Courtney had her monthly check at St. Jude yesterday. I went in with a postive feeling, but the blood work showed that she is having liver problems. Her AST (SGOT) was 142 and it should be 5-40. The ALT (SGPT) was 218 and it should be under 58. They temporarily stopped her treatment until her liver enzymes go back down. All other numbers look great. Monday I need to take her to get her blood tested, and St. Jude will over night her peginterferon if her numbers are low enough. Courtney is not too worried about it. She is happy that she gets to skip a shot this week. I, on the other hand, am worried that the cancer will be come back during the time there is no interferon in her system. She missed 1 week of the high dose treatment due to her liver also. Other than that, we had a really fun trip, as always. We laugh so hard at times. I have been doing much better with the worrying for the last week or so. I have decided to put the computer aside and quit doing research on melanoma since I cannot find very many positive things. I feel so much better too.
There are 2 more girls about Courtney's age at St. Jude. We met one yesterday. She is an 18 year old who has had melanoma for about 10 months now. She had a Stage 2, like Courtney. She went through the high dose and was taking the peg interferon, and had to stop at 23 weeks, I believe, because they found a lump on her neck. They did surgery to remove 2 lymphnodes and they tested positive for melanoma. She is currently doing 5 radiation treatments. So, in 10 short months, she went from a Stage II to a Stage III while on treatment. This is so frightening. There is also another 16 year old, but we have not met her yet.
We return to the hospital on October 25, 2011. She is almost due for her PET scan and that will tell if the cancer has spread to any of her organs. I asked the doctor to see if they can tell if the cancer is spreading by her bloodwork. He said no, but her LDH may rise a little bit if it was. It is all we can do .... is watch and wait, and hope and pray.
UPDATE: October 4, 2011
Courtney had her blood drawn yesterday to check her liver, and St. Jude just called to tell us that her counts are back to normal, and she can resume treatment tomorrow. Thank the Lord!!
There are 2 more girls about Courtney's age at St. Jude. We met one yesterday. She is an 18 year old who has had melanoma for about 10 months now. She had a Stage 2, like Courtney. She went through the high dose and was taking the peg interferon, and had to stop at 23 weeks, I believe, because they found a lump on her neck. They did surgery to remove 2 lymphnodes and they tested positive for melanoma. She is currently doing 5 radiation treatments. So, in 10 short months, she went from a Stage II to a Stage III while on treatment. This is so frightening. There is also another 16 year old, but we have not met her yet.
We return to the hospital on October 25, 2011. She is almost due for her PET scan and that will tell if the cancer has spread to any of her organs. I asked the doctor to see if they can tell if the cancer is spreading by her bloodwork. He said no, but her LDH may rise a little bit if it was. It is all we can do .... is watch and wait, and hope and pray.
UPDATE: October 4, 2011
Courtney had her blood drawn yesterday to check her liver, and St. Jude just called to tell us that her counts are back to normal, and she can resume treatment tomorrow. Thank the Lord!!
