Keith’s Health Update: Well today is 9/24 a day past the 9/23 reveal of the results of my CT Scan taken on 9/18. September 23 started off with a new set of blood work and a full comprehensive metabolic panel of tests. The results of the CT scan are mostly favorable showing reductions on affected areas of my lungs but some mixed results on the affected area on my liver. The way my oncologist described this is when the earlier CT was done, the image might have captured only the leading edge of the lesion and this last CT scan perhaps captured more of the middle of the total lesion hence the reason for the growth in this area. He also took into consideration how well I have been responding to the current chemo treatment and the noticeable improvement with my oxygen level and my energy level. Despite all these positives, he feels it is in my best interest to stay on short term disability and go thru two more sets of three day in a row chemo treatments and reassess my melanoma cancer status toward the end of October. I had hoped that he would release me to go back to work but understand he has my best interest foremost in his mind. Once we were done in the exam room, he had me head over to the infusion room to get things started. The chemo treatments I am now so familiar with seem pretty routine anymore. While going through the initial drug setup, my full blood work and metabolic report was completed. Most of all my blood work numbers continue to track along with previous readings with some minor fluctuations either up or down but always within decimal points of their defined “normal” range. The same thing can be said for most of my metabolic panel test numbers as well with a couple of exceptions. The first notable difference was my LDH [P34] where my numbers have been reducing significantly from 720 two months ago to 352 last month and still further down to 277 this time. Still higher than the upper level range high of 190 but still heading in the right direction. The other notable difference was when we discovered my potassium (K) reading was high so this eliminated the potassium that usually completes my “normal” full chemo treatment. So this eliminates one full hour of treatment time for me. This was good since I had not expected to stay there for chemo and had already scheduled a quartet rehearsal at 5:00 PM and then needed to go to chorus rehearsal at 7:00 PM. Got home from chorus by 10:15 PM but was still so energized that I could not sleep until nearly 12:30 AM. Sleep interrupted was the name of Monday nights (really early Tuesday morning) getting up nearly every hour to go to the bathroom from the water I typically consume when I am singing and in rehearsal mode. So segueing into Tuesday morning, I discovered Anna had fallen asleep in a recliner chair downstairs and I did not want to wake her at up at 1:30 AM when my dog decided he needed a bathroom break outside by scaring her so tried to rub her hands and talk to her but that did not wake her up so headed back upstairs to try and get some sleep myself. Finally decided to stay awake by 6:30 AM and went to the kitchen to discover Anna had been awake since 4:30 AM. Thought we were both up early enough to not have to rush to get to the oncology center by 11:30 AM which would have been correct if we had both not fallen back asleep in our respective recliner chairs. We barely had time to fix biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast and did not leave the house until 10:45 AM. Made our trip time a little tight but still made in on time. No blood work necessary today but was scheduled to see nurse practitioner Linda first before the day’s chemo treatment could begin. We had a long conversation over the upcoming treatment plan and what we might expect as we go forward. Linda explained some of the numbers from my blood work and metabolic panel tests that Anna had not heard directly before. Linda listened to my lung functions again this time and did not hear any “rubbing” sound when I was taking really deep breaths. It wasn’t till Linda mentioned that I noticed I was no longer feeling any “rubbing” in my left lung. We expressed our concern over the long term plan for me and how to get some answers to our questions. Linda indicated that St. Vincent’s had “nurse navigators” that specialize in certain areas of medicine that can be called when questions arise so had the nurse navigator for melanoma come over to talk with us. She also advised us on how to phrase questions for my oncologist so we get specific answers rather than ambiguous overview responses. Our nurse navigator Carol came to the infusion room and spent over an hour with us addressing various aspects on how she can help and answering questions we had not even dared to ask before. We both feel a little more reassured that we are not alone in this fight against melanoma and that there are resources at St. Vincent’s that can be utilized when needed. Finished up the last of the required chemo once again omitting potassium (K) for Tuesday making our stay just a little shorter. Headed home at 4:30 PM and had to deal with rush hour traffic. It is now already 9/25 and I have one more round of chemo to go thru transported by my best friend from college Michael Burris while Anna must head in a different direction to take her sister to her knee surgeon for a follow-up appointment. Eventually Anna will rendezvous with me up at the oncology center to take me home. Lots of things have happened in the past couple of days with more still to come. Thanks for continuing to follow our progress thru our cancer fight. Your continued support, love, and prayers help propel us along our journey.
Posted on: Wed, 25 Sep 2013 04:39:26 +0000
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