Got through another cycle with no problems!

I have been through three weeks of chemo since the last time I was in here.  My numbers were in an acceptable range each week so I was able to get all three treatments.  I still have to be there for a blood draw next week, but I will have a break from chemo.  I am thinking of possibly taking a trip to NC this weekend to visit my brother, but haven't totally decided yet.  I hope that all goes well for that if I do decide to go.

Update...August 31, 2012

I went in for day 8 treatment on my current chemo regimen.  With Topotecan, I am supposed to get treatments for three weeks on and one week off.  I got day 1 last Wednesday and day 8 today.  I was afraid that they might not be willing to do it today because my platelets were right on the border of being at an acceptable level (70,000).  My doctor thinks that next week there might be a delay because of low counts, but she also said she thinks I might have to have another transfusion next week as well so I know something will be done next week.

Other things that came up in this appointment made me feel good.  My doctor said I was looking really good physically including good color.  I was lowered from three liters of oxygen to two in order to hopefully wean me off of it since it apparently is no longer needed but she doesn't want to stop me "cold turkey".

Update 8/15: New Chemo...Still delays

Today was supposed to be day 15 (week 3) of Topotecan, but once again my white count was lower than the minimum to allow treatment.  The minimum was 1000 and today I was at 940 compared to last week when I was at 700.  When I talked to the doctor today, she told me that she was going to lower the dose next week and start cycle 2 even though I didn't get day 8 or day 15 in cycle 1.  She has said that the dose will be lowered each time until the white counts are ok.  She said there was one lady who had to get treated at 2 mg compared to the 3.5 I was started with two weeks ago.  The recommended starting dose is 4 and my doctor never starts people at that level as very few people tolerate it.

There was one piece of encouraging news...I haven't had a lot of abdominal pain or burping recently so apparently this is doing something as she believes that those symptoms are caused by the tumors growing on the bowel.  She also told me that I looked better than she had seen me in months, which was really encouraging.  I won't know for sure until she pulls the CA-125 next week.  I also have been able to wear the compression stockings to reduce the swelling in my legs and feet, although after a day or two of wearing them I need to take a break from them as it starts hurting.

I just hope the good news continues!

July 6 update...the nightmare continues...

Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, it does...I went to the pulmonary doctor yesterday and they say it will take 5-6 months for the blood clots in my lungs to reabsorb.  I can deal with that well enough.  What I really have trouble with is that they now suspect that I either have an infection or heart failure.  Either one could be caused by the cancer treatments, but the swelling in my ankles makes it seem to lean more toward the heart failure...

I had an echocardiogram done yesterday and should get the results from that on Monday and I will be getting fluid taken from my lung also on Monday to check for infection.  I just hope that isn't too painful...The doctor told me not to take the blood thinner on Sunday night because they don't want excessive bleeding when they take the fluid...Talking about scary!

June 25 update

I went to the cancer center today for what was supposed to be day 8 of my chemo cycle and I found out that my White Blood Cell count was very low (was at 500 and needed to be at 1500 for treatment to occur) and my hemoglobin was also low.  It was too late to be able to do the transfusion today so I have to go back tomorrow morning.  I am sooooo tired right now and the low RBC count probably has a lot to do with it.  I just hope it starts going better.

I am also tired of having to do the Lovenox shots every night, but hopefully that will help with the blood clots and the swelling and whatever else it's supposed to help with.  My ankle is so swollen and hurts so bad it is ridiculous.  And the oxygen tank I have to haul around is a royal pain!

In the hospital...again

Once again, I have been admitted to the hospital a week after the second treatment in the cycle.  This time, I had been feeling bad for several days but didn't worry about it because I didn't have a fever at all.  On Saturday I went to a class all day and was able to eat normally and on Sunday I started feeling bad but was able to eat and drink.  On Monday morning I ate breakfast then tried to take my medicine but gagged on a "horsepill" and lost my breakfast.  After that I only took a few sips of water and ate one bagel in the evening.  I did the same thing on Tuesday.  I was supposed to have a CT scan Tuesday but was not able to drink the contrast.  I went to the clinic on Wednesday to get fluids and they did an abdominal x-ray and the doctor told me that I needed to go to the hospital to get potassium and magnesium infusions and much more fluids.  They also checked me for c-diff and I was positive.  Now the nursing staff only comes in when the absolutely have to and they wear plastic gowns and gloves and if I leave the room I have to do the same.  My doctor had talked about sending me home today, but the way I feel right now, I would probably be back in here before you know it.  Oh well...

March 5, 2012 update

I came to the hospital this morning expecting to get my next cisplatin treatment but also expecting to have my counts to low for the treatment to occur.  I was right about that.  I got here about 8 this morning and somehow they didn't have me in the computer but the floor was expecting me.  I had to wait for the orders to get here before they could even do the labs.  After the orders arrived, they found that I didn't have an armband (they told me to come up rather than waiting) so I had to wait for that to get up here.  They finally accessed my port close to 10 and drew the labs.  About an hour later the nurse came in and told me the counts were too low so I probably wouldn't have a treatment, but that the resident on call wanted to talk to me before I left.  I am still waiting over two hours later.  Oh well...Hopefully next week will go better when I come back to try again.

Back on the roller coaster!

I thought that I was going to be free of problems for a while, but I am back in chemo again.  I was in the hospital in December with a bowel obstruction and after that the doctor started talking about chemo again.  I kept resisting the idea because I thought he was just saying that because I was having the obstruction.  But when I actually met with him to discuss it, he explained that the obstruction might have been caused by the cancer or it could have been something else.  It had more to do with the abnormal pap and the PET scan results than the hospital stay.

I had the first round with Gemzar in late January, and was supposed to have the second round with both Gemzar and Cisplatin on my birthday except that my white blood cell count was too low.  So I was in the hospital last Tuesday getting that done because they decided to do the Cisplatin by desensitization because it is a cousin to the Carboplatin I reacted to last year.  I didn't have a problem then, but I wound up getting a UTI and kidney infection by the weekend.  Now I am sitting in the hospital again hoping that things start going better for me soon.  I am waiting on test results from the labs they did a couple of hours ago.  Those were ordered after the doctor saw the results from the chest xray and kidney ultrasound they did this morning.