New drugs

I know, I know...I should have blogged days ago, but I just wasn't feeling up to it. Here are the results of Wednesday's doctor appt:

My red blood cells seem to be holding steady. My platelets have increased somewhat so instead of the usual 40mg of Procrit, they gave me 60mg instead, in hopes that this will get things all charged up by next Wednesday. Yes, we've put off the chemo pills "one" more week.

Because of the increased pain I have been experiencing, we are trying a new pain reliever called Tramadol (sounds like "damn it all"). Side effects include nausuea, drowsiness and, ironically, headaches. I've been taking anti-nausea pills that also cause drowsiness, so I've been sleeping a LOT lateley! The headaches went away after the first day, so that was good. The nausea is lessening and I put the "bucket" away this morning. The sleepiness seems to be sticking with me.

The reason for my increased pain is that my tumor marker number took a significant jump again. Now at 1474, that's a jump of 345 in only TWO weeks! Dr K hasn't seen that number yet as he won't be back in until Monday.

So if I can ask for specific prayers this week, it would be that we can finally start the Xeloda and start to gain some control over this thing. Healthy blood is what I need!

I'm supposed to be camping right now. (insert sad face)