Counting Blood

Till now, (very luckily) my body has shown no adverse reactions to any of the chemo drugs (only drug, that I am yet to take, is Belomycin- it is rumoured to be rough on lungs and the skin. we'll see how it goes, its scheduled for this Friday)

So Far,So Good

Now, the game has boiled down to killing the cancer cells before the body gets badly hit (from chemo). The hit, that I am talking about, can come from two fronts..one- permanent damage to organs (heart,lungs,liver, kidney, bladder, eye sight). The damage is already being managed. I get things like "rescue medication" to reduce the effect of chemo on some of the vital organs. Regular tests/check-ups will ensure that any damage is identified early and slowed down.

The other area from which the hit can come- Infection due to low immunity. The Chemo kills leukocytes (WBC), which are part of the immune system(and help fight disease). Chemo also slows down bone-marrow- this can bring down the number of RBCs, WBCs and Platelets (measured by "blood-counts") in my blood - Leaving me "immune supressed". My blood-count numbers will definitely come down (inevitable), its the amount of dip that is unknown- it depends on my body-condition, fitness and my diet. Some dip can be tolerated, but if the numbers hit a bottom, i might get infection even from the very food that I eat and the shit that comes out of me. In slightly better cases I will still be catching other peoples cold (which might come to me as pneumonia ... which is why visitors are discouraged).

My blood counts are being measure every third day. The last check showed a slightly low count (for the first time during entire Chemo). This was an expected dip(in fact doc says could have happened earlier), and the counts are expected to bounce back. There will be another check on Wednesday, the counts should go up by then. If they don't, then I will be given something called "growth factor" which should set the counts right. The docs hope to continue with Chemo on friday.

So, all in all ,life is currently revolving around the blood counts....and, I guess, these counts are going to be the "hot topic" for some more days...