Monday, February 25, 2008

Sean's Latest Update

It's been a while since my last update but I haven't had much news in the last couple weeks. This last week was a good week for me and I felt really good. The whole week of Valentine's Day was a struggle. I had a lot of problems and ended up losing 10+ pounds in a matter of days. I was dehydrated and as weak as I've ever been. They eventually fixed it though and my weight is back up to normal.

On Friday we met with Dr. Chandramouli and talked about my treatment. He prescribed me some new medicines. He also took a look at my latest CT scan. I guess the tumor in my lungs that was 2.5 millimeters is 1.5 millimeters. The big tumor in my abdomen was 10 millimeters and on the CT scan it's 8 millimeters. Keep in mind this scan was done about halfway through the first week of my second cycle. I think it's pretty good news. It helps if you think about it like a sphere. 2 millimeters is a lot if you think of it that way because 2 millimeters of it when the tumor is at 10 millimeters in size is a lot more than 2 millimeters of it now that it's 8 millimeters in size. So next time it's measured it should be an even bigger number smaller. I don't know if that makes sense to anyone or not.

Today I started my 3rd "hell week" of chemo. So tomorrow or Wednesday is when it starts to make me sick again. I got the latest blood results back as well. Remember the AFP level I talked about? Well, it was 7308 at the start, 2513 after the first measure, and now it's 120.4. Like I said, normal for a person is 15. So it has dropped significantly again. In fact it's almost normal and I'm only halfway through. The tumors aren't secreting very much anymore. They're almost dead. My other marker, Beta HEG, has dropped a lot as well. A normal level for a person is .03. At the start mine was 5. Then it was 1 at the beginning of February. Now it is .1. So that marker is almost normal as well.

That's all the news I have for now. Thanks for everything. 6 more weeks to go.

Love, Sean

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sean, THIS IS WONDERFUL NEWS...YOU ARE A MIRACLE!!!!!We ALL Love You and EVERYONE that is helping you get through this time....YOU WILL BEAT IT!!! You're a Martella and we don't give up easily...Keep up the positive attitude and PLEASE keep the updates coming....WE LOVE YOU, Aunt Laura and the rest of our Family

Mel said...

Good luck this week and I hope it's not too bad!! You are a trooper. I am so proud of you and the way you have handled things. Is there anything I can do? I know you get that a lot but I am serious. I feel helpless and want to serve. So please don't hesitate to ask!!


Love Melanie