I was so looking forward to posting about how things continued to improve and that I was handling the side effects quite well. Yesterday, no headache, no body aches, no chills, or fever! Just tired, really! The only new thing is that the treatment is causing me to have this constant bad taste in my mouth and I'm having a lot of food aversions.
Well, today, I went in for my treatment and had my labs done. When I met with Dr. Albertini, he said my white blood cell count was low.... low enough that they almost didn't do my treatment today. They decided I was still in the safe zone and since I seemed to be feeling well (and I looked well!), they decided to go ahead and give me the treatment. Well, I ended up at UW for over 5 hours again today! Aargh!!! Then, when I got home, Dr. Albertini called and said my liver function was high, too! So, he's cut me back to regular tylenol. The hope is that I won't need to take any medication this weekend and all my levels will get back to normal by Monday. They will be rechecking my levels again on Monday. But, due to my white blood cell count, I'm more susceptible to illness and infection... and am not able to fight it off on my own. So, if I get a fever of 101, it's an automatic hospital stay with IV antibiotics. So, I will be staying home all weekend while Todd sanitizes our house! :)
On another interesting note, my doctors told me that a study was just released last week that studied the 1 month Inteferon course of treatment vs. the 1 month plus the year of Interferon injections. The study found that there was no significant difference in outcome for patients! What does this mean? It means that my doctors are looking very closely at this study to determine if there is any significant benefit to doing the Inteferon injections for a year. Dr. Albertini is in charge of reviewing and suggesting policy changes for his department. So, we'll see what happens. It might just turn out that I am done with treatment in 3 weeks!!!
Please send lots of immune-boosting vibes and prayers my way this weekend! I am so happy for two days off!!!! :)
Kim
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REST THIS WEEKEND!! I bet you Todd has become a seriously good housekeeper!!!
ReplyDeleteI think a great big bowl of hot buttered popcorn, the real kind, not microwave, a couple good movies, some soft silky pj's sounds great! If popcorn doesn't sound good, I could bring you some whitey's ice cream, I will pray they can stop this treatment, since you are cancer FREE! Still hoping to meet you! Linda
ReplyDeleteKim, you always amaze me with your strength, today is no exception. You are truely a gift to all that know you and love you. I am so proud to be your Mom.
ReplyDeleteI love you more then you could know!!
Kim.... your mom is making me cry. *sniff*
ReplyDeleteHope this weeks is better... and if it's not, I expect a call... I'm here!