Yep, that's right... I am just moving right along with this countdown. Phew!! It's been a good many days since my 8th treatment.. let's see if I can remember what happened. Same as usual.. access port, premeds, chemoland.. but in addition to my regular list of blood tests, I also got my LDH tested. LDH stands for lactate dehydrogenase. Mostly every type of cancer (as well as other dx-- hypothyroidism, lung or liver dx, and megaloblastic/pernicious/Vitamin B deficiency amemia) are associated with elevated LDH, so while elevated LDH cannot be specific to identifying cancer, comparing levels at baseline and throughout treatment can be an indicator of decreasing cancerous cells. My baseline LDH was 203 IU/L, and pre-tx 8, it was 113 IU/L, with "normal" (non-cancerous, healthy) values being below 177 IU/L. SO this is great news for me!! ANOTHER blood test that confirms that the cancer is GONE GONE GONE!! :) Another surprising blood test result that made me REALLY happy is that my neutrophils are up to 2.5!! Yes, that's right.. it's not a typo.. 2.5!!!!!! wooooooo. While that's great and wonderful that I have super bone marrow, I am still being cautious and following strict neutropenic rules because who knows what my neutrophil count is now since right after the blood test I got all of the wonderful chemo pumped into me again. It's too bad I can't access my port daily to do neutrophil count tests as easily as I can test cholesterol or blood glucose... it'd be nice to just prick myself, see what range my levels fall into, and eat/go places accordingly. I must say, I'm getting used to asking for VIP seating in restaurants when I feel good enough to go out to eat with friends (and I think they might be getting used to it too!! hah).
Sooo happy about my blood results!! (and fighting to keep my eyes open because we normally take the pics during premeds and this time we took the pic with 20 minutes left on my last chemo bag)
Oh, and can you tell that the chemo is finally catching up to my eyelashes and eyebrows?? I'm holding on to those puppies as long as I can!!! Only 4 treatments to go.. hopefully they can hang on through September!!!!!
Look at that!! Within normal range!! It's too bad I couldn't have a medium steak or some sushi riiiight then when my blood was taken before I started my next chemo tx and the levels had a chance of dropping again!! Oh well, September will be here soon enough.
(click on the chart to make it larger!!)
The side effects the few days after treatment were the same as usual.. and beyond that, I get tired throughout the day. It's important that I get plenty of sleep, and I do. I've been sleeping until I need to without alarms, and those are the days I feel best. Rest is key in my feeling good and a speedy recovery between treatments. SO on that note, Gooooooodnight!!
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