Victoria came with me on December 20th to my 9 month surveillance tests with Dr. Lingas. Essentially the bloodwork analysis and chest / abdomen and lymph node checking are all to check the status of my cancer...to try and assess whether the chemotherapy has been successful at killing the remaining cancer cells post resection surgery. The bloodwork is a CEA test which looks for the carcinoembryonic antigen or a protein in my blood that is evidence of colon cancer. The physical exam looks for evidence of spread or invasion to lungs, abdomen, pelvis and lymph nodes under my armpits.
Surprisingly I was not as anxious as I would have thought I would be...and I owe it to the fact that with a newborn baby at home I have no desire to focus on anything negative with my own health and have been 100 percent, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week consumed with Benjamin and Victoria. Or perhaps it was because we spent a lot of time talking with Dr. Lingas about babies, breastfeeding, sleep and NOT cancer.
But...alas the reason for the appointment with Dr. Lingas eventually manifest itself and we discussed the state of things. Although she did not have the CEA test results back she did have the CBC (complete blood count) analysis to analyze how my recovery from treatments is coming along. The bloodwork shows that my immune system is recovering...my white blood cells look to be restored to normal, my neutrophils are normal. For the red blood cells and platelets the news is a little less positive with my counts still being lower than normal. Not dangerously low or anything to worry about as they are trending upward but still evidence that the 7 months of chemo really wiped out my system and that it will take time to recover. As for side effects we talked about some of my appetite, my GI system, my bowel movements - yes - a frank discussion of my bowel movements.Obviously we are all acutely interested in the health of my colon and whether there was any negative warning signs...blood, abnormal stools....all the symptoms I had experienced prior to the diagnosis of Stage 3B Colon Cancer and prior to my colonoscopy and then colon resection surgery. I am happy to report to you (as I was to Dr. Lingas) that my bowels are working great...never been better actually.
We discussed other side effects that I am still struggling with such as my neuropathy, my fingers being a complete mess, my fatigue and extreme weakness in my hips and legs. She examined my lungs, my pelvis, my abdomen, my armpits, my neck...all seems clear. And we talked very openly, candidly about future surveillance. She knew I was already scheduled for a colonoscopy in March, one year after my original diagnosis but I told her frankly that I wanted to stay as aggressive as we can in terms of surveillance. You see I don't want to go 6 months or a year only to discover that there has been a recurrence or a spread of the cancer and that if we had have caught it earlier through surveillance we could have had positive outcomes or greater opportunities to resolve it. So Dr. Lingas supports me having further CT scan in March as well. We discussed the benefits and cons to either CT scanning versus MRI testing and decided to stick with CT scan. My naturopath had suggested looking at a less radioactive approach than CT scan but if it is the best option for surveilling my type of cancer then let's stick with it. So...three months from now will be a critical milestone in terms of my cancer journey. One year surveillance with both scope and with CT will give us a good picture of my battle and our success at kicking the crap out of those damn cancer cells.
Oh yeah..as for the CEA test Dr. Lingas and I have a deal. She will ONLY call me during the holidays when she checks the results of the test if there is something concerning in the results - if the CEA levels are elevated. Otherwise and although it may sound cliche..."no news is good news". (and it is December 29 so I am assuming...no I am stating that all is well and that the CEA test showed no elevation of the cancer markers in my blood).
Until next post I hope and wish for all of you to be surrounded by love, peace, joy and laughter...and of course great food and drink!!! After all it is the Christmas season!
Surprisingly I was not as anxious as I would have thought I would be...and I owe it to the fact that with a newborn baby at home I have no desire to focus on anything negative with my own health and have been 100 percent, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week consumed with Benjamin and Victoria. Or perhaps it was because we spent a lot of time talking with Dr. Lingas about babies, breastfeeding, sleep and NOT cancer.
But...alas the reason for the appointment with Dr. Lingas eventually manifest itself and we discussed the state of things. Although she did not have the CEA test results back she did have the CBC (complete blood count) analysis to analyze how my recovery from treatments is coming along. The bloodwork shows that my immune system is recovering...my white blood cells look to be restored to normal, my neutrophils are normal. For the red blood cells and platelets the news is a little less positive with my counts still being lower than normal. Not dangerously low or anything to worry about as they are trending upward but still evidence that the 7 months of chemo really wiped out my system and that it will take time to recover. As for side effects we talked about some of my appetite, my GI system, my bowel movements - yes - a frank discussion of my bowel movements.Obviously we are all acutely interested in the health of my colon and whether there was any negative warning signs...blood, abnormal stools....all the symptoms I had experienced prior to the diagnosis of Stage 3B Colon Cancer and prior to my colonoscopy and then colon resection surgery. I am happy to report to you (as I was to Dr. Lingas) that my bowels are working great...never been better actually.
We discussed other side effects that I am still struggling with such as my neuropathy, my fingers being a complete mess, my fatigue and extreme weakness in my hips and legs. She examined my lungs, my pelvis, my abdomen, my armpits, my neck...all seems clear. And we talked very openly, candidly about future surveillance. She knew I was already scheduled for a colonoscopy in March, one year after my original diagnosis but I told her frankly that I wanted to stay as aggressive as we can in terms of surveillance. You see I don't want to go 6 months or a year only to discover that there has been a recurrence or a spread of the cancer and that if we had have caught it earlier through surveillance we could have had positive outcomes or greater opportunities to resolve it. So Dr. Lingas supports me having further CT scan in March as well. We discussed the benefits and cons to either CT scanning versus MRI testing and decided to stick with CT scan. My naturopath had suggested looking at a less radioactive approach than CT scan but if it is the best option for surveilling my type of cancer then let's stick with it. So...three months from now will be a critical milestone in terms of my cancer journey. One year surveillance with both scope and with CT will give us a good picture of my battle and our success at kicking the crap out of those damn cancer cells.
Oh yeah..as for the CEA test Dr. Lingas and I have a deal. She will ONLY call me during the holidays when she checks the results of the test if there is something concerning in the results - if the CEA levels are elevated. Otherwise and although it may sound cliche..."no news is good news". (and it is December 29 so I am assuming...no I am stating that all is well and that the CEA test showed no elevation of the cancer markers in my blood).
Until next post I hope and wish for all of you to be surrounded by love, peace, joy and laughter...and of course great food and drink!!! After all it is the Christmas season!
This is all great to hear, Dave. Especially your positivity! And congratulations on the arrival of Benjamin. He is adorable. All the best to you and Victoria.
ReplyDeleteHeather Huston