Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Good News

During the past 3 months I have also been doing quite some spiritual holistic work. This started in December with some Journey work that was recommended via an impromptu reading I received from my friend Sue. I have also been doing energy healing, Reiki, Body Talk and then treated myself to 6 nights away at a health resort. There I received more Reiki, Muscle balancing and craniosacral therapy, besides the daily massage, reflexology and aquarobics.

The good news from the tests done Monday is that my tumor marker has come down to 55.3 and the CT scan shows no sign of active cancer being present. The lymph glands previously identified are still ever present but have reduced a tiny bit in size.

The next follow up will be in three months time

Thursday, February 18, 2010

So the battle continues

I must apologise for not updating my blog in the past few months. It has not been easy for my family nor me.

The CT Scan done on 3 Dec 09 showed that the lesions had grown by more that 25% The protocol of the clinical trial states that if this occurs, you are rejected from the program. In fact, the lesions had grown by 35% but my tumor marker was still in the normal range – 16 (normal is between 0 and 35). Dr J did mention that we are in very early stages of disease growth. During the past 14 months, even with the re diagnosis Oct 08, my tumor marker has never been outside normal range. The next week I had an appointment with my normal oncologist Dr L. What a pleasure to see her again. She reviewed all the material and said she would not have called it yet. She also discussed the facts with the clinical trial Dr J and he agreed that in his professional capacity he would not have called it either, but in terms of the trial protocol he had to call it. Dec 19th Ian and I saw my gynecologist oncologist Dr H and we had a long open discussion in terms of treatment options are still open for myself. We agreed I would have my tumor marker tested again Jan 04 and depending on the value I would need another CT Scan.

Jan 4th I went for the tumor marker (OV125) and this came back at 163. Due to the sharp increase in this number I had another CT scan the following week, but the results were not much worse that the results of Dec. After some long discussions with Dr H, we reached agreement that we would wait until I showed more physical signs of disease. I have verified this with a number of different doctors, and the consensus is that by starting treatment too soon, more damage is done rather than good. Surgery remains an option which will be followed by more chemotherapy.

Then on the 23rd of January I saw Dr J (clinical trial) for my last ‘closing’ consultation. We discussed the options of surgery and the different chemotherapy options available at this stage. He did a small physical examination and found a ‘growth’ on the right side of my abdomen. Due to the fact that I was going to Europe the following day for business and then upon return I was going to a health resort, we agreed the next checks would only be done 15 Feb.

Monday 15 Feb I had some Ultrasound scans done. Dr L phoned me to say that we need to do a full retest…. Blood chemical, OV125, Chest X-rays, CT scan. This is now scheduled for Monday 22 February.

… will keep updating as I get the news …..