In the meantime: prostate investigations
Husband’s PSA count was a bit high at 5.1 in April last year and went up to 6.7 in the following month so he was sent to see a urologist. It went down to 6 in the summer. The urologist … Read More
‘Stable’ and ‘not much to report’ are not to be underrated!
I haven’t posted for a while because it doesn’t feel like there’s been much to post. ‘Stable’ and ‘not much to report’ don’t make for dramatic reading but they do make for good living so I hope that someone may … Read More
7 Years Since Diagnosis
We’re coming up to 7 years since Husband was diagnosed, with an initial prognosis of 3-5 years (they thought that the cancer had spread to his liver – it hadn’t). Quite a milestone. We sit rather nervously awaiting the latest … Read More
Change in Diagnosis!
It’s good to see a relaxed looking Dr Inscrutable as we walk into the consulting room. He’s always calm but after 7 years we’ve learned to read the degrees of calm a bit. It’s only 6 weeks since the last … Read More
Can you eat grapefruit & marmelade when on Ibrutinib? A clinical pharmacist responds
We asked the hospital pharmacy helpline about Ibrutinib and food / drug interactions. They weren’t sure so asked a clinical pharmacist to email us. We were amazed at how detailed and helpful his response was so share it here as … Read More
Normal is a range: blood tests & numbers
Two weeks later The two week appointment shows a slight improvement in red cells from 126 to 131 (any improvement is always most welcome!), with platelets up from 294 to 300. Sadly there is no update on the paraproteins, which … Read More
More blood tests: early days on Ibrutinib but hopeful?
Another long wait in our masks next to the window in the patient overflow waiting room. We feel so vulnerable around people these days. No doubt everyone in here feels the same. We all awkwardly give each other as much … Read More
Starting Ibrutinib
We had a false start last week when the confirmed delivery changed to ‘delivery cancelled / not attempted’. Husband called the helpline, commendably calm and reasonable. They acknowledged an error but since they only deliver twice a week to this … Read More
The Jury is In: We have a Treatment Plan
It’s been a while since we were in the hospital waiting room but here we are. It’s so busy that we’re in an overflow waiting area but it has an open window so we sit next to it in our … Read More
In limbo: cancer progressing but no treatment plan yet
Phone consult day. I dumbly try to take notes as the doc explains things gently but firmly. There’s good and not so good news. The proteins are up from 13.6 to 20.5, “a consistent trend”, the haemoglobin is down from … Read More