First Injection

Merlynn received his first sandostatin shot this afternoon. The nurse did a great job of giving it to him, so he hardly felt a thing. However, over the past few hours he has started to feel some cramping, nausea, and like he has a big boulder lodged in his backside. (These are all common side effects from the injection.)

The biggest worry of the day, unfortunately, is that the results of his blood tests came back with some poor results. His serotonin level has risen from normal range to way above normal. That means the tumors are secreting way too much of this hormone. The scariest thing is his chromogranin A level. It should be somewhere between 0-95 and it's 1,916! This seems to indicate how massive his tumors are. Hopefully, the sandostatin will bring these levels down. He'll take another blood test next month, prior to his shot appointment, and the doctor will be able to tell from his new chromogranin level if the shot is working. Please pray that it will!