Yesterday was one of those kind of mystery checkups with the oncologist. A nurse, a resident and a doctor ask you how you’re feeling. I’m feeling fine but I’d really like some concrete evidence that the cancer is gone. They can’t tell you that, at least not yet.
Basically I’m in a holding pattern until 3 months post-radiation when they will do another PET scan, some time in January 2021. I’m told that any testing sooner than this may produce incorrect results due to the residual effects of the radiation, so it’s waiting time.
Now I’m fully believing that I’m healed but who wouldn’t like a little measurable confirmation, after all that’s what testing is all about.
With the checkup comes a blood test which is slowly showing improvements. Last month there was a big dip in the white blood cell count. The doctor wasn’t worried, but I didn’t like it .
OK, here comes the technical part. The normal WBC number is 4.5-11. Good news this month is that it’s coming back up!
Other key indicators in the blood testing are holding steady or dipping a bit.
Normal HgB is 140-180 and normal Platelets are 140-440, so still a ways to go. I’d like to see some steady improvement which will come. I guess I’m just a little impatient. 🙂
LDH is supposed to be in the 120-230 range so things are looking good here.
My oncologist says “You’re doing really well”. She said that most of her patients that have had this type of cancer and gone through the treatments I have are not feeling as well as I am and are not out riding a bike or exercising the way I am at this point in their recovery. This is very encouraging. I told her that my goal is to recover all my fitness to my pre-cancer state and more. Seems like a reasonable goal to me. Ps 103:1-5
As I write this it’s snowing outside but it wasn’t that long ago we were enjoying the fall colours at the lake. A few photos for your enjoyment as we head into snow season.
