I have not felt well since Friday's third radiation treatment, thus the delay with the update. Nausea has struck and even using my ginger and Sea Bands has done little to relieve it. I have also been very, very tired. I have remained in my pajamas all weekend, which I rarely ever will do.
On Friday, my labs revealed that all of my counts had worsened. This is concerning as we are treading a fine line of using the radiation to eradicate leukemia cells without further harming my bone marrow. White cells, red cells, hemoglobin, platelets - all had declined. I was quite neutropenic (low white cells that fight infection), so I was instructed to begin three days of Neupogen injections.
My creatinine level worsened (measure of kidney function), so that is a bit concerning. We know that my left kidney is in the radiation field and is being irradiated along with the spleen. I realized this week how difficult my decision making process has become when I choose to irradiate a perfectly normal kidney in order to attempt to improve my health.
I have e-mailed my radiation oncologist to inquire if I have already reached the point of needing to reduce the radiation dosage from 50 cGy to 25 cGy? The other option I have pondered is if I could continue with the larger dose, but transition to two treatments (versus three) per week.
Please keep me in your prayers. Hopefully, my counts will improve tomorrow.
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