It’s Tuesday and I’m still in the hospital but I’ve certainly turned a corner. Last night I graduated from IV fluids to clear liquid diet. For dinner and breakfast this morning I was able to have chicken broth, juice, jello and herbal tea. During morning rounds, an examination of my belly showed some positive bowel sounds and a softer abdomen. I then graduated to solid food for lunch. What’s that?! You heard right. SOLID food.
I had a little turkey and tomato rice soup; so far it’s sitting pretty well. No nausea, no vomiting, no feeling like a monster has punched a hole in my gut and grabbed onto my intestines for dear life. One meal down. Let’s hope dinner stays on course.
There is no official word but I think that I could get discharged tomorrow if all goes well tonight. As much as I do secretly enjoy the adjustable hospital bed, I’ll be happy to return home to my own surroundings. I also adore my nurses and CNA’s but I definitely won’t miss 3am wake ups for vital signs and 5am blood draws.
I still do need to have chemo on Friday so as far as I have been told. The infusion schedule hasn’t changed so things will be business as usual soon enough.
One more tid-bit of positive news that I wasn’t expecting. In the midst of all of this mayhem, the CA-125 results came back from last week’s blood draw and it was 479!
It dropped like 400 points(?)* since a month ago when it was still hanging out in the 800’s! Perhaps that steroid really did help to fight the inflammation in my body last week. I could use a small victory so I’ll surely take it.
*Hey medical professionals- riddle me this: in what unit is the CA-125 measured? “Points” doesn’t sound very official. Help. Love always, some one that should know the answer to this.
The Cancer Chronicles 
Sounds like good news all the way around! Very happy to hear it!
I’m not a medical professional, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. CA-125 test results are given in units per milliliter. Unfortunately the definition of a “unit” is “an arbitrary amount agreed upon by scientists and doctors. So, not “points”, but “units/ml”….
This is a most uplifting message… how great for you ~ you do the roller coaster better tan most mortal humans .. Happy days are here again. I hope you do get busted out ~ home is a great place for you. 🙂
So happy to hear you are in the express lane out the door of the hospital………Good News!!
The reason it’s measured in units is because the test is an ELISA – an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay – which basically uses a few antibodies and a color changing enzyme to detect the concentration of Ca-125. The measurement is by light transmittance; the “units” are a derivation working backwards from the standardized absorbance curves for the test. Hope that helps!
Way to go!!
I hope your belly is back to jiggling like that jello in no time! (OH YEAH!) Now I know that’s the Kookaid man’s saying but I figure Kookaid trumps Bill Cosby references. Lots of love to you!!