In Eight Steps to Happiness Geshe-la says "'Self' and 'other' are relative terms, rather like 'this mountain' and 'that mountain ... 'This' and 'that' therefore depend upon our point of reference. This is also true of self and other. By climbing down the mountain of self, it is possible to ascend the mountain of other, and thereby cherish others as much as we presently cherish ourself."

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Very Good News: I'm Normal!

... that is my CA-125 tumor-marker is!
Normal range for this lab is under 34, and my score last week was 18.
My onocologist wants me to keep up this chemo regimen for March and April, then do scans (to see if there are any visible masses) and another CA125. Dr K says that a CA-125 under 10 makes for the longest remission.

This means the chemo is working against my cancer.
Not every chemo drug works for every patient, so they try a different drug. Sometimes that doesn't work either, and sometimes a patient finds that none of the chemos work for them. Can you imagine how discouraging that must be? You'd still have a lot of side effects.

Another reason to keep on this path is that we have to wait for another month to get an accurate scan.

I believe if my CA-125 is low and my scans are clear at the end of April / early May, I will be done with chemo, at least for a while.

You may recall that when I was first diagnosed, in 4/2009, my CA-125 was almost 1,000; this January, the previous time it was measured, it was 76.
I was very - happily - suprised that it had dropped that far in 2 months.

Again, I have to thank you for all your prayers and support. You can clearly tell that they help.

Love,
M.

3 comments:

  1. Hi Mimi! It's Tracy from Phoenix. So happy to hear your news & you are in my prayers, too.

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  2. Excellent news! So delighted ...

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  3. I am very happy to read this Mimi. xx

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