Todd's Journey

Bloodwork was completed earlier this morning, and it appears that my creatinine levels went up AGAIN.

It is now becoming more and more clear that my ureters, bladder and kidney draining is NOT the source of my continued creatinine increases. So in some small sense, that's a good thing.

The bad news is, the increase in creatinine is likely being caused from the immunotherapy sessions. Immunotherapy continues working in your body for months after a session. The only way to stop the immunotherapy from continuing to work is to administer high doses of steroids.

The administration of steroids brings on it's own set of challenges, especially in terms of water weight gain, and significantly elevated blood glucose levels. However, these are temporary until the end of the steriod treatment.

I do not know what the next option will be from the oncologists, but it is likely to stop the immunotherapy. At that point they may look at maintenance chemotherapy, which is lower dose chemo, spread out over a longer period of time, to help keep the cancer from returning.

Will keep you posted.

Just got my bloodwork back for the upcoming final cycle of chemo. Neutraphils look good, White Blood cell count looks good. Creatinine level is a bit higher, but that could be because I am fighting yet another infection. Am on Cipro so that should help get rid of the infection. My hemoglobin is quite low so I am likely anemic again. With the infection and the low hemoglobin, the fatigue I am experiencing is likely due to that. They will fix my hemoglobin issue with another top up likely Friday or early next week. But that shouldn't impede proceeding with my last cycle of Chemo.

Of course the official decision on proceeding with chemotherapy will be made by Dr. Reaume or Dr. Touche tomorrow when they review the bloodwork and talk to me.

However, my prediction is we should be good to go.

Talked with my medical oncologist today. He said I was good to go for Cycle 3 of Chemo tomorrow, but have to have a blood transfusion on Friday morning to bring my hemoglobin up a bit. He also put me on a five day program (shots every evening) to help me with my neutraphils and white blood cell numbers.

He has ordered a new CT scan in four weeks to take a final look at how the Chemo has affected my cancer (shrunk it, stopped it from growing, etc.) He suggested I may even be a candidate for a clinical trial of new cancer therapies.

I may be able to have at least of my nephrostomy tubes removed soon. He is going to talk to my urological oncologist. That would be an awesome step forward, so am keeping my fingers crossed for that word.

That's it for now. Making good progress.

My bloodwork came back today, and it seems most is good news. The only potentially problematic ones were my hemoglobin is very low again, making me anemic, but they should be able to correct that with another blood transfusion, and it shouldn't delay my next Chemo cycle. My red blood cell count is also low, but that is expected as the chemo kills off a large amount of red blood cells. My white blood cell and platelet numbers were perfect.

All in all, I expect my chemo will be able to go ahead as planned on Thursday this week, but will know for sure tomorrow after I meet with my medical oncologist.

All my blood counts have recovered nicely, so Chemo Cycle 2 is a go tomorrow. Next session will be next Thursday, October 19th. Good news overall.

Quick update on the bloodwork done today. My neutrophios, which were way too low for my chemo last week, have gone from .43 to 4.91. This is excellent news and well above the required neutraphil count that would allow for chemotherapy. Some of my other blood markers were a little off, but probably not enough to delay my chemo further. We will have official word on proceeding tomorrow (October 11th) afternoon. Will keep you posted.

Hi Everyone,

As mentioned in my previous post, my neutrophils (white blood cells) are a bit too low for me to proceed with my next chemo session. The doctors will check my blood again tomorrow morning, before my scheduled session, to see if the neutrophil count has risen to acceptable levels. They did say that sometimes it can build up in a little as a day, so they want to see tomorrow if it's good enough for another round of chemo. They have also ordered a blood transfusion as my hemoglobin is a bit low. (but that won't delay my chemo).

Fingers crossed that the bloodwork tomorrow says I'm good to go. Otherwise, I am on hold for a week... lol