I went for my pre-chemotherapy checks today. First the ambiguous news then the good news.
One of the chemotherapy drugs is to be switched. This is the cisplatin, which is being switched for carboplatin.
The cisplatin has been responsible for me having tinnitus which has been worse on the second chemotherapy cycle than it has been on the first. It was explained to me that this is a pattern with cisplatin and the third cycle can lead to a drop off a cliff scenario rather than further degradation. There could be permanent and severe damage if the cisplatin is continued. I took this on board as, before this information, I was keen to keep the cisplatin and change it after the operation.
In order to receive the carboplatin my neutrophil blood cells (a bone marrow produced white blood cell count) must be 1.5 and it is currently just shy of this mark at 1.45. However my counts are up from last week and I may well make the target when I am retested tomorrow morning. In the event that I don't there will be a conversation with the professor to see whether I can go ahead regardless.
Now for the good news. The doctor I saw today was the same chap as I saw last week when I went to the Marsden about my cough. He showed me a couple of blood indicators today that showed the treatment is having a major impact on the tumour. These tumour markers CEA and CA 19-9 were described to me as "tumbling" and the statistics show that between 19th of February and 14th April they have fallen about 70%.
What that means in real terms we shall find out when I am restaged with a CT scan on the 2nd of June.
My appointments post chemotherapy and pre-operation are beginning to roll in. I will be pleased to see the surgeon on the 4th of June. On our first meeting in February I elected to bypass a discussion on the detail of the operation as I felt it was more information that I needed at the time; there was a lot to take on at that point. Now it is time to get down to the reality.
No comments:
Post a Comment