Turning a corner - week Nine

 

This was a hard week for me, bouncing back after treatment took longer.  This week was only the second time I went for chemo without Tracy.  My son-in-law, Denis came down with a nasty cold and passed it on to Tracy.  I'm happy to say they are both back in top form.  It was also the first time they missed an appointment with my Oncologist, Dr. Tang.  That was on Thursday.  We discussed my course of treatment going forward.  We decided that I would switch from chemo every week to every three weeks.  It will be a stronger dose.  But, it will give me a little break in between treatments.  While there, I was able to give Dr. Tang's nurse a blood draw from my arm.  This has been a problem so having it succeed was a plus.  It meant I didn't have to go to the Infusion Center and have it drawn from my port.  Why am I telling you all this detail?  I'm happy to say it will all make sense in a minute. 

Jump ahead to Friday night.  I was watching a Hallmark Christmas movie when my phone alerted me to a text message.  All of my appointments, test results and after office visit notes are organized on an app called MY CHART.  The alert was for my lab report from Thursday.  Back when I started treatment in September I had a CA-125 of 109.  This is the marker used to determine the presence of the Cancer antibodies in your blood.  One month after treatment my number had dropped to 69.  Dr. Tang was very happy with that result.  Now back to last night, when I opened the results of my blood work, I was surprised to see that my CA-125 has dropped to 31.  Since 38 is normal for women, 31 is awesome.  I'm afraid to get too excited but Denis said I can, because it's fantastic news.   I am beyond grateful for getting to this point in my journey.  I won't deny it has been the hardest thing I've ever done.  I couldn't have done it without the support of my family and friends.  I will truly have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Where do we go from here?  I'm not really sure because Dr. Tang hasn't seen the test results yet.  He usually reviews them on Monday morning before my chemo treatment.  I'm guessing my nurse on Monday will call him and a decision will be made then, how to proceed. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that maybe I won't have to get a stronger dose of chemo.  Keep me in your prayers, it's working!!  💖