Brain, Bones, Liver & Blood

In April when I was diagnosed with brain metastases, I had three tests. Compiling all of those results, I was told I had about nine lesions on my brain plus some floaters. I had a CT last week & got my results this morning. My doctor told me that only one lesion could be seen in my brain and it's much smaller than in April. The CT does not look for floaters so I can't say if there's improvement or not. This is really good news. In terms of treatment (radiation and chemo), these results are abnormally good!

Then came the not as good news that the cancer in my bones has spread and one of my vertebrae is fractured. That could probably explain why my back has been hurting more lately. Basically, pick a bone from my neck to my hips & it has cancer in it. The report says that my bone metastases are unchanged from the last images... so perhaps I missed hearing this news when I got my last results or maybe there were other parts of the results that were more important to focus on. We'll see if some more radiation would be beneficial for my back pain.

My liver... stable! Yay!

My bloodwork... most things normal except my neutrophils are low. This means I'll wait until next week to see if my neutrophil count is up enough to get my next round of chemo.

All in all, I am so thankful for these results. My doctor actually used the word "exception" to describe my response. He said that most people usually decline when diagnosed with brain mets and floaters. I couldn't help but smile 'cause I was wanting to say... I have thousands (and maybe tens of thousands) of people praying for me and I have a big God who is carrying me through the good and the bad.

We've been praying hard for my brain & liver. Please don't stop. Can you please join me in praying for my bones? Healing of bones with cancer, protection for my healthy bones, pain that is manageable.

Plus, I just wanted to congratulate one of my nurses at the Cancer Agency who won an award: the Amgen Award for Innovation in Oncology Patient/Family Education!  Congratulations! I'm so thankful to have you on my team.

Feeling a little jealous of these healthy looking bones (but not jealous of the metal rod up the bum)