Sutent

So, what they mean by a new "super drug" is that it can make you feel so
crappy you work much harder to will the cancer from your body so you can get off the medicine
and feel good again. Or, in Mafia speak, "youse gets rid of this cancer,
see, or we gonna give you more da medicine. It's a deal youse don't want to
refuse. Got it?"

Got it? Dang right I've got it. Out damn spots, out."

"Thass better."

Sutent, however, has been somewhat kinder than Nexavar (See D-I-V-O-R-C-E).
For example, while I get the sore feet, they are not quite as sore as with
Nexavar. On the other hand, I do have one hell of a fatigue ("Hey, Dave, the
house is on fire." "OK, I'll escape soon's my naps over." That kind of
fatigue) and my digestive system was doing unspeakable things, so I will
leave them unspoken. What I needed was a side affect management system.
One for foot and mouth sensitivity, disharmonious digestive disorders (no
kidding, disharmonious), blood pressure spikes and the like. So I go to the
doctor and discuss all of this and does that put a smile on the pharmacist's
face. Now I have a whole new regimen for nausea and other assorted
gastronomical malfunctions not mention all manner of foot and mouth
desensitizers.

And that's the big difference between traditional  fluid chemo and oral. When you are on
traditional chemo they give you bag of medicine that controls side affects.
With oral chemo you get the cancer medicine and nothing else. Side affects
have to be dealt with separately.

So I move on, well medicated, still tireder (don't you love that, tireder. I
don't mean fatigued, I mean tireder) than I ought to be, but with something
of a good grip on all of this. I can walk, not without some discomfort, but
still I can walk. Wonderful thing, being able to walk. The tummy is doing
much better with the new drugs, so I guess I don't have that much to
complain about. And my job keeps my mind busy and going forward and what a
blessing that is.

However, I'm willing these tumors away with the greatest of intensity
because I don't want to be managed with drugs (because when you are on this
many  medicines this powerful, you never feel like yourself no matter how
many side effects they manage). I would think most cancer patients would
agree with that.

Now, for some reader feedback. A friend asked at a fly fishing trade show
last week why, if I have that few tumors left, not just cut them out and be
done with it. Trust me, if were simple as that I would do in a minute, but my
renal cancer, which can be treated with surgery in its earliest stages, has
metastasized into some hard-to-get-to places and would require three to four
separate surgeries to scoop out, including surgery on the lungs, which you
want to avoid at all costs. Better to give me awful medicine to motivate me
to will the rest of this out of my body.

Thanks from the bottom of my heart for all your concerns and prayers. Now
that Sutent and I have reached something of a truce, I hope in two to three
more treatments my willing and praying and demanding will have taken affect,
the cancers will be gone and I, for the first time in almost two years, feel
exactly myself again.

Dave