Well, CMM is having a bit of a rough time of it. Ever since this last round of radiation treatment he has had to be back on oxygen, and his ability to do without it for even a short while (like trips to the bathroom) is decreasing rapidly. He did start back on the oral cancer drug at a lower dose yesterday so maybe that will help, but if it doesn't, there really isn't any other treatment option for his type of cancer. So this may be the beginning of the downward spiral. Despite being 3 years into stage 4 lung cancer, this is really the first time that breathing has been any kind of struggle. I don't know if the last round of radiation just affected too much of his remaining lung tissue, or maybe his pleural effusion has grown for some reason (it's been stable all this time) or maybe the tumors themselves have just had a growth spurt despite the new treatments.
I've tried to convince him that we could move into the downstairs bedroom as climbing the stairs is getting a bit difficult for him, but he refuses. (To be fair, the downstairs bedroom is small, and he has all his things around him in the upstairs bedroom). If he continues to go downhill I may have to restrict my time seeing patients to mornings only. My oldest son who lives with me works graveyards so he could tend to him in the mornings and I could take over in the afternoons before my son goes to sleep.
Hoping the new drug (Mektovi) can be tolerated at a lower dose and buys him some more time and relief from these symptoms.
