Okay a short post today just to update you all on things. Victoria and I went in to the hospital today for bloodwork and with the hope to undergo treatment #8 but unfortunately things were not lined up for the good today. Dr. Lingas called me into her office to discuss the counts of the bloodwork taken this morning - remember we delayed from Thursday to today with the hope that the platelets would rebound and that the neutrophil count would be high enough to undergo treatment. The good news is that the platelet count was up - above the threshold for treatment. The bad news is that the neutrophil count dropped even further over the weekend to a level considerably lower than the treatment threshold.
So...we discussed possibly taking injections of Neupogen today through Wednesday to attempt to boost the neutrophils with treatment to be on Thursday. I balked at this in light of the Bum Run on the weekend as I am completely determined to participate in that Event and with chemo on Thursday don't think I would be well enough to do so. Dr. Lingas agreed and supported the decision to push off the next treatment to Monday Aug 27 (a 10 day delay between treatments). As a result, no Neupogen injections this week as naturally the neutrophils should rebound over the next week. However, it is decided to treat next week with Neupogen injections to follow at the end of the week, 24 hours after the infusion is complete to ward off any further delays in treatment due to low neutrophil count.
Also, next Monday's bloodwork will be a more thorough analysis to look for the cancer markers. This will give an indication of the status of any residual cancer cells. In light of the 10 day delay in treatment this also offers more clear analysis of the bloodwork with less false positive conclusions (chemotherapy can cause a spike / inflation of these cancer markers). This will be followed up with the CAT scan in September to give a thorough picture of my entire system and body for cancer.
I have updated my Naturopath with the bloodwork results and the delays in treatment and hope to meet with her in the next week to look at natural approaches to raise the platelets and white blood cell counts and boost my immune system to support further treatments without delay.
So...the next week will be a week of heightened anxiety for me admittedly as I try hard to not focus on what-ifs, negative thoughts...think positively about the upcoming Bum Run that I and the entire Kicking the Crap Crew team has worked so hard to gather sponsors and support for this very personal cause...be proud of my own efforts and participation in this Event. Think positively about the bloodwork next Monday and be optimistic that it will show that I am winning the battle...that I am truly Kicking the Crap out of colon cancer.
So...we discussed possibly taking injections of Neupogen today through Wednesday to attempt to boost the neutrophils with treatment to be on Thursday. I balked at this in light of the Bum Run on the weekend as I am completely determined to participate in that Event and with chemo on Thursday don't think I would be well enough to do so. Dr. Lingas agreed and supported the decision to push off the next treatment to Monday Aug 27 (a 10 day delay between treatments). As a result, no Neupogen injections this week as naturally the neutrophils should rebound over the next week. However, it is decided to treat next week with Neupogen injections to follow at the end of the week, 24 hours after the infusion is complete to ward off any further delays in treatment due to low neutrophil count.
Also, next Monday's bloodwork will be a more thorough analysis to look for the cancer markers. This will give an indication of the status of any residual cancer cells. In light of the 10 day delay in treatment this also offers more clear analysis of the bloodwork with less false positive conclusions (chemotherapy can cause a spike / inflation of these cancer markers). This will be followed up with the CAT scan in September to give a thorough picture of my entire system and body for cancer.
I have updated my Naturopath with the bloodwork results and the delays in treatment and hope to meet with her in the next week to look at natural approaches to raise the platelets and white blood cell counts and boost my immune system to support further treatments without delay.
So...the next week will be a week of heightened anxiety for me admittedly as I try hard to not focus on what-ifs, negative thoughts...think positively about the upcoming Bum Run that I and the entire Kicking the Crap Crew team has worked so hard to gather sponsors and support for this very personal cause...be proud of my own efforts and participation in this Event. Think positively about the bloodwork next Monday and be optimistic that it will show that I am winning the battle...that I am truly Kicking the Crap out of colon cancer.
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