Another week. More blood tests. Mixed results.
A few numbers were improved. ANC, for example, went from 1.4 to 1.7. The doc is happier if that number is over 1.5 and it has been known to be 3.0 or more. Strangely, my white blood cell count went down from 3.0 to 2.8. Both measures are indicators of my immune system's ability to function properly.
Stay tuned for the amazing thing,
It is encouraging that my level of alkalinity is up. It is now in the range of 7.25 to 7.5 whereas it was often around 6 a while ago. This is good. The more alkaline that I am, the tougher it is for cancer cells. Credit a few things, but 60 ounces of Essentia high ph water is helping.
I finished my week of Xeloda yesterday and am happy about that. My hands, in particular, are very red and fairly sore. I am using liberal amounts of Udderly Smooth cream.
Stay tuned for the amazing part of this blog.
I won at tennis today. It threatened rain when we started. Paul and I won the first game and then it started raining. We would have continued, but everyone else ran for protection. Chalk up another major victory for team Gill.
I sometimes play with three younger more energetic women who are not part of our group. The last time that I played with them, all the courts were in use and we had to vacate our court for some people who play pickleball. But we were ahead 6-5 when we had to quit. We agreed to meet later, but they did not show. It is bad enough being stood up by one women, but three? That hurts.
I know that you have been waiting with baited breath for the amazing part of this blog. Here it is. You know that the research manager concocted an attack on low platelets. The first week's efforts had no positive effect (73 versus 77 the week before). But this week we added papaya leaf extract and the count went from 73 to 89. We have asked the doc often about whether there is anything that can help platelets and they knew of nothing. The research manager finds papaya leaf extract and it has immediate results. Amazing!
I am off for dinner. I am dressed too warmly because when I checked what the weather was going to be later tonight, I accidentally looked at Cupertino California rather than St. Petersburg. Oh well. I am not going to change now.
I intend to have a great week and hope the same for you.
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Moral Fabric
Well, last night I started back on Xeloda. Over the week off, things have improved significantly.
My hands are better, not great, but better.
My blood test showed improvement in virtually all categories, except for platelets, which dropped from 77 (bad) to 73 (worse). Having said that, my mouth sores did get better. A week ago, I was waking up looking like Dracula with blood trickling out of my mouth. That is not happening right now, anyway.
We are working on the platelets with many approaches. Beet root juice, papaya and a few other things did not seem as helpful as we hoped, but a new fix is in hand. The research manager learned that papaya leaf extract has improved platelet count for many and fairly quickly. I began those capsules last night also. It will be exciting to see the results at next Tuesday's blood tests.
Speaking of blood tests, yesterday's was exciting for me beyond the blood test results. Since it was a finger prick test this week, I was given a Snoopy bandage and, lo and behold, Snoopy was playing tennis, I could hardly contain my excitement. I mentioned it to a few people, but they did not seem that impressed. I think the blood technicians believe that I am crazy. They may be right.
One interesting thing this past week Someone at the club is moving and had a large amount of fabric that she wanted to get rid of. Someone expressed interest and she brought the fabric to the club. I asked if she had any moral fabric. She thought I was questioning her character, but I told her the moral fabric was for me. I hope she believed me.
My hands are better, not great, but better.
My blood test showed improvement in virtually all categories, except for platelets, which dropped from 77 (bad) to 73 (worse). Having said that, my mouth sores did get better. A week ago, I was waking up looking like Dracula with blood trickling out of my mouth. That is not happening right now, anyway.
We are working on the platelets with many approaches. Beet root juice, papaya and a few other things did not seem as helpful as we hoped, but a new fix is in hand. The research manager learned that papaya leaf extract has improved platelet count for many and fairly quickly. I began those capsules last night also. It will be exciting to see the results at next Tuesday's blood tests.
Speaking of blood tests, yesterday's was exciting for me beyond the blood test results. Since it was a finger prick test this week, I was given a Snoopy bandage and, lo and behold, Snoopy was playing tennis, I could hardly contain my excitement. I mentioned it to a few people, but they did not seem that impressed. I think the blood technicians believe that I am crazy. They may be right.
One interesting thing this past week Someone at the club is moving and had a large amount of fabric that she wanted to get rid of. Someone expressed interest and she brought the fabric to the club. I asked if she had any moral fabric. She thought I was questioning her character, but I told her the moral fabric was for me. I hope she believed me.
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Normal
Things could be called largely normal this week.
Most of my blood numbers are within a normal range (for cancer guys like me.) However, the platelet count is down to its lowest yet.......77. So the research manager is on a campaign to get the count up. Anybody want to participate? Beet root juice, papaya, vitamin k2, more spinach and a few other things are in my immediate future.
My CEA is up slightly but still in a range that Dr. Patel is comfortable with. I think it is more a measure of colon issues than liver or lymph node issues and the liver and lymph nodes are our primary focus.
My hand/foot syndrome got bad over the weekend, the same as two weeks ago. I think it gets better duringthe non-Xeloda week. I hope so. It was tough playing tennis on Monday morning and I took today off to recover a little bit.
The mouth sores are also back in a minor way. But I will survive..
I learned that a bridge club nearby runs a stroke clinic on Saturday morning. That is super, tennis for those with heart problems.
I am thinking of having a baby. The less than a year old grandson of two of the tennis players was brought down to the tennis court the other day and the ladies all fawned over him. With a baby, I would get at least peripheral attention.
I still need rest and so I am going for my soak now. Earlier this week, the research manager said that she was out of thyme and that is how I feel some evenings also.
Most of my blood numbers are within a normal range (for cancer guys like me.) However, the platelet count is down to its lowest yet.......77. So the research manager is on a campaign to get the count up. Anybody want to participate? Beet root juice, papaya, vitamin k2, more spinach and a few other things are in my immediate future.
My CEA is up slightly but still in a range that Dr. Patel is comfortable with. I think it is more a measure of colon issues than liver or lymph node issues and the liver and lymph nodes are our primary focus.
My hand/foot syndrome got bad over the weekend, the same as two weeks ago. I think it gets better duringthe non-Xeloda week. I hope so. It was tough playing tennis on Monday morning and I took today off to recover a little bit.
The mouth sores are also back in a minor way. But I will survive..
I learned that a bridge club nearby runs a stroke clinic on Saturday morning. That is super, tennis for those with heart problems.
I am thinking of having a baby. The less than a year old grandson of two of the tennis players was brought down to the tennis court the other day and the ladies all fawned over him. With a baby, I would get at least peripheral attention.
I still need rest and so I am going for my soak now. Earlier this week, the research manager said that she was out of thyme and that is how I feel some evenings also.
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Changes
There were a few surprises this week.
The first is that I did not have any blood tests. There were some scheduling errors and as a result, the blood tests were not scheduled. When I called about it, I was told my numbers were okay last week and so I did not need to come in.
In general, I feel good. Just battling all the usual issues, but I am still smiling.
As many of you will know, we made our goal in raising funds for the book. The research manager has been working on the Appendix which details the supplements and activities that I am following in addition to the Chemo pills. I hope that her appendix will not burst like it did for the wife of one of my tennis friends last week. Seriously, her appendix will be valuable to many. I am thinking of sending it to Alex Trebek. He has pancreatic cancer just like Mary Jo did.
Three things have changed this week, two of which are true.
I have always said that I will not eat dinner for breakfast or breakfast for dinner. I broke the breakfast for dinner hurdle a while ago, but now I have had dinner items for breakfast a few times in the last week. Who would have ever thought that I would be eating peas in the morning!
The second is that I have always indicated that I do not like sushi.. Imagine my surprise when I went to pick up our take out order of Thai food the other day and was told that the sushi would be ready in a minute or two. When I said that I did not order sushi, I was told that the seaweed salad which I eat is sushi. Who knew?
The third is that I was told by a lady at the health food store where I get my wheatgrass that what I needed was Noni Juice. When I said that I can get that locally, I was told that you have to go to Hawaii to get the real stuff. Do you think that I should abandon the book idea and use the funds to move to Hawaii. I will let you know how this turns out!
I am still waiting for the oncologist and the dentist to get together on my tooth extraction. Meanwhile, it does not hurt much anymore. Besides that, I am too busy to take a few days off to recover.
Thanks for your interest.
The first is that I did not have any blood tests. There were some scheduling errors and as a result, the blood tests were not scheduled. When I called about it, I was told my numbers were okay last week and so I did not need to come in.
In general, I feel good. Just battling all the usual issues, but I am still smiling.
As many of you will know, we made our goal in raising funds for the book. The research manager has been working on the Appendix which details the supplements and activities that I am following in addition to the Chemo pills. I hope that her appendix will not burst like it did for the wife of one of my tennis friends last week. Seriously, her appendix will be valuable to many. I am thinking of sending it to Alex Trebek. He has pancreatic cancer just like Mary Jo did.
Three things have changed this week, two of which are true.
I have always said that I will not eat dinner for breakfast or breakfast for dinner. I broke the breakfast for dinner hurdle a while ago, but now I have had dinner items for breakfast a few times in the last week. Who would have ever thought that I would be eating peas in the morning!
The second is that I have always indicated that I do not like sushi.. Imagine my surprise when I went to pick up our take out order of Thai food the other day and was told that the sushi would be ready in a minute or two. When I said that I did not order sushi, I was told that the seaweed salad which I eat is sushi. Who knew?
The third is that I was told by a lady at the health food store where I get my wheatgrass that what I needed was Noni Juice. When I said that I can get that locally, I was told that you have to go to Hawaii to get the real stuff. Do you think that I should abandon the book idea and use the funds to move to Hawaii. I will let you know how this turns out!
I am still waiting for the oncologist and the dentist to get together on my tooth extraction. Meanwhile, it does not hurt much anymore. Besides that, I am too busy to take a few days off to recover.
Thanks for your interest.
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