Hi everyone. I know it’s been a while, I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! 

I haven’t been feeling that great since a little before Christmas. The change in my medication dosage has really caused some serious effects on my body. It’s been a little over a week since I’ve been on the 600mg, and my bloodwork is pretty bad. My red blood cells, along with my hemoglobin and hematocrit are all very low. For those who don’t know, hemoglobin is the part of your red blood cells that carries oxygen throughout your body. Hematocrit is the percentage of red blood cells in your blood. My hemoglobin is currently 8.4 (as of yesterday), which is getting pretty low. I get very short of breath doing simple tasks, like walking up the stairs. I have also been getting dizzy and just feeling overall exhausted, all of which go hand in hand with low H&H. If my hemoglobin level drops a little further, I would need to get a blood transfusion to bring my levels back up and hope that my body responds well to that. My medication has also lowered my white blood cell count pretty significantly, at 2.2. High white blood cells indicate infection or lots of inflammation, while low WBC count means your immune system is compromised and cannot fight infections as easily. We all have lots of different types of white blood cells within our bodies, and the main one this medicine affects is called our neutrophils. Mine are low but not low enough that my doctor needs me to stop my medications. My liver enzymes are the same, and my electrolytes are okay aside from my calcium level still being high (from bone breakdown). I am currently waiting to see when they want my bloodwork done again to check my hemoglobin. If the shortness of breath and dizziness gets worse, I may need to go to ER to get a transfusion right away. I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that. 

I was able to get my hormone blocker shot the day after Christmas, so that was good. I have been having pain in my left breast for most of the weekend and was seen by both, my breast surgeon and oncologist. They feel it is “referred pain” coming from my sternum due to the bone mets in that area. I guess I didn’t realize there were mets right there also, which makes me a little sad. I feel like my whole body is full of them. Which thankfully not my whole body, but majority of my skeleton is. Sometimes I just picture a Halloween skeleton that you’d see in Party City but with holes all over it, and feel like that is my body, minus the arms and legs, since thankfully mine aren’t affected currently.

But my doctor feels like my meds are working, since the tumor markers have come down a bit. She said she would have liked to have seen them come down more, but that is still progress and not progression. As of now, it seems like my PET scan will be scheduled for around the end of January since I asked for it to be a bit sooner. I want to make sure these meds are working, especially if I feel like crap. I don’t want to feel awful and not have any progress!

My back pain has gotten worse, in a different spot. My lower back is so awful, sometimes it’s  difficult to even stand up. I have an appointment with my radiation oncologist for 1/2 to discuss potentially more radiation to my lower back now, or to see if he feels a kyphoplasty may be beneficial for me. A kyphoplasty is a type of procedure where they basically use “bone cement” that they inject into the vertebrae in your spine. I’m not sure if that would be better for me or more radiation, but I need something. I feel like I can barely get up at this point, and I hate it.

I’m trying to say positive but it’s been rough, the last few days especially. If my back wasn’t the way it was, I feel like it would be so much easier to go about “normal” life, but right now I feel anything but normal. Please continue to pray that things will get better and that my back pain especially will get better with whichever treatment they decide. Also, my Metavivor fundraiser is still going, if anyone would like to donate! https://donate.metavivor.org/fundraiser/5139490

A huge thank you to those who have already donated!! 

I hope everyone had a great holiday and has a Happy, HEALTHY upcoming new year. Here’s to praying that 2024 is much, much better ❤️❤️