Viewing posts tagged chemo
Some brief news updates after a long hiatus:
After last week's liver troubles there's been a lot of emotional up and down - waiting to hear whether James could still have the Methotrexate, and pondering the consequences of stopping it (with a risk of relapse) or the potential damage to his liver of continuing it.
Last week James started feeling a bit nauseous around food again, and so we asked them to test his liver condition. (This is after his liver apparently recovering from his two episodes last year). The results showed that his liver is struggling again - this time, only one of the four tests was abnormal, but it was 10 times the normal level. This was apparently a fairly clear indication of drug-related liver problems, and so we were told to not give James his weekly Methotrexate this week and then to test again. Today he was tested and the level that was high has dropped significantly, which seems to strongly indicate that his liver is not handling the Methotrexate.
James had his Bone Marrow Biopsy (which happens routinely every 3 months) and Lumbar Puncture (and monthly intravenous chemo!) last week. The operation went smoothly, although he felt a lot more queasy than usual and ended up throwing up all over the car. David had to go straight off to conduct an interview after dropping us at home ... so it made it interesting for him with the state of the car!!!!) We got the results on Tuesday, telling us that he is still clear from leukemia! The Prof (his doctor in charge of his treatment) explained to us that we are exactly where you should be ... but you've got a long road left to walk! These were honest, but sobering words for us and reminded us of the continued need for prayer in many dimensions! We thank God that He is our strong foundation, never shifting or 'wobbled' by events or difficult happenings!
Haven't updated this blog over the last few months - we had to return from Japan because of James being diagnosed with Leukemia in August... and have since then been going through fairly intense treatment with him.