Tickets bought to Japan!

 Tickets are bought to Japan!  I'll be gone from Nov. 3rd - Nov. 18th.  My parents, 2 sisters and my youngest will be travelling with me.  I'm both excited and apprehensive  at the same time.  Please pray that 

• My health will hold up both during the flight and in Japan
• No surprises during my endoscopy happening Nov 1st.
• Enjoy the time to reconnect with my grandmother, cousin and uncle in Japan

Thank you so much for all your prayers and support!  I can't believe I'm actually going!  It's almost been a year since I've been first diagnosed.  It's been quite a bit of up and down.  I would have never imagined all the love and support you guys have been graciously giving me through this year.

God willing, I will be heading off to Japan in about a week!  

Blood Test #22 & Chemo #22

Thank you so much for all your prayers and support!  My CEA number and my bilirubin numbers both went down!!

After my blood test, I had an appointment with my oncologist.   Even though my bilirubin had gone down, it is still on the high side.  Therefore, we decided to change my chemo from IRINOTecan (which get processed mostly by liver) to OXALiplatin  (which only 30% get processed by the liver).  

OXALiplatin affects more of the GI - prone to nausea, diaharea, mouth sores - and also, causes cold sensibility for the first week of chemo.  No ice cream 😓.  Please pray that I don't have these side affects as much as possible!

Other big news.

I'm going to Japan!!  I'll be skipping the next chemo and going for 2 weeks.  I do have another endoscopy before I leave, so please pray that would go very smoothly!!  I'm looking at tickets now!

Blood Test #21

 This week has been a up and down week.  Most days, I didn't have too much energy but no nausea!  I had my blood test today and my CEA count came a little down!

However, my bilirubin has been slowly creeping up and it was at 3.2 today (normal range is 1.2).  Hence, I can't take the stronger chemo I've been taking until my bilirubin comes down and the other chemo drug, they want to hold off this week since I had the bleed during my endoscopy.  My oncologist  was out this week, so I'll touch base with him next week to see what the plan would be.   I may be taking a different chemo until it comes back down.  So, no chemo this week!  😀

I also had paracentesis this week and they took out 3.5L.  I feel much lighter!

Please pray that my bilirubin would start trending down again and, also, wisdom for the plan going forward.  I'm also still toying with the idea of visiting my 90 year old grandmother in Japan now that Japan has opened up to tourists.  Please pray for wisdom for that as well.

I really appreciate all the prayers from all of you!

Endoscopy leads to 4 day stay at hospital

Well, the endoscopy didn't go quite as planned ... 

On Tuesday, I woke up with really nausea and dry heaving (I was on fast since 6pm the day before due to the endoscopy).  Took some medication but it didn't seem to work.  Went ahead and went to the endoscopy appointment and they went ahead and did the procedure.  They banded 3 more veins.  During the procedure one of the arteries popped and caused some bleeding.  My nausea didn't cease either afterwards and I was still dry heaving.  Due to the bleeding and the nausea, they kept me overnight for observation.

My nausea finally came under control on Wednesday evening.  On Thursday, the Internal Medicine Doctor came and said I could be discharged!  However, 10 minutes later, the GI doctors came and due to my declining hemoglobin levels, they wanted me to stay another night.  That night, they gave me a blood transfusion to increase my hemoglobin.

On Friday, the GI doctors came and said I could go home due to my higher hemoglobin levels!  This time, my mom and I decided not to get ready until I actually see the discharge papers.  Low and behold, an hour later, the Nurse comes in and let's us know that I would not be discharged because she wanted to make sure my hemoglobin levels were at a steady state.  If it drops again, it could mean that I have another bleed some where.  

On Saturday, my hemoglobin levels stayed up and even actually increased!  I finally got to come home!  It's soooo nice to be home!!

Blood Test #20

 My CEA went up again this week. 😞  Hoping the next round, it'll go back down!  

This week has been a up and down with my energy level.  Some days, I slept most of the day and some days, it was much better.  I feel like I'm operating on 30% energy level compared to pre-cancer days.  However, I'm eating much better now, so that's been good!  My tastebuds are still not normal but it seems to be getting better.

Tomorrow is my Chemo and then Tuesday is my endoscopy.  Please pray that both of these would go smoothly!