Friday, 26 August 05
My monthly oncologist appointment was accomplished today. No blood work this time - my CBC results have been stable since surgery, so the frequency of blood draws has gradually been reduced over the past 18 months. Initially, blood analysis was performed every week, then twice each month, then once per month, and now bi-monthly. Same thing for the oncologist visits themselves. After the next visit on Friday 23 August 2005, Dr. Stark-Vance says that she will not need to see me for two months. There was no new MRI film to review - next scan will be 21 September 05.
As first reported in January 2005, one interesting test I take during each office visit is a variation of the Peg Game. Instead of jumping the pegs with the other pegs and seeing how few remain after all possible adjacent jumps, however, you see how fast you can insert the pegs into the wooden triangle block. The test is performed twice; once using only the left hand and once using only the right hand. My usual time to insert all 15 pegs is 22 seconds. My best time had been 19 seconds, but today I completed the task in 17 seconds (left hand) and 18 seconds (right hand).
Sunday, 07 August 05
I am half way through the 11th round of chemo now. The procedure we have been following is 14 days of Temodar at 140 mg per day (three pills I take at home at night), along with 40 mg/day of Accutane. I then take 14 days off from the Temodar chemo and visit the oncologist after this period of 'rest' has been completed. We then repeat the 14/14 pattern, after which I get a MRI and visit the oncologist (I see the oncologist every month). All of this constitutes one chemo cycle. I have been through 10 such cycles since surgery in February 2004 - cycle #1 was actually six weeks of radiation and concurrent chemo - and I continue to have clean MRI reports!
I also take Keppra @ 1000 mg/day, which can make me a bit sleepy, but considering the benefit (prevention of seizures), a few more yawns in the morning is a small price to pay. Next MRI will in the late September timeframe. I appreciate the prayers, notes, conversations, words of encouragement, thoughts and prayer pages that I have received over the past 18 months. I thank the Lord for being with me every step of the way.
Wednesday, 03 August 05
A reminder from the July 2005 news page is that I am a participant in this year's Light the Night walk in Ft. Worth in October, as I was last year. Please consider making a secure online donation on my behalf to fund research to accelerate a cure for blood cancers - and indeed all cancers.
