Jay Lake: Writer

[cancer] Chemo series three, session four, day three

Yesterday I came off the needle. It was also a day with a very crowded house, which eventually became confusing, then overwhelming for me. I love my friends and family, I love visitors, but not always all the very same time. It didn’t help that the de-needling process ran into some snags with retracting the Huber needle.

Mostly though I was in a mood due to the disturbing news about the CEA levels. [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ] There is one possible benign interpretation, that I’m experiencing a “CEA flare“. However, I’ve never experienced such in the past, and my CEA response have always been a bit idiosyncratic. My oncologist doesn’t seem to think this is likely either, though there’s no point in further speculation until we see the imaging. (Beyond feeding my imagination, I suppose.) I’ll be in to the oncology clinic this afternoon for my Neulasta shot, at which point we’ll also schedule the CT and go from there.

There’s some genetic testing available for my tumor tissue, that cathshaffer has done a lot of good work hooking me up for. Essentially, that’s an option for verifying whether we’re targeting my tumors with the right chemo drug series. It’s way expensive, and almost certainly out of pocket as the procedure is still experimental, so a bunch of logistics and some fund raising may be in order. Not to mention some serious coordination between my hospital and the offering lab. Stuff to think about, stuff to do.

Feeling pretty overwhelmed here.

Tags: Cancer, Family, friends, health, healthcare, Personal

Posted: 8:52 am Mon November 12 2012 |

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