I am beginning to feel normal again after 4 instillations of chemotherapy and mild complications from it.
On March 20, I was scheduled for the 7 ½ hour chemo and couldn’t have it because my creatinine (a measure of kidney function) was too high and my red blood cell count was too low.
I returned the next week on March 27 only to find that the creatinine was still too high, although the red count had gone up. Dr. Gullion, my oncologist from 17 years ago, wanted Dr. Meng, the surgeon at UCSF to make the decision about more chemotherapy. So he sent us right away to UCSF.
Dr. Meng, without hesitation, said, “No more chemo. You have two weeks to decide.†He also recommended a CT scan without contrast, since the contrast element is harmful to the kidneys. I had the CT scan before we left the UCSF medical center on Divisadaro.
I’ve been working on the decision since that day.
The first good news was that there was no visible cancer outside the bladder from the CT scan. This is good news.
We saw Michael Broffman on Monday, March 31 and were surprised to learn that I am a candidate for alternative treatment. I’ve had the feeling that I have equal changes with radical cystectomy and alternative treatment for many weeks now and Michael supports the road not taken. This was good news.
Naturally, I’ll have to have constant surveillance by Dr. Meng to watch for any new tumors in my bladder and the proceed to cystectomy if some is found.
On Wednesday, April 2, I had a guided imagery session with Leslie Davenport, my therapist in 1997. I processed the road not taken (alternative therapy) and discovered that like cystectomy, this involves a lot of work of a different kind. I have to keep a strict watch on my nutrition and supplements and be very diligent in observing the advice of my inner guidance and my healers.
But then, with cystectomy, there is still all of this diligence required in order to prevent any microscopic cancer from developing elsewhere in my body.
So diligence is required in both cases. There are still many unanswered questions.