one last thing

I didn't post on Friday, but my liver functions were getting back to normal... one was back in the normal range and the other was still on the high side, but probably back to normal by today. He's not going to check my labs again until Friday. They also decided to leave the IV in... they will take it out and reinsert a new one every 2-3 days. They had to poke me three times today, which is really annoying and painful. They can only do IV's on my left arm (they can't do any needle pokes in my right arm due to having my lymph nodes removed). So, hopefully, my hands and arms won't be covered with bruises with now!! :)

Kim

Back on the train...

I started my treatment back up today. It still blows me away that I have to WAIT SO LONG! Today, I was there for 3 hours for a 20 minute infusion! But, the good news is that my side effects haven't been too bad today. I was worried that it was going to be like starting over after having a week off. I have a mild headache and generally feel a little achey in my joints. But, it's managable! He reduced my dosage by 1/3, so I'm hoping my body tolerates the rest of the treatment better this time around. I will keep you updated! :)

Kim

same old, same old...

No treatment again today... my liver functions are going down, but still not in the safe zone. Will go back on Friday to check them again. Needless to say, I feel very frustrated to miss an entire week of treatments and have to start over again. I will keep you updated...

Kim

update from Albertini

After I posted, I got a call from Dr. Albertini to discuss my liver function. He doubts that things will be in a safe zone for treatment by Wed. I will go in for my labs on Wed. and then, most likely, come back again on Friday, to recheck again. When we do resume treatment, he will cut the dosage back by a third. The current dosage is obivously just too toxic for my body.

So, now I'm looking at no treatment all week! This is bad because now we're starting to talk about how to make up that time... and the obvious option is to keep going when our trip to Florida is scheduled. I just want to be DONE! I don't want to sit and wait around for my numbers to get back to normal!!! I feel very discouraged and frustrated!

Kim

Set back...

When I went in today, I had labs done to recheck my levels. I was told that we need to hold off on my treatment for two days. My white blood cell count was back up, which was good. But, even without the treatment all weekend, my liver functions continued to go up and were higher than they were on Friday. I talked to the nurse about it and she said that Interferon is really hard on the liver and it is not at all uncommon to have to miss a treatment or two because your liver functions are up. She made it sound like this is pretty normal. It's still frustrating, though. Most likely, they will lower my dosage in the hopes that my body will better tolerate the Inteferon. There is nothing I can do to get my liver functions to return to normal... except make adjustments to the treatment.

So, for now, I am just going to try to enjoy having a couple days off and not worry too much about what the numbers say. I am also meeting with an Acupuncturist tomorrow to get some help in managing the side effects.

Kim

Another long day...

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

Day 4: Things are getting better!

So, I am happy to say that things seem to be getting a bit easier every day! Yeah! I'm still dealing with the headaches, which is the hardest part. And, I still have the body aches and chills. But, they seem to come in waves now with periods of relief in between. I'm also tired after the treatments, but I've been able to get in some time to rest each day. But, the good news, is I don't feel like I am bedridden and I can get up and actually function... and be a mom! :)

I was SOOOO happy today... my treatment went smoothly and quickly (and they didn't even have to poke me 3 times to get the IV in like yesterday!). We were out of there in just over an hour! I can't tell you how much that boosted my spirits today. :) I am so happy tomorrow is my last day of treatment of the week... 3 more weeks to go! Fridays will be my long days because I have labs, wait for lab results, meet with Dr. Albertini, and then have my treatment. I will probably be there for at least 4 hours on Fridays.

So, it was a good morning and I hope I feel good for the rest of the day today!!! :) I'm SOOOO looking forward to enjoying every minute of my weekend!!!!!

xoxo
Kim