Yesterday was my monthly check-in on the progress of my cancer and the damage to my body from Xalkori. The cancer markers that are tested can’t be used to diagnose disease but can give an indication of the success of treatment. In my case they’re indicating wild success. The two markers that were tested are now in the normal range!
I still have low white blood cell count and not perfect liver function but overall I’ve escaped major damage from Xalkori. My side effects seem to be diminishing, too. I’ve been able to get out of bed before nine of a few occasions without needing the anti-vomiting drugs. I’m being really cautious about my WBC count and just trying to do everything I can to prop up my immune system and stay healthy.
| Cancer Markers | Normal | 16 Oct | 16 Nov | 7 Dec | 4 Jan |
| CA 125 | <= 35 | 158 | 329 | 53 | 29 |
| CA 19.9 | <= 34 | 163 | Not tested | 41 | 31 |
The big check-in is the PET-CT and MRI at the Mayo Clinic Jan 30 and 31. Not to get cocky but I think I’m going to knock their socks off.
5 comments
This is awesome! I’m so happy right now!
Happy New Year Maggie – great to read this positive news. xoxo
Hey Maggie, how long did your low WBC last? Mine has been suppressed for about a year now, and I’m worried keto is contributeing.
Thanks!
Sam
Hi Sam! I’m not going to go back through all my old tests but looking at my most recent from 2 months ago, WBC was normal. I do feel like they were low for my first couple of years.
As you probably know but putting here for posterity, research has shown that keto CAN cause slightly low WBC https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29254457/ Some have speculated that this is an adaption to keto lowering the overall inflammation in the body which would fit why mine have come back (edit to add awesome thread of speculation and anecdote here: https://www.reddit.com/r/ketoscience/comments/bfhhr8/ketosis_and_leukopenia_low_white_blood_cell_count/).
One more thing to weigh in the tricky calculus of cancer. Sending you all by love!
OK, you made me curious and I went and looked up some historic WBC counts:
4/2019, 5/2019, 6/2019 – low but kissing normal
12/2019 – 5.26 THOU/uL – low end of normal
6/2020 – 5.2 – low end of normal
3/2022 – 5.19
There you go. Without checking everything it looks like I’ve been low-normal since late 2019 (I started keto Oct 2018 but only got good at it – <0.1GKI - Feb 2019)