Uncharted Waters

“There is not so helpless and pitiable an object in the world as a landsman beginning a sailor's life.” --Richard Henry Dana Jr. from Two Years Before the Mast

The new chemotherapy regimen has shown a modicum of success.  Here is the latest chart, showing the CA 19-9 cancer antigen measurement, including the most recent from last week, while I was away:

This is good news, one hopes, in terms of extending Jenny's life. A drop of 5000 in two weeks has to be good.  At the same time, she is dropping weight.  She is now maintaining around 157-160 lbs., but that is low.  And her caloric intake, just to maintain this weight is massive.  In other good news, Jenny has finally found a cannabis delivery system that is working--smoking joints. And, it has massively improved her ability to eat--with this chemo generally and significantly killing her appetite.

The doctor measured Jenny's CEA (another cancer antigen marker) again last week. Last time, on Aug 12, I was led to believe the measurement was done inadvertently.  Now, I am uncertain if that was true.  The CEA went up 3 points to 14.4 since August 12.  I am not sure what that means yet, but given time, I will read and try to determine its significance.

On Tuesday I am taking Jenny to get a liver biopsy, to determine what, I am not certain. I will also find that out when I can.   

Entry 2        4:01 p.m.

Should my time in the barrel come, I hope I can roll like Jenny.

Entry 3     4:45 p.m.

CEA, according to my reading, is an independent and may be a more accurate cancer marker for measuring the progress of PDAC.  "CEA appears to be a more robust predictor of advanced PDAC than CA19-9." 

"Median overall survival (OS) was significantly shorter for patients with high CEA (>5 ng/ml) than with normal CEA (≤5 ng/ml) (6.8 vs. 10.3 months, respectively; p < 0.001). After adjustment, CEA level was an independent predictive factor for OS (hazard ratio [HR], 1.81; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.45-2.26). In the high CEA group, OS in patients treated with combination chemotherapy was similar to that with single-agent chemotherapy (median, 7.1 vs. 6.8 months; HR for OS, 0.99; 95% CI, 0.71-1.40). Conclusions: The present results show that CEA level is an independent prognostic factor in patients with metastatic PC."

Entry 4     8:10 p.m.

There are serious peer-reviewed medical journal articles written about how Chinese herbs can prolong a person's life  (a person who specifically has liver mets and PDAC) when used complementary to chemotherapy.  Jenny has been drinking tea made of two dozen or more herbs and spices, as prescribed by her naturopath.

Let's be honest. I have an incredibly complicated and interesting life, albeit flavored with tragedy. Planning, when you live one day at a time, sweet Jesus. 

Entry 5      11:29 p.m.

A rather startling and scary new development. Jenny is beginning to hallucinate. I'm not sure what is causing it, but, god almightly.  She sent me this text a few minutes ago:

"Did i buy contact lenses for Willow but need to get bigger ones? I forgot where I put the container." 
 
I went to check on her, hoping this was some funny voice to text mistranslation or a misadventure in the land of autocorrect.  Her eyes were closed, but she was not asleep.  She then asks me, "Did I buy contact lenses for Willow today?  I think I left the red container at the park. I got her contact lenses, but need to get her bigger ones." 

This comes on the heels of me standing at the top of the landing, not 15 minutes before, and hearing her talking as if she were on the phone with someone.  As I walked down the stairs, I called her name. She volunteered to me, "Sometimes when I stay up too late I hallucinate. I was hallucinating that I was still on the phone.  I need to drink my tea and go to bed." I finish hobbling down the stairs a minute later, and Jenny is now sound asleep, and I have to wake her to get her to drink her Chinese herbal medicine or "tea" and go to bed.

I don't like this.

Comments

  1. AshleySeptember 2, 2021 at 6:38 PM

    Given what you've shared about Jenny's doc and his "continue treatment until there is no pulse" attitude and his research, I would very much doubt there was anyrhing inadvertent about it... just sayin.

    ReplyDelete

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