This is the beginning of Cycle 3 (2 sessions per cycle). Ideally, we'd like to get 4 cycles done, but 3 is considered acceptable.
The title of this post is a little confusing. I'll visit the chemo ward (ideally) 8 times. 4 courses of 2 sessions/course. Session 1,3,5 and 7 are the big ones (CIS-GEM) and 2,4,6,8 are GEM only (CISplatin and GEMcitabine).
Because I'm curious I went looking into the stats for 3 cycles versus 4, and found this. TLDR - 4 is twice as good as 3. Do 4 if you can.
The other curve-ball in this is that my kidney function markers are starting to be affected. It was a question this time as to whether I get a "full dose" of Cisplatin or not ... Dr. Noonan decided that I can get the full meal deal this time, but I'm wondering if this will change moving forward.
I've had a couple of questions about scheduling surgery. The way it will work is that at the end of the chemo (3 courses or 4), Dr. Noonan will call Dr. Wong (Urologist who will perform the surgery) to schedule. I've read different "ideal" surgery timings, but they're all within an 8-12 week window. It seems that "do it as soon as your healthy enough to do it". In our health care system, I'm sure there are other variables out of everyone's control ...
PS: If you hover over the photo a caption should come up. If it doesn't, this is my bladder and the arrow is pointing to the tumor. This is pre-chemo, and I'll have another CT on Dec 4th to see any changes.
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