and the fight goes on :)

Well, good news this week.

It was time for another blood test and the usual visit to the oncologist for the results and to see if my white cell and platelet counts were OK to continue with the next round of chemo.

So WCC is OK, platelets are not too low, so don't have to go back onto black pudding :)

But the good news is that the tumour marker (it's called the CEA and it indicates the level of cancer activity in my body) has dropped even further and is now into the 'normal' range. Yippee! So the graph over the past 8 months, since this all started again, goes very sharply up and then does a nose dive - very sharply down.

It means the tumours are shrinking in response to the treatment.......it also means that the treatment needs to continue. So, I went out of his office straight into his day clinic where I had my 4th round of 9 rounds of chemo. Almost half way. And after the 6th round (mid August) I will have another PET scan which will actually show it all in pictures, rather then just numbers on a page and a graph. It will show the cancer spots in the places where they are in my body and it will show the size.

So, maybe Dr. Chen was a little bit right - that I will live a little bit longer and closer to 100!!!

Who knows which treatment is really doing all the good. I honestly believe that the combination of the western medicine and the alternative treatment that I receive from Dr. Chen is a magic formula. No matter who I speak to - medical or lay people - they all say, "just keep on doing what you're doing because whatever it is is doing well".

So that's what I'm doing - sticking to my Dr. Chen diet and exercise and herbal regime and having the chemotherapy as well. So you will still see me, each morning, stepping out in my bare feet to walk 200m on my rough road surface, patting my tummy and bottom with alternate steps - doing my DIY acupuncture. I know it's funny, but it's not a chore and it's over very quickly. Not doing it in this torrential rain though.

I have been making efforts to explore how acidic or alkaline my system is. Apparently if it's too acidic it feeds the cancer cells. So I've done lots of reading, consulted various people, tracked down some litmus paper for testing and also had a venous blood gases test. Dr. Chen advised that I cut down on all animal products - fish, chicken, eggs, honey etc. Then I read about which fruit and vegetables are good and bad for PH levels. I need to cut down a bit on all the fruit I eat - lots of sugar in fruit.

Anyway - after the venous blood gases test results it seems that my system is pretty well balanced and I don't really need to go to any more extreme measures with my diet. Phew!

All for now.Putting the finishing touches to a weddng ceremony for tomorrw night and planning my trip to Norfolk Island in August and then - just maybe - I'll go to South Africa in November to spend time with my little family there. All OK with the oncologist.

Thursday 21 August 2011 @ 7pm.