I am sorry that I haven’t updated in a while. I have had a lot going on, and at times, it has been overwhelming. I realized this morning that a year ago today, I was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. This past year has been up and down for me. A year after being diagnosed, the two small tumors that I found on the side of my neck are gone. The tumor on my rib on the left side of my back has shrunk but is still there.
For the last two months, my blood has been on the decline. My white blood cell count and red blood cell count have been low, which is normal for me, but my white blood cell count has been dropping and getting close to anemia levels. My ANC, which is the Absolute Neutrophil Count, is also falling. The low end in the range is 1.5, but my oncologist says I can go as low as 1.0, but anything lower than that is serious. At my last appointment at the end of January, my ANC had dropped to 1.1. “ANC is an estimate of the number of infection-fighting white blood cells in your blood. Knowing your ANC can help you and your doctor assess your risk of infection.”
So what does this mean for me and my treatment plan? It means that my cancer meds are wearing my body down. I rarely get enough rest to prevent me from feeling tired, so I am having more bad days than good. On the bad days, I feel like I am much older than I am. I have days where my entire body hurts, and when it’s really bad, I have to take pain meds to get some relief. My next appointment is on the 27th, and I have a feeling that my oncologist is going to lower me to 75mg because it feels like my system is not handling the medication very well anymore. I could be wrong, but I’m not sure. I trust my doctor and will, of course, do whatever he suggests. He reminds me often that the goal is to keep my quality of life as good as possible and to kill my tumor so I will go into remission. I will, of course, update you all after my appointment. Also, my next PET scan is coming up, it isn’t scheduled yet, but it will be in the first week of March.
OK, I do have some good news! I went to the eye doctor for my check-up, my last one was before Covid in 2019, and my prescription changed dramatically. Recently I have felt like my vision hasn’t been as clear as it was before, so I thought that it might have gotten worse. But the doctor told me that I needed my prescription to be lowered, not raised. She asked me when I was diagnosed with diabetes and what my last A1c was. I am very close to being prediabetic, and because of that, my contacts have been too strong for my eyes, hence the blurry issue. She asked me what I had changed, if anything, and I said I had mostly been eating a Keto diet. So Keto has been perfect for me; it has helped me lose a little weight and has made a big difference in my A1c and, therefore, my eyesight. My doctor has told me to keep doing what I am doing because I could possibly eliminate my diabetes which would be wonderful!
I will update again after my next appointment with my oncologist; hopefully, I will have good news concerning my blood labs.