Given my professional history of conducting experiments and analysing data, acquiring cancer is the gift that keeps giving. There's a whole new domain of terminology to learn, and weekly tests and results to process and monitor. The fact that they relate to my physical well being gives me a considerable vested interest, as my oncologist pointed out. Others in my orbit don't comprehend my quantitative fascination.
So this week I've begun reading more about the numerous types of blood tests and what the results mean for my general health and susceptibility to infection. I've also started plotting the inevitable decline in blood quality, which looks rather like a dropped ball that will soon cease rebounding. In simple terms the chemotherapy drugs cause the blood cell production factory of my bone marrow to shut down, with only partial recovery when it resumes during my week off treatment. It would take several weeks off for the cell counts to normalise. Hence according to the data I am (predictably) suffering from anemia1 as well as neutropenia2. So it is advisable to go easy, eat healthily, keep away from sick people, and maintain good hygeine. I'm glad I'm no longer a teenager.
Monday's CT scan shows the volume of the primary lesion in my liver is stable, roughly 4x4x4 cm. The lymph nodes in my abdominal and pelvic region are also stable or reduced in size. As far as I understand it isn't simple to confirm if the lymph nodes are cancerous (metastasis) or merely enlarged without performing multiple biopsies, which are themselves subject to false negatives. Whilst CT scans can be an indicator they have limitations, such as varying sensitivity and specificity3. The multidisciplinary team err on the side of positive.
Speaking of positive, the level of Carbohydrate Antigen 19-9 (a protein whose presence in blood is an indicator of pancreatic or bile duct cancer) has reduced from 642 to 95 U/mL. The healthy mean for my age is about 7 Units per mL. This indicates the treatment is working to some extent4, controlling the cancer's growth and spread, and not just thinning my blood and making my hair fall out.
So things haven't got any worse, which I'll take as a positive outcome so far.
Amidst all my googling to interpret the jargon in my scan report I discovered to my delight the existence of the anatomical feature known as the “para-aortic groove”. Apparently we all have various types of groove deep within us. Hence today's upbeat song which is semantically related.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/anemia/symptoms-causes/syc-20351360
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutropenia
https://ezra.com/ct/cancer-detection-lymph
I don't know what units the nominal Units are.
Excellent song choice! 😉
Nice Carbohydrate Antigen 19-9 score mate + brilliant stuff making a medical analysis upbeat!