Not bad for a Monday

Hi All!
I really like Dr. Downey. He is the partner of Dr. Harrison who did my surgery and I have been seeing every 3 wks. Dr. Downey answered all our questions, sat down, spent a lot of time with us and I will definitely be switching to be under his care. This is what I learned today:

I could only have one of the chemo drugs today, my platelets are still too low, 51 and they need to be 70. Hopefully next Monday they will be up there and I can then receive the two drugs. My Hgb was up to 10.5! What a difference a little blood makes. I feel so much better, even wore a wig today with a little makeup and big earrings. The nurses didn't recognize me! but said I looked good

I asked about the genetic marker testing, and he said I should have that. I will have that done at Spectrum. If I am negative, Mieke will not be at any more risk than anyone else. If I am a carrier, she will need to follow their recommendations.

He said I will have my CT scan and possibly a PET scan the last week of Jan. He did say that even if they did not see any evidence of tumors, there is still a strong possibility that they would do surgery to debulk whatever they can.......possibly in March or April. I will be off all chemo for 6 wks. prior to any surgery.

I need 7 more chemo treatments, ( for a total of 8 cycles). That will take me until the third week of Feb.

He encouraged me to try and go back to work. I need to go back before Feb. 2 or I loose my position. They can't hold a job for more than 6 months. I am going to talk with my manager very soon. He encouraged me to try and start conditioning by walking more and even go on a treadmill because I will be really tired, and feel like I "hit a wall" after my first day. Hopefully I can transition into it slowly. I am very excited about this, because sitting around has not made me feel like a very productive member of society.  Please pray that this can all work out.

I am going to play Bunco tonight with friends.. I will take my Purell with me and use it often!!

Thanks Helen for the great dinner Sat. night, I am so glad you felt like cooking some extra for us!

Tomorrow, I am catching a ride with Stan to Lansing. We will pick up Rumy and go to IKEA!! That should be good "conditioning" for returning to work, don't you think??