Well, "D-day" was in fact disastrous. Ok, possibly not completely disastrous but certainly less than optimal. And sort of like "oh shit! I wasn't expecting this". :(
The good news is that my bloodwork is bouncing back significantly (thanks Sherpas!) and puts me back in a healthy enough range for maintaining continuity of radiation treatment. The bad news is that there is no way the doctors were going to put me at significant health risk by giving me the next 2 rounds of chemo. As I said previously, "this is a one-shot deal". No Chemo for me! (not even Mulligatawny).
I'm a bit devastated by this news but I also know that there is no way my blood could sustain another chemo blow this soon into it's recovery from the last round. They continue to tell me that this is the most brutal cancer treatment and that I AM doing very well. The critical aspect of this protocol is to maintain is the radiation treatment and I continue to show no significant side-effects from that part of the treatment. (whew!). Most people have to stop or take a break from radiation and that significantly affects prognosis.
The chemo part of the treatment is simply used as an enhancer (turbo-booster) for the radiation and it is the least critical aspect of curing this cancer. That said, I'm not sure what this does for either my short-term or long-term prognosis. All I can do is keep doing what I've been doing (along with all the help from my friends) to get through this and have the best possible outcome. I'm still confident that I will beat this thing but these bumps along the road are getting a little bit exhausting.
I'll end with a happy little story. At the Cancer Centre there are volunteers who travel the floors, on the prowl for the hungry and thirsty, with cookie and juice carts ... spreading complimentary happiness and Peak Freans (2pack cookies of various flavours) wherever they go. Lin was having a little bit of trouble grasping the concept of "drink cart girls" in the cancer centre but we happened upon them twice yesterday and we stocked up on juice, tea and cookies before meeting Dr Wong for the "bad news". I think it was just a case of "you can't have your cookies and chemo, too". :)
Onward ...
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Lori, We are all behind you, eager to see you through this. Focus on the positive - that the radiation is more critical part of the treatment. You are doing all that you can, especially keeping a positive attitude.
ReplyDeleteHugs for you,
BW
Keep up the positive attitude, Lori! I'm convinced that it's the reason that you're doing SO WELL with the radiation. Onward indeed. Change management may have kicked in, but you're still on track for successful completion of your goals.
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