First year anniversary

12 October 2009, Monday

5 more days and I would have crossed the 1st year anniversary. The oncologist said that only 20% of bile duct cancer cross this line and many of them would have been either on wheel-chaired or bed-ridden. Hence, he is quite pleased with my results and I can walk into his clinic unaided.

My latest tumor marker has dropped from 255 (in Sep) to 159. Liver and kidney are still functioning well, although the liver shows some increase in the cell damage and I have some protein deficiency. I hope that the current cocktail of oral chemo drugs will work better and the tumor marker will continue to slide downwards, and not like the earlier treatment, where it drops quite a bit in the first cycle and then stagnant for awhile and bounce back up again. Fingers crossed

This one year has not been easy for me. But of course, there are other cancer patients who suffer much worse side effects than me. I am already very blessed that the cancer cells are still contained within the original spot in the bile duct, liver and lymph nodes and have not spread to the other major organs, given that bile duct cancer is a fast acting cancer. It is suspected that my lungs may also have been infected, but the doctor is still not sure at this point in time. Those new cancer cells discovered during the year are isolated in the liver. I am still "pregnant" with water retention. Doctor has given me water to pee. Not much results yet, but hope that it will work.

Last week, I was in the hospital to visit a friend's husband. He also has bile duct cancer. He had his liver cut in Feb 09, got better for a few months and there is a relapse. He has been hospitalised for 2 months already and the doctor told the family that chemo is out for him now. If his liver stop functioning, he will enter into coma and pass on in a couple of hours. It really sadden me, as we are having the same type of cancer. When he was first diagnosed, it was only in stage 1 and within months, things turn for the worse. I am really very blessed that I started on a higher baseline (stage 4) and still coping well for the time being. I must thank my religion for giving me the strength to carry on fighting this battle.

I also like to thank all my friends for their well wishes during this one year. I will continue fighting and not let the cancer cells have a good time. I have already beaten the odds of 1 to 5. I am targeting to be that 1 out of 20 who survive beyond 5 years from diagnosis.