Round 6 Update

It's been a while since I've written a post, so I wanted to fill you all in on the latest news.  Recovery from Round 6 has been fairly rough thus far.  I've had more pain in general with this round than with any other by a long shot.  I had a blood transfusion this past Tuesday, which helped how I was feeling. But then by Thursday I was starting to get sick.  So on Thursday evening I was admitted to the hospital with a fever and I've been there ever since.

There are a couple of important developments with my situation that I want to share with you.  First off, my body has been getting progressively weaker with each round.  This is normal with chemotherapy.  One of the things that is affected most is my bone marrow's ability to produce new blood cells.  So my blood counts, which get knocked out with each round of chemo, are bouncing back more slowly each time.  Before I started the sixth round my blood platelets were low enough that I had to wait an extra week to start.  After having received the sixth round, my counts are similarly low.  So, there is a question around this issue.  If my body isn't producing platelets and other blood cells, then it is possible that I've reached the limit of the amount of chemotherapy I can receive.  The goal is to kill cancer cells, but not to completely decimate my bone marrow.  One other possibility is that my disease is causing this issue.  In other words, it's possible that there is cancer in my bone marrow and that's why it's not working like it should.

Now, based on my understanding of chemotherapy, combined with my experience undergoing chemotherapy, and keeping in mind the positive progress I've made so far with treatment, I believe that my weakened bone marrow is the result of the chemo.  We will find out one way or the other this week.  My doctor has scheduled a bone marrow biopsy that will determine just what is going on in there, and why I'm not producing blood like a normal person any more.  This has some pretty big implications.  It could mean I'm done with chemo, and can move on to the maintenance treatment.  It could mean that the treatment I've received hasn't worked and that I'll have to try something else.  Or it may indicate that I do need the last couple of rounds to finish off what I've started here.

I'm excited about this biopsy, being the optimistic person that I am.  But there are certainly some scary potential outcomes.  Mostly I just want what I'm going through to change, because it's getting close to the point of ridiculously difficult to endure.  For now, I'll be in the hospital for another few days at the most.  I'll get some more blood, and when my white counts come up either tomorrow or the day after I'll be able to head home.  There's so much going on right now, so many things feel dynamic to me.  We have the end of October, which to me has always represented the beginning of the end.  We have the election looming next week.  We're fast approaching the end of what has been an absolutely insane year.  I am so ready to take this year's worth of experiences and apply them to my renewed life.

I'll post again when I get the bone marrow biopsy results.  Wish me luck.  Love you all!
cd