Platelets and Chemo Update

After three unsuccessful attempts to get chemo last week, I was finally able to get chemo on Tuesday. I didn't get chemo because my platelets came up though- I got chemo because my doctor trusts me to not do yard work, climb up a ladder to get Christmas decorations down, or go running in the dark. To quote her text message today- "I care about your organs and your brain" aka she doesn't want me to have internal bleeding from a fall or other forceful bruising. I was instructed to not "blow my nose too hard", to not shave my legs (sorry Brad!), to not chop food, and race to the ER if I start to bleed- even a little. Yay for my blood losing the ability to clot.

Because I love making graphs of data, here is what my platelets have been up to. It will give you a feel for the scale of what's been going on and how low they are right now.

Click to enlarge

I ended up having 15 days between cycles this last time instead of the prescribed seven-day gap. This morning (Thursday) I feel a tumor that has popped up overnight. I have the craziest cancer! Somehow I need to race through these last three treatments so we can move on to bigger and better things like getting my boobs chopped off and my chest radiated (hopefully turning me into a superhero in the process).

Please pray that I will be safe and not have any complications from my platelets being so low. Please pray that my platelets will be high enough to have the final three treatments on schedule. If I'm unable to get chemo next Tuesday, I will have to wait until the following Monday to try again with our family traveling for Thanksgiving. That would be no bueno!

On a separate note, I had a CT scan done last week due to some more chest pain, this time positional and very dull pain. My doctor wanted to make sure I didn't have a pulmonary embolism (a blockage in one of your arteries in your lung). It turned out that I didn't have a blockage- yay! The radiologist reported that my largest axillary (armpit) lymph node has decreased from 14mm to 8mm. So while it is still there, at least it is moving in the right direction. Doctors can not feel lymph nodes in my armpit when doing a manual inspection.

At this point, I think it is safe to say I will have either a partial response (defined as skin symptoms go away and tumors shrink more than 50%, my odds for survival would stay neutral, (I think? It's been awhile since I've read the research)) or a complete response (less likely, but if I did have it my odds for survival would improve dramatically, I believe in the neighborhood of 75% at 5 years). I'm so grateful that my breast has not grown over the course of chemo and that it has not stayed the same.

Now on to knocking out these last three treatments! Woohoo!