Groggy Good News

February 12, 2009

O Best Beloveds, I’m feeling a little woogy this morning, the day after chemo, so this message will be short. Coherent may be too much to ask for.

But the news is good. You may recall my markers went up; well the ones drawn a month later went down, pretty much to where they had been before the spike (1300-something). This is good news, because many times when I’ve had markers go up I’ve been told it might just be an anomalous surge, recording the break up of a tumor. For once, that seems to have been the case, rather than the beginning of a rise upward. Scans were ordered, and the news there was excellent: my main tumor (size 4–I think they mean centimeters) was cut in half (2), there was decrease in all the other spots, and there was no new activity.

So apparently Doxell/Docxell/Whatever is working! Doubly good news because it really is a mild chemo; strange things are happening to my hands and feet, but that almost feels like normal, so it’s doable.

I’m not in huge celebration mode only because we’ve been down this road so many times in the last three years–it works, then it might not be working, then it definitely isn’t. So while it’s a relief, it’s not a long term one. I still have to take it month by month. But there does seem to be a reason for optimism, so cupcakes all around!

But first, a lie down,