Aliza has one month of treatments left! Three more infusions, including today's, and God willing, she will not have to think about chemotherapy for a long time.
Infusion 9 gave us a chance to talk to Dr Azar and get some information regarding the CT Scan and Pulmonary Function Test (PFT) and the results were very encouraging... and for Aliza, a degree of disappointment. Firstly: the lymphnodes show a significant reduction in size. This means the chemotherapies are doing their job exactly as hoped. These remaining 2 cycles (starting two weeks ago) are intended to keep the pressure on any remnant cancerous cells because if even one single cell survives, then the cancer will return and further chemo treatments are not an option - Aliza would have to go to stem cell / bone marrow replacement treatments. So, the disappointment for Aliza came in the form that although the chemo is working, she has to continue to receive the infusions which results in some complicated mental battles. She's holding on and we'll carry on.
Next: her breathing test (PFT) had good results. Aliza is not experiencing excessive damage to her lungs caused by the bleomycin as was the concern. It has some interesting side effects during the actual infusion (think elephant sitting on your chest and the nurses wanting to run an EKG), so she always has to ignore that one.
So, Aliza is off to another treatment, number 10, and is eagerly anticipating receiving her final infusion on June 5th.
The past two weeks have actually been "good". Her recovery following the infusion was pretty smooth and not nearly as up and down as at the beginning stages (a further indication that she is beating the cancer), she was able to go out to dinner the Friday following the infusion, and she attended the women's conference at our church this past weekend (the timing of which really couldn't have been better, so we are thankful for that).
Thanks again for everyone's support. You all have made this journey much easier than first feared and I can't imagine the struggles people have who don't have a group of friends and family surrounding them. We certainly count ourselves as blessed.
