I’m Not Dead Yet (I.N.D.Y.)

Today was day two (actually week two) of my post-surgical chemo treatment.  All I can say is, “So far, so good.”  I am a little tired at the moment, but that just may be attributable to not sleeping well or some other issue, rather than the poison — I mean medicine — that was injected into my body.  Seriously though, I will be taking my anti-nausea medication prophylactically tomorrow to avoid a repeat of last Thursday.

Today my doctor’s and I talked a lot about numbers.  First, despite my efforts to the contrary, I dropped 6-7lbs since last week.  Not exactly sure why, as I have been trying to eat this last week.  I have noticed that my appetite is some limited in the evening.  What is a challenge for me is the dichotomy of wanting to lose weight (just ’cause there’s a part of me that wants to, eventually, be able to say that I am half the man I used to be; if I can get my weight down to 180lbs, it would be half of my maximum body weight of 360+lbs in May, 2000) and not wanting to predispose myself to negative effects of the chemo because my body doesn’t have the energy to take care of itself.  In the end, I will continue to try and eat normally and hope that this week was just an anomoly.

Other important numbers include:

• Bilirubin: 0.7 (good)
• Creatinine: 1.0 (good)
• White blood cell: 2.1 (low)
• Hemoglobin: 117 (low)
• Platelets: 100 (borderline)

One last number that I got today was my CA19-9 test.  This test is a bio-marker for active cancer tumor growth.  Normal level is below 37 (or so).  Prior to my surgery, my levels were in the low to mid 40s.  Keep in mind, before my cancer diagnosis, my gasteroenterologist and I did not think my marginally elevated levels were anything to worry about.  Of course, now I know that CA19-9 often does not become terribly elevated in cases of pancreas cancer until the later stages of the disease.  That having been said, my level last week (when they ran the test) was: FIVE.  Two words:  WOO HOO!

Cheers,

Merle

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