Last Avastin Dose and good CT scan

Last Monday, March 21, I got the last dose of Avastin of my investigational trial.

The good news: Totally completed the entire chemotherapy regimen & now that I am no longer taking Avastin, within a few weeks - a month or so at most - if I have to have surgery it will no longer be life-threatening.

The disquietening feeling: that was the last dose of stuff that makes it hard for any residual tumor cells to get a foot hold and grow. From now on, they have an open playing field.

Well, let's focus on the good stuff.

Then Tuesday, March 22 I had the first follow up CT scan. Wednesday I was called and told the CT scan looks good. And the next set of follow up appointments was made.

So from here on out it is a visit every 6 weeks or so to have my port flushed. The port is a permenent little entry inserted into the vein that can be used for drawing blood and giving infusions like medicine into the vein. They leave it in for at least another year - and I have to have it flushed periodically to keep it from clotting off. Plus they will use that opportunity to draw blood to test for the blood marker CA-125. As if starts rising again, that suggests the cancer is returning. As long as it stays down it suggests all is well.

As well as a visit every 3 months for an examination, and a CT scan every 6 months for the next 2 years. After that all visits drop to every 6 months. Time will tell, but for now all is well.

Meanwhile it is that confusing season in Georgia when you may have to switch your home system from heat to AC back to heat again several times within a week. Last night it dropped to the high 30s or maybe just the low 40s, and I put the heat back on. Predictions for this weekend suggest I may have to switch back to AC again.

The blossems are gone from the peach tree in the yard, but in full bloom on the dogwoods now. Lots of daffodils and narcissus in yards, and the azealas are budding out. The forsythias are no longer the only bright sentinels of spring around here.

On the down side, when I pick the dog's outdoor water bowls up in the morning to refill them, I first have to clear the yellow rim of pine pollen away, and NPR reported this morning those famous Georgia High Pollen Counts that should encourage people with lung disease to stay indoors or wear respiratory protection, and those will pollen allergies to keep their antihistamines close by.

Beautiful sunny days that begin before you leave for work in the morning and extend beyond the rush hour traffic coming home. It is a great time of year in the South.