I saw my oncologist this afternoon. After several months of accelerating increases in my white blood cell count, I was hoping that the increase had at least slowed, if it hadn't stopped.
Nope.
My WBC count is now 100. Actually, 100.9. I've also become anemic, which pushed me straight to Stage 3. (Do not pass Stage 2, do not collect $200.) And I have palpable nodes in a new area. The other staging system uses the number of areas as a criterion.
And because my WBC count is so high, if I should decide to have chemo, it would have to be inpatient instead of outpatient. The toxins released by 100K lymphocytes imploding will clog up my kidneys and wreak havoc with my electrolyte levels.
I reread some of the online reference material after I got home. My current stats qualify me as "high risk." My doctor seems to think there is a very real chance that I will wake up one morning feeling really, really bad.
But...she agreed: I'm still not doing permanent damage by waiting. And I'm still waiting.
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