dangit...

'Just got an email from NIH...

I'm confused though. I'm not a candidate for the PHP trial because I've not had Irinotecan; the IRI part of the FOLFIRI cocktail some colo-rectal cancer patients get. But, if I have Oxaliplatin, I might be reconsidered.

Um, I had six month of Oxaliplatin; the OX part of FOLFOX.

Does that change things? We shall see, I suppose. I've emailed back to clarify.

Meanwhile back at the ranch...

I'm finishing off round four of the Xeloda today. I'm unsure of the cause, but I believe I have developed some lactose intolerance too. I'll look into that as a side effect of Xeloda and/or Avastin but I don't remember seeing that as a problem.

There is no denying it though. I just happened to have not had any milk, yogurt, or cheese for a while when trying to bounce back from so earlier lower gastrointestinal distress... and as I was feeling better I tried to get some probiotics back in my gut with some 'active' yogurt. Bad news. I was back in Hell in a matter of a day.

'Worked my way back up from there and had some breakfast cereal after a bit. I believe Dante saved a seat for me on the seventh level that evening.

When I thought I'd spotted a pattern, I decided to work with it. Sure enough, life has improved a lot. There's other stuff going on, like a headache that seems to come and go with the barometer, but cutting out the dairy has made a big difference.

But it sucks though because I loooooove milk. Some people have a palette for wine or fine foods but I am a connoisseur of cow juice. And before you go recommending Lactaid or soy this, I've already decided I'm just willing to abstain for a while. I sincerely doubt it's the Avastin because it's been a problem for a lot longer than that good stuff. I want to wait for the chemo to be over with and then I'll experiment with adding the white stuff back to my diet. For now, it is more important to me to be feeling well than to be drinking milk or noshing on cheese.