Chemo Again?

25 Aug 08, Monday - Appointment with Dr Wong.

Before I saw her, I had another x-ray, and this x-ray showed that the fluid in my right lung is back again, though not as much as before the tap nearly 2 weeks ago. By now, I could more or less tell if the fluid is back

I had wanted my left lung tapped, but Dr Wong said to hold on for the time being. She said frequent tapping is not a solution as I may have air sucked in or have an infection.

She suggested that I should go for chemo again, but this time round the drug will not be so strong. I wanted time to consider as I am still having the side-effects of the previous chemo rounds.

When I had the tap on 13 August, they sent some samples for culture and testing. The results came back negative. But Dr Wong said the results might not be very accurate.

There are several reasons why my lungs keep getting flooded. It could be low albumin due to chemo, chemo damaged my lymph nodes or cancer cells in the lungs.

The blood test result of 13 Aug showed my albumin level at 34, but Dr Wong said the albumin is not the cause. I didn't mention the chemo damaging the lymph nodes as I thought she would probably shoot that down too.

I had also wanted her permission to remove the central line, as the stitch on one end of the clip had broke off. But she said to leave it first in case I am going for chemo again.

I had also complained of back pain, and that my thighs and heels hurt after getting up from a sitting or lying position. She prescribed some paracetamol with muscle relaxation.

I had 300mg of herceptin by iv.