Update. 03/08/11.
I went into today's consultation with some trepidation, as you can imagine.
Thoughts of : "Has this spread to my vital organs"? "Has this spread to my stomach"?
The answers were surprising and a rather big relief.
Nothing of the sort.
No signs of spreading, kidneys, lungs and liver all in good repair.
The Doctor said that this type of cancer does not spread to the stomach, or the liver or kidneys.
The way it travels up is through your lymph nodes. Then it can invade your Lungs etc.
Now, the lymph nodes was the other thing i thought of. From the last scans done a month ago, no visible signs if enlargement. What they look for is if the lymph nodes are 1 cm or larger, that is abnormal and a sign of concern. However in my case, no enlargement, which is bloody fantastic!
The road i travel now, from today is the following:
On the 8th i have an Education session, on the 10th a Doctor's appointment at 14:15 and then the same day at 15:00 1, yes, 1 cycle of Chemo.
The Doctor said that in my situation, with this type of cancer and where i'm at currently, i had 2 options:
1) no treatment and continual monitoring every 3 to 4 weeks then less to monitor any concerns with the lymph nodes enlarging.
Or, 2) 1 Cycle of chemo with 1 drug.
I chose the latter.
In the hope of killing this sucker now, before it has a chance to spread or do further damage.
The only really worrying thing that i found from today's hospital trip is that i have lost 2kg's in 7 days!!
Bloody hell, i'm wasting away here.
I asked Doc and he said it can be because of the cancer cells present in your system.
He advised that i have this cycle of chemo, wait 3 to 4 weeks and see if there are any signs of improvement.
If not, see GP and go from there.
We will see.
But i hope this is going to improve, with the chemo, because i've got no idea how to stop this wasting away.
Overall, i'm still alive and in good fighting spirits.
I forgot to mention, the procedure for the next 5 to 10 years is to keep on being monitored, via ct scans, xrays and tumor markers.
Actually the other good news is that the blood tests done last week showed that the tumor markers haven't increased from last time.
Tumor markers are a sign that the cancer has increased, or stabilized. Also a good measuring stick for chemo treatment, to see if cancer cells are responding to the treatment.
Anyways, once again Gentlemen, thank you for your ongoing support and thoughts and well-wishes!
Very much appreciated.
