Just before I received my chemo infusion this past Wednesday, lab results from blood drawn an hour before indicated that I was a little low on potassium and that my blood pressure was a lower than my normal too (110/50). Not sure what's causing this, but perhaps it's due to the radiotheraphy I had last week? My potassium was 2.75 and the normal is 3.6 And so, to help me get back to the normal levels, I was given 2 potassium pills to take and was told to eat some more bananas. From a MayoClinic site, "Low potassium (hypokalemia) refers to a lower than normal level of potassium in your bloodstream. Potassium is a chemical (electrolyte) that is critical to the proper functioning of nerve and muscles cells, particularly heart muscle cells. Normally, your blood potassium level is 3.6 to 5.2 millimoles per liter (mmol/L). A very low potassium level (less than 2.5 mmol/L) can be life-threatening and requires urgent medical attention."
So I've been trying to eating a little bit more bananas and drinking orange juice to help regain my potassium balance back. I'm feeling good though and work isn't stressful at all. However, throughout the past week, I do feel just a bit of ache here and there in my head where I had the Cyberknife radiotheraphy last week. I hope it's nothing serious and due to the tumors"swelling" and dying off.
ROS1
On another note, recently this past month, my oncologist, Dr. Neal discussed with me about this new genetic rearrangement discovery called Ros1 that has shown remarkable response in 1 single patient study to crizotinib (a pill form) treatment for lung cancer. ROS1 represents 1 to 2 percent of non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLC) and many patients with ROS1-positive tumors tend to be younger, never to have smoked, Asian and to have a type of lung cancer called adenocarcinoma (which fits my profile) He has already sent my tumor to some lab to get it tested to see if I have this ROS1 genetic mutation.
So far, Dr. Neal has already sent my tumor off to get tested for dozen or so known genetic mutations and as I mentioned in previous posts, all results indicated that I don't fit any of the mutations. Bad luck that I don't any known DNA mutation as some patients have responded very well to certain treatments if the tumor mutations fit to what's been studied. This Ros1 is a new one and so far, I'm still awaiting the results. You can read more about the amazing response rate that this one patient had with taking this crizotinib pill since he had this Ros1 mutation at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120131122500.htm. But, then again, it's been about a 1.5 months so far and I haven't heard anything from Dr. Neal about this Ros1. Hmm, it's highly unlikely I have this Ros1, but who knows, I hope I do. Lots of Love.
So I've been trying to eating a little bit more bananas and drinking orange juice to help regain my potassium balance back. I'm feeling good though and work isn't stressful at all. However, throughout the past week, I do feel just a bit of ache here and there in my head where I had the Cyberknife radiotheraphy last week. I hope it's nothing serious and due to the tumors"swelling" and dying off.
ROS1
On another note, recently this past month, my oncologist, Dr. Neal discussed with me about this new genetic rearrangement discovery called Ros1 that has shown remarkable response in 1 single patient study to crizotinib (a pill form) treatment for lung cancer. ROS1 represents 1 to 2 percent of non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLC) and many patients with ROS1-positive tumors tend to be younger, never to have smoked, Asian and to have a type of lung cancer called adenocarcinoma (which fits my profile) He has already sent my tumor to some lab to get it tested to see if I have this ROS1 genetic mutation.
So far, Dr. Neal has already sent my tumor off to get tested for dozen or so known genetic mutations and as I mentioned in previous posts, all results indicated that I don't fit any of the mutations. Bad luck that I don't any known DNA mutation as some patients have responded very well to certain treatments if the tumor mutations fit to what's been studied. This Ros1 is a new one and so far, I'm still awaiting the results. You can read more about the amazing response rate that this one patient had with taking this crizotinib pill since he had this Ros1 mutation at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120131122500.htm. But, then again, it's been about a 1.5 months so far and I haven't heard anything from Dr. Neal about this Ros1. Hmm, it's highly unlikely I have this Ros1, but who knows, I hope I do. Lots of Love.
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