I know I haven't posted much here recently. It worked it's way into being a routine so that's kind of a good thing. Plus I have been trying to stay away from media in general only partly successfully. We have had some very scary moments, I had my moment of needing to tell her goodbye because they didn't think she'd make the night. But she did and I'm eternally grateful for that.
So the current update is the chemo is done. The week after her last chemo treatment we ended up in the ER and they didn't think she'd make the night. Same as with mine, the chemo almost took her from us.
Now I'm sitting in the waiting room at st Mark's while she is in for her hopefully final surgery. Full hysterectomy. Take out everything plus every little sign of any remaining cancer, scrub it all clean. Her doctor is fantastic. Dr. Hunn. One of the very best gynecologic oncological surgeons in the country and one of the first doctors to specialize in these surgeries. Huge confidence in her doctors. From that standpoint it's been a huge success already.
The chemo, as brutal as it was, was very effective as far as they can see before the surgery. They measure a protein associated with ovarian cancer called CA-125. Normally it sits at counts around 35 in our blood, but it elevated with ovarian cancer specifically. Once it gets into the 200+ range they suspect cancer. Hers topped out at 1600. "Crazy high" according to all of her doctors. The last blood count showed it at 24. Lower than they expected or hoped for before surgery. And the scans showed the primary tumor reduced by over 40% with no other signs of disease in the scans. Best case we could hope for. So that's fantastic news!
Not sure if I mentioned this, but she has been part of a study to test a medication to help keep platelet counts up during chemo, specifically for her type of cancer and one of the chemo drugs she was receiving. We found out that she was the only one on the study in the United States, and 1 of only 4 in the world right now, because so many get screened out for various reasons. She was really proud to be part of that. It also was great for her because it meant she had a dedicated set of nurses to with with who were both fantastic. One of the good experiences through all this.
So anyway, that's where we are. I cannot thank everyone here enough for your support and kindness through this. I tell you, I'd rather go through my own chemo again than ever have anyone I love go through this, let alone my partner and best friend in this life. It's been the hardest thing I've gone through personally in my life, and I know what it's been for her. So thank you all again. Tough to go through this without a support group. But it is decidedly weird that a good chunk of my support group are a bunch of random weirdos on a sports fan site. But I'm so grateful for all your weirdos. Thanks for all your support. I love you guys.
