Last Tuesday I completed my sixth round of Taxol. I was able to stop taking the Benadryl premed and lower the dose of steroids- so overall, I was feeling positive about this line of treatment. My side effects have been minimal other than slightly lower blood counts and hair loss. Generally I have felt pretty good, no pain. My tumor markers were in disagreement with each other - one was up and one was down. My scan was scheduled for Wednesday morning and I wasn’t sure what to expect. 
I got the scan report on Thursday from the radiologist, and this did not clear anything up for me. The notes were a bit confusing. It mentioned a lot of things responding well to treatment, but a few new things too. The liver tumor from July has mostly resolved, but now there’s a new one in a different spot on my liver. Many of my bone spots are smaller or resolved, but there’s new ones on T9 and T12. A very mixed result. Today I was scheduled to talk to the nurse practitioner about these results. She agreed with me that the notes were a little confusing, but she spoke with my doctor and they decided that it’s time to change treatments. Again. Ugh. This will be the 4th line of treatment that I have been on in 2024, my 9th line of treatment over the last six years since my diagnosis. This feels scary, I worry that my cancer is getting smarter than the medications. I don’t know how many lines of treatment are left for me, but if I keep going through the available treatments this quickly…. Sigh. I’m trying not to go there. 

So as soon as my insurance approves, they will schedule me to begin treatment with Trodelvy. This is a newer, targeted chemo. I will have chemo on a three week schedule, two weeks on and one week off. The side effects sound like most other chemos. Low blood counts, digestive issues, nausea, hair loss, fatigue, loss of appetite. I am not sure yet if I will have to take Benadryl before infusions again, but I will be back on the higher doses of steroids. Yuck. Hopefully I will learn soon if I need rides to chemo or if I will be able to bring myself. 

Because I’m still figuring this all out I haven’t added any new help items, but I will update those as needed. My family and I are so grateful for everything friends and family have done to support us!