Sometimes our bodies tell us they feel pretty good but our blood tests tell us something different. Got to my chemo appointment last Friday just to be told that my counts were too low and they couldn’t administer the chemo. So frustrating to have mentally prepared yourself for something and not have it happen. I was happy to enjoy a nauseous free week but it now has set my schedule a week back. I started when I did so that the holidays would not be during my crappy week. Still going to be OK unless this happens again.
One great piece of news is that my CA125 dropped from over 1100 to 350. This means that the chemo is working. Yay. Normal range is between 0-35. Here is a bit of information about the CA125:
A CA 125 test measures the amount of the protein CA 125 (cancer antigen 125) in your blood.
A CA 125 test may be used to monitor certain cancers during and after treatment. In some cases, a CA 125 test may be used to look for early signs of ovarian cancer in people with a very high risk of the disease.
A CA 125 test isn’t accurate enough to use for ovarian cancer screening in general because many noncancerous conditions can increase the CA 125 level.
Many different conditions can cause an increase in CA 125, including normal conditions, such as menstruation, and noncancerous conditions, such as uterine fibroids. Certain cancers may also cause an increased level of CA 125, including ovarian, endometrial, peritoneal and fallopian tube cancers
This test is really accurate for me. When I was first diagnosed in August of 2015 and was pretty much full of cancer it was 7550 and when in remission I range from 10-15. I had been at 15 for about 15 months until it jumped to 26 then when tested 3 weeks later it had jumped to 96. Then 3 weeks later they took it again before they started my chemo and it had jumped to over 1100. As you can see this cancer is so aggressive and you it is so important to jump on the treatment as soon as you can.
Tomorrow I will be having chemo #2 of 6. I was given the go ahead this afternoon that all is well with my blood counts. So tomorrow morning I will be back in the chemo chair at about 8:45 AM for 6 hours to have poison put in my body to kill the poison that is in my body. Sounds counter productive but that is my options right now. In the last 2 days 2 of my Ovarian Cancer warrior Facebook friends have been called home. They were both younger than 50 years old. I am so grateful for all of the warriors that have gone before me and have set a precedent for the cancer treatments that I am getting. I pray that in the next 3 or 4 years more immunotherapy will be perfected so that it might work for me. Here is just a hint of what that is:
Ovarian cancer can be tough to beat, particularly if it returns after initial treatment, but new research offers a glimmer of hope.
One study found that a new targeted “immunotherapy” to treat ovarian cancer that has come back looked promising in a small, early trial. Meanwhile,a second team of researchers discovered what appears to be a marker for patients who will do better after treatment overall.
“These studies are exciting, but very early,” said Dr. Eva Chalas, director of the Center for Cancer Care at NYU Winthrop Hospital in Mineola, N.Y. She added that it was good to see research on ovarian cancer, because “little money is spent on this cancer that is often lethal.”
The first study included 29 women who had ovarian cancer that had returned. The patients were treated with an ovarian cancer vaccine called Vigil. The vaccine — also known as targeted immunotherapy — is made to treat each woman’s cancer individually by using cells harvested from the woman’s own tumor.
“Ovarian cancer is such a difficult disease because it’s a different disease from one person to the next. So, we created a vaccine specific to each particular cancer. It only works for that patient’s tumor,” explained study author Dr. Rodney Rocconi. He is chief of gynecologic oncology at the University of South Alabama-Mitchell Cancer Institute.
This therapy is so promising. Other cancers are already seeing great results from this treatment and so I constantly pray that Ovarian Cancer will get those great results soon.
For those that haven’t heard or seen my Facebook Page about my “buy a blanket and give one to a chemo bag” check it out. It is also on Julie’s Journey Facebook page and my Tealoutforwomen Facebook page. The Holidays are coming up and these blankets are the best gifts. I am trying to figure out how to put it on the webpage to make it easier to order. Not sure how to do it so if anyone out there has some experience on “WordPress” I would love to pick your brain. I try to keep the costs down for administration of Tealoutforwomen so that all of the funds go into the chemo bags.
I will close this post with my favorite saying – START EACH DAY WITH A GRATEFUL HEART.