End of Round Two

I spent the day at the hospital on Thursday, but had much better news than the last day spent there. It was the last day of chemo for round two, and a day of follow up tests on my port and my lungs.

I began the day with a dye study of the port to see if it was still functional. The concern was that the DVT I suffered the week before may have involved a blockage of the port by the blood clot. They accessed the port and injected it with dye, then took an x-ray to see if the dye flowed through the port and the catheter (into the superior vena cava). The port was 'wide open' as the doctor said, and I could see it on the x-ray. This means that I could use the port for my chemo that day, and that it would not have to be replaced. The other aspect of the x-ray that I noticed was the clarity of my bronchus (wind pipe). When the mass was found in my chest last month it was pushing my bronchi to the side and compressing it about 50%. On the x-ray the bronchus was straight and did not appear compressed. It is certainly not definitive, but it looked promising.

My chemo treatment went well, and I received some more good news about my blood counts. The HCG tumor marker has continued to drop, and is was 1360 on December 1! If you recall, I started out at >200,000 and was at 5000 at the start of the second round. Normal is 0-5. So I still have a little way to go, but my progress thus far is greater than expected and very encouraging.

My white blood cells continue to be low, however. My count on December 1 was 1.6 and on December 4 was 1.8. The lowest it dropped in the last round was 1.7. My neutrophils dropped to 0.3 this round, as opposed to 0.7 in the last round. These are all indications of how well my body can fight off infection. Basically it can't, so I have been staying quarantined at home lately. Thankfully I have Megan and Ethan to keep me company and entertained.

After I completed the chemo, I had another pulmonary function test. I had a baseline test before I began the first round of chemo. This test measures the capacity and function of my lungs. The bleomycin has the ability to affect the lungs, as did the blood clot if it had moved. The test showed that my lungs were functioning normally, and even slightly better than when I started treatment.

I still feel great, and I now have a little reprieve from treatment. I will start the next round of chemo on December 15, so I have a whole week off! Whatever shall I do?