White Blood Cells

A slightly more interesting week than normal.

Let's start with the hand/foot syndrome. While my feet seem to be surviving, my hands are becoming more of a challenge. After two weeks with no Xeloda, they are still fairly red and sore in spots. I am using cream frequently to try to bring things back. Dr. Patel said that the area between the thumb and the forefinger will blister and crack if we move to stage three and that will encourage infection. I was/am on the edge of stage two. As mentioned previously, if I get to stage three, I will have to stop doing Xeloda and in the absence of an alternative, will have to revert to regular chemo infusions. My feet are helped in part by some new Skechers shoes that are very comfortable. Hmmm, does Skechers make gloves?

That, of course, turns the focus, in part, on white blood cells. Surprisingly, my count was down this week when I expected it to improve. Most of my other numbers were decent with one exception. The protein in my urine was high. This may be caused by the Avastin which I have infused every three weeks.. We have to keep an eye on this.

My platelets are holding up significantly from three or four weeks ago. The research manager is still crowing about her finding papaya and papaya leaf extract and beet root juice. She is constantly putting reminders in my way to remind me about the beet juice.

Yesterday, I had two teeth extracted. This was an interesting process. The whole thing took only twenty minutes. They took some of my blood before starting and put it in a centrifuge to isolate the white blood cells. These were then put in the gap caused by the extraction. I have had no pain to speak of. I have to eat soft food (the research manager read me the list of foods and slyly omitted mentioning the ice cream!) I am getting a little tired of soup.

I felt well enough to go and play bridge this afternoon and did alright with a new partner. However, tennis is out of the question until at least Saturday. I feel that I could start tomorrow, but.......

The schedule this week and some caution about the heat and the teeth has ruled out the far infrared sauna this week, but last week was sure interesting. I got to the sauna and the receptionist Helen was busy running around and said that she wished she could join me. Now, let me tell you that the research manager had suggested that she and I could share the sauna, but since I had resisted the suggestion, it would have been hard to explain why I was willing to do it with Helen. So, I was in my own little private peaceful world. for the session.

When I got out, there was a younger woman sitting waiting and Helen said that she wanted to ask me some questions. I said to myself "Oh Boy, here comes another offer to share the sauna." But it turned out the questions related primarily to how tired I got from the session since she had gotten really tired the first few times. We got into an interesting conversation about auto-immune diseases and then eventually the research manager and my blog and the rm's appendix in my book.

Life continues to be good. Thanks for all your interest, care and prayers. They all give me energy.

Next stop. Petscan on this coming Monday. Always a nervous moment.

Interesting

What an interesting and challenging week!

As we approached the weekend, I was suffering. My mouth sore was ever present. My hand/foot syndrome was making my hands red and sore.  And......I seemed to have developed an old friend Paradoxical Diarrhea.

Let's deal with them in order. My magical mouthwash was having minimal effect on the mouth sore. Hydrogen Peroxide (the research manager's choice of treatment) was not that effective. But the further I get from the Xeloda pills, the better it gets. My concern was how it would mesh with my tooth extraction next Tuesday.

The hand/foot syndrome was discussed with the doctor at the cancer center. He explained that there were three stages. Looking at my hands, he said that I was definitely moving moving into stage two. If I get to stage three (in which my hands start to blister and leak) I will have to stop taking Xeloda and go back to regular chemo, barring possible developments in immunotherapy or genetic engineering. I stay in touch with the Cancer Research Institute to learn of any testing in those areas. The doctor's solution was to go two more weeks without Xeloda and see how things are then, likely restarting with a smaller dose. Apparently, the redness in the hands reflects Xeloda settling there rather than the bloodstream and a few weeks off should allow the Xeloda to gradually get into the blood and therefore, taking a few weeks off is not  big risk. It definitely offers a big benefit for me. I feel better already. I will be doing a petscan in 12 days and it will be interesting to see where things stand.

The Paradoxical Diarrhea seems to be best dealt with by having a colonic. I did this late this afternoon and it feels much better. The therapist was pleased with how my colon was working. Nothing better than pleasing your colon-hydrotherapist.

Meanwhile, my blood test numbers yesterday were good. In particular, my platelet count was 97, up from 73 a few weeks ago. No doubt the research manager's recommendations of papaya, papaya leaf extract and beet root juice have had significant effect. She has not stopped reminding me of that since we got the number.

I love retrieving the mail each day. Recently, the research manager beat me to it and I asked if there was any interesting mail. She said that she had an interesting male.

"I often drink water and when I do, I drink high ph Essentia water. Stay alkaline, my friends." 

Priorities

While each week, I look forward to seeing the results of the blood tests, they also can be challenging.

When my platelets are low, the research manager prescribes beet juice, papaya and papaya leaf extract.

When my red blood cells are low; red meat, chicken livers,  and other things come to the fore.

Billirubins are high? Back to the Cholestyramine.

You get the picture.

At times, I get tired of dealing with these issues, bearing in mind that meanwhile the cancer fight continues with the full array of supplements and vitamins.

This week, the platelets improved slightly, but the white blood cells and ANC dropped significantly. We have to keep the immune system up. Lypo-spheric vitamin C and Chaga Mushroom tea are the order of the day.. I have been taking Chaga every day since the beginning of this journey and have not had a cold, notwithstanding that I meet with hundreds of people each week.

Over the weekend, my hand/foot syndrome was at its worst. It hurt to do many things. However, a few days without Xeloda and generous applications of cream have things improving slowly. It did prompt me to go and buy a comfortable shoe (actually two shoes) to wear, in place of the running shoes that I have worn every day since Labor Day.

I love getting mail each day. The other day the post lady was still putting mail in the boxes when I came home and I was told that I needed to wait until she was finished because she did not know who I was. I told her that I knew who I was and as I got on the elevator, it registered and she said that she was glad that I knew who I was. She must be thinking about the Silver Alerts we get each day in Florida. It seems there are a lot of old forgetful guys.

Talking about dealing with issues, my weight has crept up a little. And I may have found a good solution. The headline on page 57 of a recent Time magazine was "Eating dessert can help with your diet." I have yet to hear the research manager endorse that however!

Chicken problems

Apparently, there is a secret way to find out how I am doing and many people are using it. They ask the research manager. Since I look well and feel well, she has decided to tell them that I am doing well, which I am.

The blood tests went well yesterday. Most numbers were decent. My platelet count went down slightly, but only slightly. We will continue to work on that.

As I left to go out for tennis yesterday, the research manager noted that my billirubins were high. Apparently, they are reflective of something about the liver. But she noted that the other liver measures were all good, I thought about it while playing tennis, until it rained and then I thought about it while making and eating breakfast and then I went to the cancer center and asked the nurse practitioner about it. She said that they were high, but that they kept an eye on it and that my other liver numbers were good. Conclusion: trust the research manager.

Talking about the research manager, I have noticed that she often focuses her eyes on what I am doing and eating. I think she inherited her eyes from an eagle. I just have to laugh.

Our mutual printer is on my desk. The other day, a recipe got printed out for Brazilian chicken. I have spent hours looking for a Brazilian chicken to no avail. Things got worse though. The next thing I saw was a recipe for stolen chicken. If anyone wants to risk it, could you steal one for the research manager?

While I was at the cancer center, I mentioned that in addition to my hands and feet being affected, I thought my knees were losing hair. The nurse practitioner said that she had never heard that before, but she checked it out and said there was still plenty of hair there. I am sure that will be a story that will entertain someone at the cancer center.

So, all in all, things are good. I feel good. And I thank all you good people for your interest.

Future events.

Tooth extraction on April 23
Petscan on April 29 or 30.