Today was a long day . The good news was that again, mums brain is "unremarkable" and there is "no evidence of intracranial mass lesions". Her blood work was great , CEA is 2.3 , down from 3.2 in October and her CA 27-29 is 4.3, down from 4.5 . Dr O'Conner and the nurses felt that mum looked very well . Her weight has dropped to 162 lbs but that was not an issue for concern . With respect to the weight loss, there's no doubt that mum has two issues going on. She has the ongoing nausea and she feels her taste buds have been affected from the radiation . The only food she really enjoys now is very spicy flavours and she can only eat a few bites .
But ...... we couldn't get out of the hospital without one thing going wrong . Turns out , mum went to the dentist on Oakville last week and she suspected that mum may have a wisdom tooth growing . When mum mentioned this to Dr O'Conner, she was'nt too happy because the issue that comes to her mind is osteonecrosis of the jaw - a potential , but rare, side effect of Zometa . She said that she wants mum to see Dr Maureen Sullivan a dental oncologist at Roswell for follow up .
The Zometa infusion was cancelled for today and if there is bone necrosis, mum may have to stop the drug permanently . Obviously, this is worrying, but we don't want to jump to any conclusions right now until we know what we are dealing with . Hopefully it is something that can be sorted out and mum can resume the Zometa . The drug is working for her and it would be best to continue for as long as possible . Dr O'Conner did reassure mum that if Zometa had to be discontinued, she may already have had the maximum positive impact on the bones .There is a shortage of clinical trials to establish optimal dosing for Zometa . It's not 100% clear if the Zometa even needs to be given monthly after a certain point .
My sense is that the Zometa and the Aromasin have done wonders for mum . Compared to the worry in the summer that she was at risk for hip fracture and other ghastly things, she is bouncing around like a new person !
