Friday March 11, 2011 was a big day. I was sitting in my doctor's office waiting for him and began crying my eyes out. I had intended to talk about needing some counseling anyway, so it was pretty obvious I'm not handling things very well. I spoke to several nurses and social workers about my feelings and they are finding an appropriate counselor for me. Whew. I cried all week - it really was a very low moment in my life.
Doctor Hayslip comes in and says "Ok, I've been thinking"...he reduced my meds from 600 to 400 mg per day! I really didn't think he would do this until June and had been working on accepting that. WOW - now we get to reduce 3 months early! I couldn't be happier!
I went from crying my eyes out and being very very very depressed to crying because I'm so elated. 30% reduction in medicine also means a 30% reduction in side effects. He reminded me that the relief in side effects, particularly the swollen eyes, wouldn't happen right away.
I am to do monthly blood draws and there is a quantitative test he will do to put a value on the number of Leukemia cells I have. This will monitor if the reduction in meds is working or not. I hope it does.
Even though I got good news, I'm still going to see a counselor. I need to accept this and put it in perspective and move on.
Saw your comment on Tyler's blog and just wanted to offer my support to you. Congratulations on the medicine reduction, that is great news!
ReplyDeleteSending you strength and healing thoughts.
I hope that the new dose relieves the worst of your symptoms! Good for you for finding a counselor! There is a lot of grief to face, especially when cancer keeps you work and fun and other normal activities.
ReplyDeleteTake care!
Thank you both! I've been very busy with work lately and feeling pretty good, hence the silence here.
ReplyDeleteI do appreciate you posting - it's crazy to me that the internet can allow total strangers to connect on suct a personal level!
Thank you for your thoughts...it does help!
~Lynne