mustangmort

Well, the first part of December I had 1 more round of chemo (gem/cis) and then they took new abdominal MRI with contrast. The surgeon told me that there were 3 new spots (tumors) in my liver and that I was now officially inoperable. The onc said there was not much difference between September and December in the scans. They both agreed, however, that the chemo was not doing what it should and could. Then, the week before Christmas I was really feeling lousy……half dead. One day my chest started pounding and hurting. My lower back was also pounding and hurting (bad low back). I went to my primary care doctor thinking it was connected to the high blood pressure medicine I had just started. After getting me checked out, they sent me via ambulance to the ER (standard heart protocol). They did blood tests, ct scans and blood tests again after a few hours. Could find no heart problems. The ER doc said it was probably pericarditis and I should schedule visit with a cardiologist. Next day I reported this to ONc’s office. They ordered all lab and scans from the other hospital and immediately identified the problem…………
Severe low white counts (I had neutropenia) and low red counts as well. All the symptoms fit. I had informed the ER that I was a cancer patient and had been through chemo but they never even mentioned the low blood counts. They were SOOOOOOO focused on finding a heart problem.

Anyway, white counts came up quite quickly but it has taken the red counts several week to finally approach normal. Onc suggested a 2 months chemo holiday since I had such a bad time after only 5 chemo treatments. At that time we will scan again and then possibly do a chemo embolization to the liver and then possibly radiation to the large cyst/enlarged lymph nodes in the perihepatic area.

So, for the next 2 months I’m very anxious to show me (and them) what some alternative modalities can accomplish in a few weeks.

Meanwhile, my wife wants to take me to Hawaii for 2 weeks later in the spring. (Tahiti was too expensive). :0)

Bob, thanks so much for the reply. You brought a big ‘ole grin to my soul. Last week was really tough for me. On monday I was at work and shortly before lunch time I started having a pounding in my chest and in my back (accompanied by pain). I really thought it was because of the blood pressure meds I had just started. I called my primary care doc for an appointment and left work to go see him. They started checking me over thinking I was having a heart problem. (eee gads, like I need 1 more thing) and their protocol for heart problem is to get me to the E.R. So, I get this ride in an ambulance to the E.R. They scan my chest, do 2 separate rounds of blood workups trying to find the problem with my heart…………and they find nothing. All the doctor told me was that I probably had pericarditis and I should call a cardiologist and get checked out by them. I called my Onc’s office the next day and told them what I had been through. (keep in mind, it had been 2 1/2 weeks since my last chemo infusion) The onc’s office ordered all the records/scans from my ER visit and shortly called me back saying my White counts were way down in the cellar.
Neutrophils count was .3 or 300. Anything below 500 is considered Neutropenia. I googled Neutropenia and found that everything I was experiencing was related to that. Heck, the ER people didn’t even mention I had low blood counts. They were too focused on my heart. The next few days before Christmas were the worst experience to date with the effects of chemo. I couldn’t walk across the street without exhaustion. Anyway, Christmas went well and I’m feeling better and back at work today.