The Gamma Knife was evidently a success, as we posted before, but the next day, my white blood count was too low to receive chemo. The regular oncologist was out of town for two weeks, and his back up guy said to just give it a week to see if my counts would rise to the occasion. We went this morning, and indeed they had come up beautifully and therefore was given the regular dosing, and began taking the daily oral chemo again as well. Now it's just waiting to see how my body responds to these next rounds of chemo, and try not to be anxious for the next rounds of tests on my liver, etc. They will check on the brain in about 6 weeks with another MRI-please pray that it will stay clear of microscopic and any other growths. The liver, and other scans should begin in about 3 weeks maybe? The interim doc thinks it should show some positive response from my liver based on how everything else is looking. We are praying for that to be the case!!
The herbalist in Ashland that I went to see had some good suggestions, and lots of things to augment the chemo, help my immune function, and support my liver while going through the chemo and radiation. Sugar and sweets are out, as they depress the white blood count for about 4 hours after you eat them. (Hello viruses and bacterias) Sugar also feeds tumors, and he's concerned that I don't have a lot of room to play, so he's also having me severely limit my grains, especially refined grains, and even beans, as they convert to sugar pretty quickly in the body. While I thought I'd be making a lot of raw vegetable juices, he thinks they will contain too concentrated of a sugar content, so that's out as well. I'll be trying to stick with pasture fed, hormone and antibiotic free meats, wild fish, lots of organic vegetables, and fruits in moderation. Cultured, and organic dairy products are good as well (yogurt, kefir, sour cream, raw cheeses, etc.) Some of my children are THRILLED with this development...(creme fraiche anyone??) We found a great cookbook-it looks like a lot of fun-called "Nourishing Traditions". It's got recipes for all of the above types of foods, and I just went to Bald Hill Farm to get some "clean meat" (lamb and goat) and found that Harriet Hughes is one of their favorite suppliers of goat meat as she does such a faithful job in raising such a high quality product! Good Job Harriet! Julia Sunkler already had us supplied for the year with her beef, which my dad and brother raved about on a recent trip to Medford to visit. That, and some elk sausage provided by the Morris duo kept everybody happy, happy! Thanks, folks!! And thanks to everyone else, who is helping to lift us up over these current circumstances. I can't tell you what a blessing you all are. The meals have been a tremendous help on many levels, and all of the other gifts and prayers, childcare and "running" are always so appreciated. I'm sorry if I can't get to all of you with thank you cards, (there's a pile of you!!) but please know that we are extremely grateful for you all. We couldn't do this without you.
In His Hands,
Jeanne and the gang.
