Week 29 - Celebration and a minor challenge
I see that my numbering for blogs got a little out of sync, so this post brings the numbering back into line. That's the danger of writing in the middle of the night, especially after an interferon injection...
First, the Really Good News: This morning I went off to the local clinic for chest xrays and ultrasound scans. As I have been feeling particularly good lately, and there have been no new side effects, etc, I have been quite positive and optimistic. But of course, there is always the possibility that some mets start growing.
Well, anyway, both the xrays and the scans came up completely negative! I had a good chat with the radiologist who did the scans, and he showed me everything he was looking at. He picked up a small cyst in my liver, but I know about that - It's been there for years and doesn't seem to have any significance.
So, Really Good News.... Jocelyn and I plan to celebrate with a small glass of champagne this evening, and possibly with a larger bottle tomorrow evening! Definitely a good excuse to celebrate.
As to why we are not doing a PET/CT scan again: That is another longer story, which I may write about next week. The simple answer is that PET/CT scans are still very expensive in South Africa, and the medical aid funds are still sorting out their policies.
And then another minor challenge has crept in to the picture. I started having a slight toothache about a week back. I hoped it would not be too serious, and I put off seeing my dentist - All health issues seem very important to me, and whatever I may say, I worry about them! I suspected that the root was infected, and that it would probably have to come out. As this tooth is a wisdom tooth, and it's opposite number was removed a long time back, it is not performing any useful function.
The problem is that surgery is not recommended while one is under interferon treatment, because of the depressed blood counts. Generally the anaesthetist will not want to go ahead if the platelet count is too low. My onc is out of the country, making the decision more difficult!
So, after chatting to my GP, we agreed to do another full blood count and then decide what to do. It is quite practical to do a platelet transfusion to boost the count temporarily. So I have put all of this in motion and we will see how it works out.
But the bottom line is that I have been doing quite well, and feeling quite good. I have been walking regularly with the dogs, and even made the gym a couple of times. So it seems this will not be a real challenge. The only problem is scheduling surgery to fit in with the interferon schedule, and the work time I will lose - I am working on a small consulting job which has a very tight deadline.
Until next time
First, the Really Good News: This morning I went off to the local clinic for chest xrays and ultrasound scans. As I have been feeling particularly good lately, and there have been no new side effects, etc, I have been quite positive and optimistic. But of course, there is always the possibility that some mets start growing.
Well, anyway, both the xrays and the scans came up completely negative! I had a good chat with the radiologist who did the scans, and he showed me everything he was looking at. He picked up a small cyst in my liver, but I know about that - It's been there for years and doesn't seem to have any significance.
So, Really Good News.... Jocelyn and I plan to celebrate with a small glass of champagne this evening, and possibly with a larger bottle tomorrow evening! Definitely a good excuse to celebrate.
As to why we are not doing a PET/CT scan again: That is another longer story, which I may write about next week. The simple answer is that PET/CT scans are still very expensive in South Africa, and the medical aid funds are still sorting out their policies.
And then another minor challenge has crept in to the picture. I started having a slight toothache about a week back. I hoped it would not be too serious, and I put off seeing my dentist - All health issues seem very important to me, and whatever I may say, I worry about them! I suspected that the root was infected, and that it would probably have to come out. As this tooth is a wisdom tooth, and it's opposite number was removed a long time back, it is not performing any useful function.
The problem is that surgery is not recommended while one is under interferon treatment, because of the depressed blood counts. Generally the anaesthetist will not want to go ahead if the platelet count is too low. My onc is out of the country, making the decision more difficult!
So, after chatting to my GP, we agreed to do another full blood count and then decide what to do. It is quite practical to do a platelet transfusion to boost the count temporarily. So I have put all of this in motion and we will see how it works out.
But the bottom line is that I have been doing quite well, and feeling quite good. I have been walking regularly with the dogs, and even made the gym a couple of times. So it seems this will not be a real challenge. The only problem is scheduling surgery to fit in with the interferon schedule, and the work time I will lose - I am working on a small consulting job which has a very tight deadline.
Until next time
posted by Peter | 5:55 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home