We went off to the oncologist early this morning prior to the fourth round of chemo. No problems with the blood counts. The liver function indicators are showing improvement - I don't have details, so don't know exactly what or how much - but any improvement is heartening. The best news was that the tumour marker is dropping fast - from 9100 in December to 2000 yesterday. Still enormous of course - a normal reading for someone without cancer is 5 or 6 - but a good indication that the chemo is working to reduce the tumours. I will be having another CT scan in March - probably after my 6th treatment - and hope for really good news then. And he had a look at the lump on my jaw and thought it might be an abscessed tooth (fits with the tooth ache prior and the speed with which the lump developed). So I have a dentist's appointment tomorrow for an examination and decision on further treatment.
The clinic was full today so I had to go upstairs to the specialist cancer ward for my chemo. The ward deals with all kinds of different cancer treatments and I thought they were less organised than the Ivy suite where my previous treatments have been. It took longer too - almost an extra hour - mostly because they were waiting for the various bags of poison to come from Pharmacy.
And the sequence of administration was different - I got Avastin first rather than as the last drug. I will be checking this with the oncologist when I see him next - a fortnight away - because I wonder if sequencing is important for the clinical trial, and I have to go to the ward again next time because the clinic is fully booked.
I am feeling OK, except for the side effects directly related to Oxyplatin - tingling fingers and tongue with cool (not even cold) things and the return of the metallic taste in the mouth.
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