May scan

Yesterday I was supposed to finally start the now twice postponed treatment round, but the platelets count had further declined compared to last week. The value was now 78. The nurse said they would postpone the treatment with another week.

Today I had the doctor's appointment where I got to hear the analysis of last Friday's CT scan. I was quite nervous this time and expected to hear some negative news. I had the increased CEA value particularly in mind. The senior doctor I thought I was going to see had taken a one week holiday (!). His deputy was one of the young doctors we have met before.

The situation in the liver is roughly on the same level as in February. The strategic measures are now:
* 3,0cm x 2,7cm (in February 2,7cm x 2,6 cm)
* 6,9cm x 4,5cm (in February 6,7cm x 4,2cm)
* 6,6cm x 2,8cm (in February 7,6cm x 3,7cm)
* 3,1cm x 2,3cm (in February 3,1cm x 2,2cm)
* 1,2cm x 0,9cm (in February 1,1cm)

The sixth tumour they measured in February to be 6mm in diameter can no longer be seen. The report also mentioned that there are no new tumours and that some measurements were difficult as the edges of some tumours were unclear.

As a summary, some of the tumours are still big, some have increased in size, some are the same size as before and some have shrunk. The doctor didn't give a clear conclusion but she said it may be the current chemo regime is no longer working as the tumours have not decreased in size significantly. There will be a department meeting tomorrow morning where my case and treatment plan will be discussed. She would call me in the afternoon and give me an update. The senior doctor will be back on Monday and probably make the final call.

We also discussed the issue with low platelets count. The doctor said their practice is to wait until the body recovers and starts producing platelets normally. Re-fill of platelets is done only when the value goes below 20 which means the situation is life threatening. We said we are a little worried about this as it has now been three weeks since I stopped eating the Xeloda pills and five weeks since last dose of Avastin. We also asked if there could be other reasons for low platelets count than the chemo. Could the cancer for example have spread to the bones where the platelets are produced? The doctor said no as such a situation would be seen in other blood values and they all are fine. We agreed I'll wait for the next blood test (Friday or Monday) and cross my fingers that the count is up.