Steady as i go....again.

ok, so i started on sutent the saturday after my last post so, 1/31. I am on the full 50 mg dose to see how that goes. so far so good. i didn't get enough sutent built up in my system to help keep the fluid down, so it built back up again. i called on mon. to see if i could get in earlier than thurs to be drained again....to give the sutent the best chance to keep the fluid at bay by draining as much as was safely possible. i still had plenty of edema as well. i developed a theory that the edema was simply moving and becoming the fluid since the edema was obviously moving and going down, but i was gaining fluid. i told my dr. about this theory and he said that he would be fine with that if that was what was happening. at least if that were the case, we are making progress, things are moving and getting better.

so, i went in on tues. to be drained and they took 4 liters off (almost 9 lbs). i don't know where all of this fluid is coming from, but man does it feel SOOOOO much better when they take it off. i had immediate relief. i was so much more comfortable. the places in my abs muscles that felt like they were torn or pulled from me straining so much to move the extra edema and fluid around were immediately relaxed and given relief. it is amazing how often and how much you use your core muscles. try to move without using them at all....it is fairly impossible. i couldn't let them relax enough to start healing until the pressure was finally where it needed to be. i have felt so much better ever since tues. i'm still on morphine, but i only have pain when i move certain ways vs. ALL the time and my belly is not filling back up as fast. it seems to be more manageable now. woohoo!!!

i've been on the sutent for a week and so far so good. i am going to call tomorrow(mon) to see about getting off the morphine. i don't like being on meds for very long and i have been on it for about 2 weeks now i think. i'd like to start working on tapering off of it even tho the torn muscle pain is still there, i think since there is less pressure, i could manage the pain with a less intense drug.

anyway, that's about it for now. feeling much better, eating a high protein very healthy diet, eating as much as i can, drinking as much as i can, edema continues to go down, fluid seems to be under control or at least it is taking a lot longer to build up this time and the sutent side effects aren't bothering me yet. still can't drive since the morphine makes me really drunk one minute, dizzy the next, tired the next and nauseous the next. will update again when i find out what my next steps are for the morphine taper. thanks guys!