Chemo Plant #3

I've made it through the post-chemotherapy Unpleasant Side Effects Week from my third round of chemo and am now embarking on Low Immunity Week, which has its dangers but feels much, much better.

As I mentioned briefly in my last post, my oncologist is very happy with the progress I've been making and says that I probably only need one more round of chemo. When he told me at the start of my treatment that I would get four to six rounds, I thought that the reason to stop at four, if that happened, would be that I was getting too many side effects. But no! Or not necessarily. He thinks I can stop at four because it seems to be working! It turns out that if I get good enough results from four rounds, it's best not to give additional rounds. Apparently there are only so many total times a person can take carboplatin in their lives. Eventually anyone who takes it will get an anaphylactic reaction, but the number of doses it takes to get to that point varies from person to person. Thus it's best to save some of my allocation of carboplatin for a later time in case I need to get chemo again.

Which implies that the oncologist thinks there will be a "later" for me. Which is very good news, given average survival times with mesothelioma.

It also means I only have to endure one more Unpleasant Side Effects Week.

After my next round of chemo I'll get another PET scan, which will show more definitely how much progress I've made. Then I will probably switch to getting my immunotherapy at twice the dose but half the frequency, possible for as long as two years.

With the aforementioned good news, it is clearly time for my third chemo plant. I have decided on a 'Day' avocado tree. It will be yet another container plant that I will need to find space for on my deck for the summer and then in my house for the winter. But that's a good problem to have!

Meanwhile, Chemo Plant #2, the tree rose, is waking up from dormancy.

Chemo Plant #2 awakes