet without further tests. But until then we’ll go with “no news is good news.”

When we last meet her, she indicated that I was to have the CT Scan before we met with her again (and I did) and that I might have a another PET Scan after that. I asked her about this on Wednesday and she told me that the CT was more than conclusive enough that things were moving in the right direction that there was no need for the PET at this time. The treatment course it working and seems to be working well.

So the plan now if for another CT scan in about two months. At that point its POSSIBLE (and I stress the word possible) that we may start putting together an exit strategy at that time. I almost hate to even talk about it, as I’ve taken great pains to not think about and/or anticipate when we might bet finished with treatment, so take this all for what it’s worth. But, it’s POSSIBLE that we may have a good idea at that point as to when we’ll be finished. From what she described, we get to a point to where we stop seeing signs of disease and then we go through two more cycles (about 2 months) of chemotherapy just to be sure. So we could be looking at April or May here…  Again, don’t start getting your hopes up. I’m not starting to think about or talk about when I’ll be done with any kind of certainty, I’m just passing along the information as I get it.

If I had it my way I’d have been done weeks ago. I bitched about it a little to the oncologist. About how much I hate coming in for chemo. I haven’t had any symptoms of the cancer for months now. So at this point I’m fully aware that its these treatments that is the only thing holding me back right now. The only think keeping me sick. It just sucks starting feeling normal for a few days before I have go back in and start all over again, with each round being worse and worse. ALTHOUGH, I have to admit, after seeing those pictures I was pretty encouraged and ready to hop into that chair again, excited to keep up the progress. At least until they starting putting drug after drug back into me. I just wish I could have sat in that good feeling for a little longer.

Don’t get me wrong, the pictures are really nice to have. I’m kind of obsessing over them actually. Anytime I start to feel sick I’ll just pull up the blog and stare and those comparison photos. They remind me that it’s worth it!

Yesterday I mentioned that during several days in my chemo cycle I have a metallic taste in my mouth. But my tastes are slowly changing in other ways too. Its something that I was told might happen. Several cancer survivors that I’ve spoken to warned me that my tastes in food would start to change, and now several months into this journey (with several to go) I’m beginning to see what they mean. Luckily for me, it’s not that I’m adverse to foods I used to like, in fact it’s the opposite. In many ways my palate is growing.

The biggest change would be my desire for spicy foods. I used to be the kind of person who couldn’t stand spicy foods at all. Even “1 Star” on a menu rating system was too much for me handle. But now, as my sense of taste is slowly being destroyed by round after round of chemo drugs, I find that I really enjoy and even seek out spicier foods. Foods that I used to not be able to tolerate at all are foods that I’m now starting to find delicious.

Unfortunately there is a downside to my new desire for richer, and more intense foods. Heartburn. Before starting chemo I had only experienced heartburn on a few occasions. Now, it’s something that I can count on for 4 – 6 days of the two week chemo cycle. It started even back before I realized that I was suddenly attracted to more intense flavors, but I’m sure the new spices in my life aren’t helping this new form of digestional torture. Fortunately its thus far been controllable with the use of Tums and other chewable tablets so I would categorize it more as a mild annoyance in the grand scheme of things. But still, it’s a new thing for me.

The other thing (food wise) that I’ve noticed since starting chemo is that I can not get enough Mexican food. I could pretty much eat tacos or nachos for every meal of the day. My appetite for tacos cannot be stopped. Now I have always been a fan, and I don’t know if it’s related to my treatment, or if I’ve just never noticed it before, but if I had it my way, we’d be having tacos here every night. Sadly, I’ve yet to get Stine on-board with turning every night into Taco Tuesday. In fact, she’s probably even tired of Taco Tuesday at this point.