It's been a good week

Just a brief update! Things have been well. Monday to Wednesday Min Ser was on home leave and he enjoyed the break immensely. Blood results on Thursday shows that his red & white counts + platelets are low. But besides the numbers he feels well and has a good appetite. Now just waiting for his counts to go up again.

Feeling Better

Thank you to those who have stood by us. A friend reminded me that there will be ups and down. Though looking forward to the final down, then up up up all the way. Yay!

Min Ser is feeling much better today though still a bit weak. Appetite is improving though he still can't eat too heavy stuff. He's been dreaming and talking about mee goreng, mee rebus, nasi lemak and big breakfast. Now just have to wait for his system to catch up with his imagination.

Fever is fairly normal now. Slight fever on and off. Doc says not likely to be due to infection as his blood counts are not so low yet. So yeah, now it's the wait for blood counts to drop and come up again phase.

Prayer Request

Please pray for Min Ser. Currently having high fever 38.6C and he's really feeling uncomfortable.

This morning he was feeling better, but fever just started. Pray that it'll subside and no infection.

Day 3 Second Cycle

The past few days has been tough on Min Ser. This time he feels weaker and very tired. He pretty much sleeps all the time. Nauseous and not much appetite, but no vomiting. He has been taking clear soup, milo with crackers, porridge, 100plus and coconut water. He also has stomach ache on and off, could be reflux or gastric related. Slight heart palpitation, but doctor says it is not uncommon after administering the stronger chemo, Idarubicin.

This cycle the chemo regime is 2 doses of Idarubicin 22mg (orange colored liquid) and 8 doses of cytarabine (Ara C) 1500mg, 1 dose every 12 hours. Good thing this cycle is shorter. Four days compared to 8 in the first cycle. Three more doses of Ara C and no more chemo till the next cycle.

He just needs to hang in there.

Good News

Bone marrow results looking good. No abnormal white cells can be seen via microscope. The naked eye is only sensitive to see anomaly from 5%. A flow cytometry will be able to determine the accurate percentage. Though the chemo regime remains the same even if it is 0% to 1% abnormal white cells.

Regarding his extramedullary tumours (tumours outside the blood), a PET scan will be done after this second cycle to indicate how it has responded to the chemo. The stent inserted in his bile duct is also planned for removal after the second cycle.

What we hope to see after the second cycle is smaller or no more cancerous activities and tumours in the different areas of his body. Ie: duodenum, bile duct, left shoulder and thymol gland.

Second good news of the day. We were admitted to a double bedded ward yesterday but moved to a single bed ward today! According to the nurse, "Sepatutnya bagi orang lain, tapi rasa lebih baik bagi kamu, sudah biasa kan." (The room was meant for someone else, but we felt it better to be reserved for you, since we know you better).

Thank you Lord for your continuous grace and favour :))

Back for Second Cycle

We're back at Ampang Hospital for 2nd cycle of chemo. Bone marrow test was taken and chemo regime to start tomorrow.

This round will be a stronger dose chemo compared to the first.

As before, praying against any uncomfortable side effects or infections. May the bone marrow results show good response to the first round of chemo too!

End of First Cycle

Min Ser's blood counts and immune system is on the uptrend. No fever since yesterday. So he's been given the OK to be discharged home. He was so happy, after being in hospital for almost a month. He gets to enjoy the next couple of weeks at home, but still advised to avoids crowds especially during the first week. So yup, this means he has finally gone through the 1st induction cycle successfully! Yay!

Next cycle starts in 2 weeks. It will be more intense, so lets pray he will get through the upcoming cycles smoothly.