This past week has been quite an event filled week...a return to treatment on Monday, a series of Neupogen injections starting on Thursday, a visit by good friends, Andrew and Leah, who so graciously donated so many things for our baby, a wonderful dinner out with Victoria's brother, Rob, and his daughter, Olivia, and partner, Sara...a visit to my Naturopath for reassessing our approach to date and adjust...a great visit with Victoria's parents in Wasaga Beach with wonderful weather and R&R, and a lovely dinner with my family to end the last weekend of summer before back-to-school/work.
Our visit with Dr. Genuardi, my Naturopath, was excellent. It seems that she is happy with my dietary program and adherence to the program. We added a couple of things such as goji berries for added Vitamin C intake and discussed some supplementation of both Vitamin C and magnesium. It seems that it is unrealistic to obtain these critical vitamins and minerals from diet and that some supplementation is required. We also discussed a natural approach to boosting my immune system and to encouraging the immune system to generate neutrophils...and approaching long term immune system support after the treatments are completed. Her guidance is to use colostrum/ bovine milks from cows that have just calved - just like human breast milk apparently this milk source is full of antibodies that stimulate the immune system. I will discuss with my Oncology team and explore this supplementation as part of our treatment plan. Victoria was also able to obtain some guidance for her drop in iron levels at this stage in her pregnancy and a supplement to address it and she has started on an iron supplement that will hopefully help her energy level, mood and swelling.
The actual Neupogen injections, administered by Victoria with joy I am sure ;-) were really not that bad at all...the needle is so small in terms of gauge that the pain was pretty much non-existent. The injections are required to stimulate the immune system, my bone marrrow, to raise the neutrophil levels and to prevent any further delay in treatments. However on the weekend I developed a real deep pain and "spasm" that originated in my lower back and pulsated out to my hips, my neck, my skull...and it admittedly concerned me. Not only was it a bit debilitating but it was scary. I wasn't expecting this type of side effect (I assume it was a side effect of the bone marrow stimulation from the Neupogen) nor have I ever felt this type of pain before. I had cautioned by my Oncology team to expect bone pain but didn't know exactly how that would manifest itself. As a cancer patient I struggled mentally to NOT go to a place of thinking immediately that this pain, originating from the centre of my lower back and pulsating outward, was indicative of a spread of cancer to other areas of my body. I put it down to a side effect of the drug stimulating my bone marrow in my spine and elsewhere. When it spread to my hips I felt really really old....like an old man with barely the strength to walk upright. Thankfully this only lasted a couple of days.
But it's not all bad...the analysis of my bloodwork prior to my last treatment included a requisition by my Oncologist for a Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA) test to monitor the cancer markers in my blood / serum. Cancer of the colon typically secrets a protein known as carcinoembryonic antigen and 70% of colon cancer patients return positive markers for this protein . http://www.lifelabs.com/Lifelabs_BC/Patients/MedicalConditions/Colon_Cancer_-_CEA.asp
Our visit with Dr. Genuardi, my Naturopath, was excellent. It seems that she is happy with my dietary program and adherence to the program. We added a couple of things such as goji berries for added Vitamin C intake and discussed some supplementation of both Vitamin C and magnesium. It seems that it is unrealistic to obtain these critical vitamins and minerals from diet and that some supplementation is required. We also discussed a natural approach to boosting my immune system and to encouraging the immune system to generate neutrophils...and approaching long term immune system support after the treatments are completed. Her guidance is to use colostrum/ bovine milks from cows that have just calved - just like human breast milk apparently this milk source is full of antibodies that stimulate the immune system. I will discuss with my Oncology team and explore this supplementation as part of our treatment plan. Victoria was also able to obtain some guidance for her drop in iron levels at this stage in her pregnancy and a supplement to address it and she has started on an iron supplement that will hopefully help her energy level, mood and swelling.
The actual Neupogen injections, administered by Victoria with joy I am sure ;-) were really not that bad at all...the needle is so small in terms of gauge that the pain was pretty much non-existent. The injections are required to stimulate the immune system, my bone marrrow, to raise the neutrophil levels and to prevent any further delay in treatments. However on the weekend I developed a real deep pain and "spasm" that originated in my lower back and pulsated out to my hips, my neck, my skull...and it admittedly concerned me. Not only was it a bit debilitating but it was scary. I wasn't expecting this type of side effect (I assume it was a side effect of the bone marrow stimulation from the Neupogen) nor have I ever felt this type of pain before. I had cautioned by my Oncology team to expect bone pain but didn't know exactly how that would manifest itself. As a cancer patient I struggled mentally to NOT go to a place of thinking immediately that this pain, originating from the centre of my lower back and pulsating outward, was indicative of a spread of cancer to other areas of my body. I put it down to a side effect of the drug stimulating my bone marrow in my spine and elsewhere. When it spread to my hips I felt really really old....like an old man with barely the strength to walk upright. Thankfully this only lasted a couple of days.
But it's not all bad...the analysis of my bloodwork prior to my last treatment included a requisition by my Oncologist for a Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA) test to monitor the cancer markers in my blood / serum. Cancer of the colon typically secrets a protein known as carcinoembryonic antigen and 70% of colon cancer patients return positive markers for this protein . http://www.lifelabs.com/Lifelabs_BC/Patients/MedicalConditions/Colon_Cancer_-_CEA.asp
So...elevated levels of CEA in the blood can indicate recurrence of the tumour or metastatic spread to other areas of the body. This CEA test is one of the key surveillance / monitoring tools particularly for colon cancer.
My Oncologist and I had discussed this test several weeks ago as an answer to my question about how we would monitor or surveil my cancer and the success of the treatments to prevent recurrence or spread. This CEA test, after four months post-surgery and two-thirds of the way through adjuvant therapy, would be part of this surveillance. This would be followed by the CAT scan at the end of September to give a thorough picture of my status. Admittedly, I had quite a bit of anxiety leading up to this first blood test. I am aware of the limitations of the test in that it can return false positive results, that only 70% of those with colon cancer actually return a positive elevation in CEA, that chemotherapy can cause an elevation in these markers and was conditioning myself mentally to consider the results of the CEA test as objectively as possible.
And the results are in...at this stage in treatment, 4 months post-surgery and with adjuvant FOLFOX therapy, the CEA test showed this protein within normal levels...no elevation of the CEA levels in my blood nor any significant trend upward in CEA levels from prior to the initiation of adjuvant therapy. And THAT is great news!!!!! My Oncologist is not concerned with the CEA levels in any way and THAT is also great news.
So...this news goes a long way to keep me positive....to keep me fighting the good fight...to urge me to kick the crap out of this colon cancer.
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