Bilirubin Update #4

Friends & Family,

I'm happy to say this is the last of the bilirubin updates, at least for now. The past 2 weeks have shown progressive improvement, to the point where my oncologist has declared my bilirubin levels healthy and stable (down to 2.9 as of this past Thursday, with the rest of my liver enzymes showing marked improvement)!

What does that mean? Well, I no longer have jaundice and the yellowish skin tone & eye tint that comes with it. My liver is now healthy enough to focus on treating the cancer directly instead of having to deal with the side effects of the cancer treatment (bilirubin problems). As a result, I can re-start the same regimen of chemotherapy this upcoming Monday. This may seem weird, but I'm looking forward to it. The act of going in for chemo is my physical way of saying I've over come liver failure for the time being and am back on track.

I've also been focused on gaining weight these past 2-3 weeks. I don't know what my current weight is, I have the official weigh in tomorrow - what am I boxer?! - but I'm confident that I've gained at least 5-7 pounds since my pants are starting to fit a little better around the waist. I've tried to eat between 2,500 and 3,000 calories a day, which isn't easy when you can't drink alcohol (i.e. no beer) and can't intake a lot of sugar (i.e. no boxes of krispy kremes). Also, my stomach shrunk from November through January when I was dealing with the extra pain and jaundice, so I'm not able to eat a lot in one sitting. To add extra calories, I've been drinking a bottle of Ensure Plus every afternoon and have been eating a generous slice of organic, no sugar added cheesecake from Whole Foods every evening. I now have an afternoon and evening sweet craving, uh oh! :) This is in addition to 3 meals a day and snacking in between. A special thank you to the Oshima Family who sent me a care package from Hawaii with some of my island favorites - taro pancake mix, Hawaiian Sun juice mix, Guava Jelly, etc - and to my sister in law, Megan, for providing me with a bounty of organic snacks for my desk.

There probably won't be another update until my next CT scan, which should be about 3-6 weeks from now. Since I've been off of chemo for the better part of the past two months, I'm somewhat apprehensive about what the next CT scan will show. I will be satisfied with a small amount of growth and will pray for no new tumors, but that's out of my hands.

Thank you all for the support, prayers, and resources you provided me when things were looking bleak. They really helped to buoy my spirits and give me the mental fortitude to keeping fighting and healing. Where the mind goes, the body will follow........

Stay well,

Rhone