I went to the doctor yesterday to get my results and unfortunately they were not at all what I was hoping for. Not only is the cancer still there but it has also only moderately reduced from the last MRI. The concern now is that it is actually still active. By this point he would have hoped for it to be inactive and the chemo just killing off the growth. When I got the initial great results in May that showed it had reacted really well to the chemo he did say that sometimes cancers that react really well to begin with can stop reacting to the chemo around the 4th to 5th month which is exactly where I am right now. Given that it could still be active he wants me to continue chemo for as long as possible before Arielle is born as he agrees I will have to miss one treatment at the time of her birth. So the plan (assuming the ultrasounds for Arielle show an improvement in growth) is for me to have a chemo at the end of week 34 (31st August) then rest up for two weeks and be induced at 37 weeks (18 Sept) then rest up for two weeks and resume chemo at the start of October. Then after that chemo they will do some different tests that will be able to determine if the cancer is still active. If it is then alternative treatments (such as radiation treatment) will need to be considered (radiation treatment in combination with chemo is something Dr Taylor wants to avoid as although it does have a good success rate on the cancer it poses a much higher risk of me developing leukaemia later on). So the verdict is chemo until at least the end of November and maybe radiation in there as well and hopefully that will get rid of it – if not then we will deal with that then all of this is more than I can cope with at the moment. But at least I can still have Arielle at 37 weeks which is still really great. Breastfeeding, except for perhaps the first two weeks after she is born, is now out of the question totally.
Dr Taylor is also not sure he is doing the right thing leaving me out of hospital so I am under very strict instructions to rest and eat and have had to promise to call and check myself in if at any point I feel like I need more rest or looking after. He is away for two weeks and will assess me again when he gets back. So rest is the name of the game from now until Arielle is born.
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