Good news!

Yesterday Victor drove me to the hospital and we arrived at 7.50 AM. I had to get my blood tests done, but the person ahead of me took a while, so I had to wait. A little after 8 I was done, and we went to the restaurant to have a bit of breakfast. They have delicious croissants, so now that I can eat everything, of course I had one.

At 9 o’clock dr Baars came to pick up us. She had good news for me. The blood tests showed that the chemo had worked, all the liver values had dropped significantly. My billirubin is now at 16, a normal value. Some of the other values are still too high, but she didn’t seem terribly concerned about those.

Here are some of the values:

Liver:

Billirubin: 16 (was 24 on oct 15th)

Alkaline phosfate (alkalische fosfaat): 745H (was 1660 H on oct 15th)

ASAT: 75H (was 144H on oct 15th)

ALAT: 69 H (was 86 H on oct 15th)

Y-GT: 479 H (was 723 on oct 15th)

LD-IFCC: 192 (was 402 H on oct 15th)

Other: CA 15.3 (tumor marker for breastcancer): 50 (was 95 H on on oct 15th)

My platelets were fine this time, but the white blood cells were on the low side, so she decided to go ahead with the treatment, but with a light dose of chemo. Dr. Baars also said she didn’t think a third treatment would be necessary, so it would be the last angio treatment. She wanted to see me in 5 weeks, but that is Christmas, so we have an appointment for December 28th. On the 21st, I have to go to get the scans done: an MRI to check the tumor in the breast and armpit lymph nodes, an echo, a CT scan for the liver, and a blood test. That way she will have the results on the 28th. She also explained what is coming next: a cure of Capecitabine, a chemo in pill form. I can take it at home. The cure will start on the 28th of december, I think.

This chemo is directed at the breast cancer, also in the breast and lymph nodes. Possible side effects are red palms or red and sensitive feet, mucositis (irritation of the mouth), diarrhea, and irritation of the eyes. So I guess I’ll take the Caphosol mouth rinse again to make sure I don’t get mucositis again.

So all in all this is good news.

After the meeting we went up to the fourth floor where nurse Daphne showed me to my room. I had a room to myself, which is a real luxury. A little later a doctor came and she placed the IV needle and attached the IV. She was assisted by an intern who asked me if she could watch the procedure. No problem, I said.