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Saturday, April 05, 2008,9:02:00 PM

The 5-day NUH week

Health updates

Monday: Was at NUH for CT scan, X-ray and blood tests.
Tuesday: Went back to see the oncologist. Thank you CM, for accompanying me after lecture :) The CT scan continued to show improvements, not as much as the previous one though. Some bigger tumors in the liver are more stubborn than the rest. Dr didn't mention about the one at the tail of the pancreas though and I just remembered I forgot to ask him in the email I just sent -_-" The full report was not out, so I have to wait for the report by email. Tumor markers remained stable, would be better if they had gone down though. Liver enzymes had almost all normalised which is good.
In conclusion, still responding to treatment, so most probably going to go to the max of 8 cycles.
However, my neutrophil count was low. Too low for chemotherapy to be continued the next day. My absolute neutrophil count (ANC) needs to be at least 1.5 x something something for chemotherapy to be continued. ANC that is too low will predispose me to febrile neutropenia where the body will be unable to mount any immune response in case of infection. That is VERY dangerous!
CM and I both gave the Dr a "Huh?!" when he said I need to delay chemo by another week. So, he asked me to be back the next day for another Full Blood Count (FBC) and hope the ANC would have increased by then, which was rather unlikely since my count was only 0.6 x something something..HeHe...
Wednesday: Well, went back to NUH in the morning with my mom to have another FBC done. At 10+ am, the nurse called me in for chemotherapy! which meant that my ANC had increased to sufficient level for chemo to continue. YEah!~
The nurses were all rather curious at my special ability to summon my neutrophils to come out in time for chemo. This was not the first time my ANC had been low when I consult the Dr and shot up the very next day for chemo. The nurses wanted to know what miracle drug I took so that they can teach other patients with the same problem as me.
My tips: no miracle drug or food. Only enough food, enough rest and PRAYERS! plus visualisation. believe it or not, when I pray, I picture the neutrophils coming out from my bone marrow and maturing, then they enter the bloodstream to be circulated to the whole body. Well, it helps if you know how neutrophils look like .. HeHe (go google it)

The bad thing on Wednesday was I got poked 3 times before successfully locating the vein for chemo. Painful! *sobz*
As you go through more chemo, it gets harder to get good veins cause the drugs are so toxic. :(

Thursday: Cycle 5 Day 2. Poked ONCE only, luckily. But was very tired.. slept the entire afternoon and did not feel like eating much. Just wanted to zzz...

Friday: Cycle 5 Day 3. Poked once but just as tired.... Zzz.. some reading for test on Tuesday. Watched some drama and more Zzzz... fainted on the bed at 8.30pm till this morning! woke up near 11pm for a pee and the next thing I know, it's 6am!
The anti-emetic, dexamethasone is supposed to make me unable to sleep. But no effect. 45mins after taking it, I was in dreamland... Zzz...

Thus ends my 5-day NUH week.

Mom had gone home for 2 days.
Time for prayers and zzz... Nite!


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