Warning: This is a long one! Update: This week has literally crumbled beneath my feet. It has been emotionally draining and hard but we will keep going. Last Friday when I met with my doctor to get my next dosage of chemo he mentioned that my blood work was not looking so great. He mentioned that I would likely need a blood transfusion the following week after the next dosage of chemo. On Monday, I called the hospital to find out exactly why we were waiting until the following week and not just moving forward at that point with the transfusion. To spare the jibberish, it had to due with the fact I wasnt low enough and they figured the next chemo would throw me low enough and she informed me that if I wanted the transfusion now they would order it for me...so we took care of that! While I had them on the phone, I asked them what my LDH was (some of you will remember that LDH was a number we were following that would fall and rise in relation to how much cancer I did/didnt have.) and the nurse informed me that I had hit an all time high of 10,079. At that point, I lost my marbles and demanded scans. Ive been having lots of back/shoulder/bone pain and along with that number it brought us all to think that there could be some spreading/growth of the current cancer. So, on Wednesday, I had scans. Now that brings us to Friday, today. I found out a few things today: #1- my blood counts are/were not high enough for chemo. #2- the scans showed unfavorable results, just as we had expected. Scans are a bit tricky to decipher so Ill talk about the big things. We know that the 3 largest tumors in the liver have all doubled/tripled in size, Im unsure if there has been an increase in quantity. On the bone scan, we can still see the hip tumor, although it’s looking “better” and I’m not in any pain. There is some “activity” on rib #4 & #5 on the right along with the front top right side of my skull. What this simply means is that the dye they inject caused those spots to glow on the scan, however, they were not glowing in a “tumor like” shape. They are requesting a brain MRI to gain a better idea of what might be going on in the head. As far as the pain I’m in, the doctor I saw today thinks it’s due to the enlarged liver playing havoc on my body. In the meantime, we are changing chemo treatments to a combo treatment (carboplatin and gemcitabine, for those who are curious); Ill start that on Tuesday (if my blood counts are high enough on Monday). My doctor is naturally out of town so I saw the other doctor there today and she was absolutely amazing. They gave me a blood booster shot today and I have to go Saturday & Sunday for more. Monday I’m meeting with the pain doctor to try to find a pain management cycle that will help with the pain. I’m constantly on pain medication at this point and I try to stay off the heavy stuff during the day but this all might be changing. If you’ve made it this far, thanks ;) Please keep us in your prayers. Life is all about ups and downs, cancer or not. Our ups are just higher and our lows are lower. This was a big blow, but expected. I’m not sure how I’m feeling about it yet but this week has emotionally drained me. Right now I just want to enjoy the time I have with my family and babies and take it a day at a time….and on that note, I’ve got a birthday party for an almost 5 year old to plan! Eeek! (Say a prayer that I can pull that one off hahaha!)
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 02:47:28 +0000
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