Yesterday I had my 7th chemo treatment. Which means I have 5 more to go. It's good to be on the downhill slope. Anyway, the time before last my platelets were down to 117,000 (they skip a treatment if it drops below 90,000) so we were pleased to find out that this time they have gone up, to 130,000. My red counts and white counts were also good. Dr. Chen believes that I should likely stay on schedule which would be great for me.
About a month ago I had some blood drawn for karyotype testing (genetic testing) and I found out yesterday that the results have come back. They show that I have no mutations, which indicate that this is NOT genetic. Which is good news for my sister since she should not be impacted at all. Also since it's not genetic (and more of a spontaneous occurrence) that means it's less likely to recur in me. The doctor said that if I remain cancer free for 5 years then I am clear and fully cured. Good news! Actually she and my surgeon said that while the 5-year mark is the true, official milestone that of the patients that get it within 5 years virtually all of them (85%) actually recur after 2 years, so the 2-year mark is realistically the one to get through. If 2 years pass then it's unlikely to come back. Only 15% of recurrences happen in the 3-5 year range.
Also, someone passed on some info to me about a drug called Lyrica. It's a drug used for diabetic patients who have foot neuropathy. I asked my oncologist if it would help with the neuropathy that the chemo drug inflicts on me and she said yes, but with the side effect that it makes the patient tired. Well, I'm already tired, so I said I'd like to try it and determine for myself which is more troublesome: the neuropathy or the additional tiredness. So, I took one last night and the info I got indicated that it could take a week to be effective but I'm not experiencing much neuropathy today. Now that could also be helped along by the warmth these days, but I want to do anything that helps lessen the side effects.
The beet garden is coming along well, and we have 7 pumpkin plants growing in our patch. Hopefully we will have takers for sugar pumpkins come fall!
