So where do I begin? It's been a week filled with news that I would rather not have to deal with. First of all, I have been having more and more neuropathy in my feet and my hands. It started out subtle, like a tingling feeling and now it's progressed to constantly feeling like I am literally walking on pins and needles. Then my thumbs and the first two fingers on each hand started to be very painful. I didn't think it was neuropathy because I was waiting for tingling or numbness. I am not feeling that, but what I am feeling is like each finger has been slammed in the door and it hurts so bad. I can't even open a ziploc bag. I can hardly text, because I have to push hard, but thankfully I am able to type with just a little discomfort.
Yesterday was my normal chemo day. I have gone 12 straight weeks with no breaks and I was so excited because that meant I only had 6 times left. At the beginning of each 3 week cycle, I have to see my doctor and get an extensive blood work up done. Because I am on this clinical trial, they are watching me very closely. One of the chemo drugs I am having every week is called Taxol and it is known for causing neuropathy. There are different stages of neuropathy and I have been in a stage 1 up until this point. Yesterday when the doctor saw and heard how bad my feet and hands were, he upgraded my condition to level 2. Normally I would have been okay with that because things have been getting bad. But the problem with being at level 2 is that I could NOT receive treatment!!! Not until the symptoms from the neuropathy get better. The reason they are so careful with this is that if we ignore it, it can become irreversible (permanent) even after chemo is over. Ugh! That is the last thing I would want to happen. So with much disappointment, I agreed not to have chemo yesterday. I know it is not the end of the world, but it just means that I am prolonging being done. It could be as long as 3 weeks before my next treatment. Try telling a pregnant woman at the end of her pregnancy that she needs to tack on another 3 weeks! That's how I feel right now. But then when I talk to other people who are having far worse trials in their lives, and I realize that I can make it and that I need to continue to develop more of that horrible word.....PATIENCE!!!!
The last week I have been so weak and lethargic and my taste buds are completely gone and everthing tastes terrible! I have also been having a lot of pain around my rib cage. I saw my surgeon on Monday and he said that he thought it was the chemotheraphy causing it. Then when I saw my chemo doctor on Wednesday he said he thought it was from surgery! Good old doctors, always wanting to pass the blame. Anyway, my chemo doctor decided to be proactive and run some tests on me just to be safe. One of the drugs I am taking (Avastin) has been known to cause heart damage. So yesterday I had a chest x-ray, an EKG and tomorrow I will have an EKO which is an ultrasound on the heart, to make sure that the muscle in my heart is not being damaged. I feel like my life consists of bed, doctors, couch, bed, church, bed, and doctors again.
For the good news.... My white blood count was up and so I would have been able to have treatment. I'm taking some glyco-nutrients from Manatech that I truly believe has been the miracle in keeping my blood count treatable. I would recommend it to anyone who is going through chemotheraphy. There are so many things that I feel helpless with, but this is just something little that I am doing on my own that makes me feel empowered!
More good news.... They did another CA-125 blood test yesterday and it is down to 33.5!!!!! The normal range is 0-35 - so that means that I am finally in the normal range!!!! Yippee!!! That means that the chemo is working in killing the cancer I have right now! That's great news considering that before my surgery the CA-125 was 687. Then it dropped to 350 after surgery. Then to 165 after 3 weeks of chemo, then 81 after another 3 weeks, then to 51 after another 3 weeks and now to 33.5! So if I'm looking for a silver lining in my cloud this would be it!
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