Today Nicole had the last chemo session of the fourth and final cycle.
She started the day on what she somewhat considers a negative development - her body pH reading showed an acidic environment. She was wondering what caused this as she has been watching her diet. Could it be the Chinese medicinal herbs? We do not know.
Meeting Dr Karmen Wong brought some surprised news: the tumor marker CA 19.9 was higher compared to the previous reading.
Here are the results:
Today's reading Previous reading
CEA 2.9 2.9 unchanged
CA 19.9 54.9 50.4 up by 4.5
CA 125 16.5 23.4 down by 6.9
Dr. Wong was not willing to conclude that the effectiveness of chemo drugs has reached its limit. Though she says that chemo treatment usually is done in 4-6 cycles, because of the limit to the effectiveness of the drugs. In any event, as today was the last chemo session of the 4th cycle, Nicole underwent the chemo treatment.
The white cell count was also lower than the last reading, and this even after the booster injection of Neupogen. The red cell count is lower and this has prompted Dr. Wong to prescribed 100% iron syrup for Nicole to take daily as of today.
Given the low white cell blood count, Dr Wong wanted to prescribe two more injections of Neupogen for Nicole to travel safely from April 18. Given this situation, we decided not to take the risk to travel so early after the chemo treatment. Dr Wong agrees that delaying the departure will allow Nicole to build her immune system and get the blood count - white and red - higher, and hopefully back within normal range.
Fortunetly, we have completed the 4 cycles as I doubt whether Nicole's body can take more chemo.
Of course, I was deeply disappointed with this setback. I was expecting to see more progress in controlling cancer, and seeing the CA19.9 up was unexpected. Though Dr. Wong tried to reassure us, I fear that the present cocktail of chemo drugs has exhausted its effectiveness. However, my brain is telling me to wait for the next test result before reaching this conclusion. I shall wait.
Meanwhile, both Nicole and I need to manage the immediate potential impact of side effects of this last session. She was already finding food so tasteless. It is going to get worst. She was also starting to feel more tired.
We are learning to live with cancer. For a time, I thought that we had it under control and Nicole was starting to resume a "normal" life. But then the unexpected happens and it is a forceful reminder that life cannot be normal again. We hope Nicole can travel to the US for Greg's graduation. This is the immediate goal for now. She also wants to go to Fatima. We hope we can do this in May this year, on our way back from New York.
Today's event is a strong reminder of the importance of living the present - living life to the fullest at the very present moment. I am becoming increasingly aware that to live life fully I need to be living more consciously. That I need to be fully conscious of every single act in my living now.
Good night.
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