I'm doing 'fantastic'

Yes, that's the exact word used by my radiation doc yesterday at our six-month check-up! Dr. M spent SO much time with me, answering questions, checking me over -- I love the guy!

Basically, here's my condition:

• The pathology report right after my Jan. 5 surgery showed no cancer at the tumor site and no cancer in the lymph nodes. (A few of the nodes did have cancer previously, as did the tumor, but last fall's radiation and chemo took care of it.)
• The CEA cancer blood test I had a couple of weeks ago was at 2.1, which is under 3 and "in the normal range."
• My two surgeries (for the tumor and the lymph nodes) have healed nicely, better than expected, in fact.

So I said to the doc, "So, I'm doing OK?" His response: "I'd say you're doing fantastic!"

One of my questions to him was, "Should I do a little extra chemo?" And he said, "If it was me, and my labs were good, I would." He said it all comes down to the labs -- if my liver enzymes are too high, or my white-cell count is too low, I should probably stop the chemo. Otherwise, go for it.

So I'll talk to my oncologist, Dr. W-G, next Thursday (what would have been my last chemo treatment!) and see what her opinion is. Then, I'll make a decision. But I'm leaning toward just biting the bullet and doing a few more treatments (sigh). Then I'll know I've done everything I could to beat this.

Re: Hannah, she's also doing fantastic! She even went out to dinner last night with a couple of friends ("Mom, I'm just walking to the car, walking into the restaurant, sitting, then coming home. No big deal.") I made her e-mail her surgeon, who said, "I trust you to know what you can do, but take it easy." So,there she went, laughing with her friends, 10 days after having brain surgery!

Thanks for checking on us!

Until next time ...

P