40 Treatments of Pemetrexed and Still Kicking

It's been just over three years now since I was diagnosed with lung cancer and considering they gave me a year to live I'm doing great.

During this journey so far to date I've had 8 treatments of CISplatin and gemcitabine, and 40 pemetrexed treatments. When I first started I never dreamed my body would be able to handle so many chemo sessions. I am lucky as I've never had to skip a treatment due to blood work coming back bad. 

Yesterday when I saw my oncologist he gave me the results of my latest CAT scan, and bone scan I had done, a week ago. Nothing has changed with the CAT scan and I'm still in remission. YEAH!!!! The bone scan revealed that I have arthritis in my hip. This is easy to deal with as they wanted to rule out cancer when they did the bone scan. 

People often say to me, oh I thought you'd be done with the chemo since you're in remission. I only wish this were so. I'm tired of chemo once a month but it is keeping the cancer at bay for now. Pemetrexed for me is a maintenance drug and it's doing its job. There is no end of chemo for me as long as my body can handle the treatments. My oncologist told me that because the cancer is in my lymph nodes that it will always be there. My job is to keep fighting and not to let it spread. Thinking positive has gotten me this far and I plan on getting much further. 


Merry Christmas Everyone!