119. Chemo Recent CEA Level Update

Thank You to all the people who have been wishing me well these last few days!  I appreciate it very much!  It is heartwarming to know that you are in my corner!  Yes the fact that my CEA level rose last Monday has me worried and wonder why of course.  However, I totally forgot that I had both a flu and a Covid vaccination 10 days prior to having the bloodwork done.  That may have something to do with it.  Also inflammation may play a role and I have been having a dull ache in the location where the Nanoknife surgery was performed.  I do not think that the site is infected but there is a good possibility that it may be a bit inflamed.  I have been eating some ginger slices and drinking golden milk (turmeric).  This seems to be helping. 😷

I am scheduled for a 1 year follow-up colonoscopy this coming Monday.  So I have to go on the low fiber diet tomorrow and Sunday and drink the lovely "potion".  Yikes!    I'll be back after that.  Keep well!!  SanTeh!  Oh, and Happy Halloween! 🎃

I got the CEA result from yesterday's bloodwork and the level was up instead of down.  I am very upset right now.  I won't be posting for a while.  I need some time to absorb this.  ttyl 

 I promised to post on Tuesday, but my husband and I decided to do some fall camping at the spur of the moment to Moose Mountain Provincial Park.  No moose were to be seen but we did see some deer when we were on the walking trails.  Fall camping is great: no more mosquitoes, lots of peace and quiet, nice weather.  Just 2 other campsites were occupied.  Gemmie enjoyed it also!

Having bloodwork done on Monday.  I will share the results on Tuesday.  Getting some more outside fall work done before the snow flies. The weather app is forecasting rain and snow tomorrow!  Yikes!

118. Chemo CEA: The Beat goes On...

The CEA result is in.  I am grateful that the level has gone down.  I am disappointed that it has not gone down as much as I had hoped.  Remember that a level 5 or lower is considered "normal".  Two weeks ago the level was 7.5; yesterday it was 7.1.  So it came down 0.4 in 2 weeks.  That is a larger decrease than in previous months when it would come down only by 0.1 per month.  I do not know if that is normal, or if I am expecting too much.  It has been coming down since I stopped taking chemotherapy, but I was hoping that after the recent Nanoknife surgery the level would come down much more drastically.  Tomorrow I am scheduled for a phone conversation with the surgeon.  Hopefully he can shed some light on this.  (PS: no he could not)

This is taken from the Cancer Research Society's website:  "In 1965 Philip Gold and Samuel Freedman published a study on their groundbreaking discovery of the Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), a protein found in 70% of cancer patients and which can be detected in the blood.  Their discovery established CEA as the first clinically-useful human tumor marker and it remains the most frequently used blood test in oncology around the world.  Their work literally helped shape the modern era of cancer immunology and tumor markers."

The Beat goes on   A youthful 😄Sonny and Cher  1967  

Back on Tuesday!

117. Chemo What goes around comes around

When our son was in university he had a job one summer working in an ethanol plant.   Or rather, the place had been a distillery before and was in the process of being converted into an ethanol plant.  One of his chores was to clean out the mash tanks, pleasant work, up to a point.  His work clothes would always reek of booze and he would bring them home to be washed, transporting them in his car, also reeking of booze.  I would chide him, worried that if he would be pulled over by the cops, he might have a hard time explaining his situation and be in big trouble!

A couple of years later I had a teaching assignment a good 2 hours drive from our home and rented a small apartment in that city.  I would stay there during the week and come home on weekends.  It so happened that I was heavily invested into making home-made wine at the time.  I had started a big batch of chokecherry wine at the beginning of the new school year and since my husband was busy with harvest and could not possibly be trusted caring for my precious wine, I decided to take the fermentation vessel with me for the week.  I carefully strapped the container in on the passenger side with the seat belt and drove to work, a bit worried on how I would explain my precious cargo if I ever would get stopped.  But we both got to our destination without any problem, the yeastlings happily bubbling away, performing their magic.  I was quite pleased that I was able to keep an eye on the fermentation process all week long.  Yet somehow, something did not feel quite right but I just could not put a finger on what was wrong.  Friday after work, I picked up the fermenting batch at my apartment, again strapped it in and drove home.  I was quite happy that the fermentation had in no way been  hindered by the transportation back and forth and that the batch was smelling so wonderfully like alcohol already!  

Once arrived home, my husband casually mentioned after supper that my licence plate had been expired for a while. Was I aware of I this? (Gulp, no, what?)  

And no, I did not take the ferment into my classroom for Show and Tell!😄  SanTeh! 🍷

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!  Enjoy the Weekend!  Back after Tuesday!

116. Chemo Different kinds of Cooking Oils

I've decided to stay on the topic of food and nutrition for a bit.  

It's been suggested to me by my oncologist for one, that the colon cancer may be attributed to my diet.  So this thought has been swirling around in my head and as a result I read everything and anything on food and nutrition that I can possibly lay my hands on.  But there are so many opposing and controversial ideas around, that it is hard to decide on what the best plan of action is regarding meal preparation.  Luckily Mary lent me a book called "Food  What the heck should I eat?" written by Mark Hyman, MD.  I find it a very useful book.  The author goes into detail on every food group and what the latest findings are.  The part on Fats and Oils is so interesting  because I find this topic most confusing.  Although I  have tried cooking with several different kinds of oils in the past, lately I have decided that in my kitchen I really need only 3.  And no, even with my husband being a grain farmer and us growing canola ourselves, canola oil is not one of them.  1.  Avocado oil for high temperature cooking  2.  Extra virgin olive oil for medium temperature and on salads  3.  Flax oil for on salads, not meant to be cooked with.  Flax oil is the only oil where the ratio of omega 3 to omega 6 polyunsaturated fatty acids is 4:1, apparently a good thing since we consume too much of omega 6.  Some people swear by coconut oil, but I found that when I was taking chemo and my taste buds were super sensitive, the coconut oil tasted rancid.  As far as canola oil  goes:  when I was teaching in the northern part of the province I used to drive by a canola processing plant and the smell coming out of there was "very unpleasant" at best.  My husband and I also have tried Virgin Cold Pressed Canola Oil but were not impressed with the taste.  Oh and in the above-mentioned book it is suggested by the author that olive oil originating from Italy could be diluted with other oils the way that some imported honey has been adulterated with other sweeteners to increase profits.  According to him good olive oil should have a greenish, not a yellowish tinge.

So that's what I'm cooking with at the moment.  But then again, nothing is written in stone!  

Back tomorrow with a humorous and tasty story!  SanTeh!