The Final Countdown

I can't believe I've begun the final round; that I'm incrementing the 16-20 set of treatment days; that I'm in the last box in the upper left widget of this blog.

On the one hand it's taken forever to get here, but on the other I feel like it's surprising that I'm this close to the end. (Although I'm hesitant to call it the end because we don't what the PET scan will show.)

Today was easy, routine. I'm exclusively going to the same office most of this week. It's the one which is slightly further from my home but I prefer it.

My Red Blood Cell counts are still low, and my onc says that it'll take up to three months for them to get to my pre-chemo levels. They don't give pro-crit (a RBC stimulating shot, which is similar to Neulasta for WBC stimulation) because some studies have shown that they have long term cancer implications. The only other treatment besides time is a blood transfusion.

The symptoms of my low reds are that I get winded from next to nothing, like walking up a single flight of stairs. With a more serious effort I see spots and need to sit down. (Red blood cells carry the oxygen from your lungs through your circulatory system to your organs and other body tissue. With less of them, the body inefficiently oxygenates).

But in the grand scheme of things, this is a minor complaint. Overall I'm handling the chemo very well, so I'm happy about that.