Cancer Chronicles – Book 2 – Chapter 1
1/24/21
As most of you know, last year about this time [actually the
beginning of Jan. 2020] Noel was undergoing his path down Chemo highway to get
rid of his testicular and Non Hodgkin’s cancers. As a family we pulled together, made sure
nothing got in the way and that he was able to heal. His doctors declared him rid of both of them
this past August.
This past fall, I’ve been having unusual symptoms and was
finally able to get an appointment [covid delays] with my gyn doctor. 65 year old post-menopausal women shouldn’t
be bleeding – if you are – check with your own dr…..That visit led to biopsies,
an ultrasound and a diagnosis I really didn’t want to hear – Ovarian cancer –
technically Carcinosarcoma. I will be
meeting with the Gynecology Oncologist on Wed.
A stint in the ER Sat evening after checking with the Nurse Navigators
on symptoms I was feeling led to exams, morphine drip, bloodwork and a Cat
scan….my soon-to-be Gyn-Oncologist was on call that evening so she ordered the
tests since I was there. About 5AM I was
able to come back home – nothing else they could do at that point – pain had
resolved, no anemia to worry about, and the morphine was out of my system by
then so I could drive home.
The Gyn-Oncologist called this morning – is setting me up
for surgery as soon as possible now that they have most of the information that
they’d be looking for. A Robotic
hysterectomy for sure – less than 24 hrs in the hospital. Likely within the
next 2 weeks. The covid-crazies in
hospitals has taken the dr’s ability to schedule things like this and make it
more difficult. Not sure about the rest
until they can look at the stuff they take out.
All I can say is they tell me it’s a mess in there.
Cory’s aware I am having surgery. She’s petrified that I have cancer so we’ve
chosen not to confirm that [or not] until we get the results post-op and the
rest of the game plan is known. I am
sharing this, now, because there are some social commitments that I will not be
able to make and wanted to let people know the ‘why’ behind it. Better to be out in the open – that’s
something we learned through Noel’s experience.
We are tackling this one step at
a time. First with facts, then
emotions. We are better prepared this
year, having run the gamut last year. As
they say, more to come……later.
Cancer Chronicles – Book 2 – Chapter 2
1/28/21
Well, today I saw the gyn-oncologist. She provided updates to my situation. First, my surgery is set for 2/4. I likely will be in the hospital overnight,
leaving in the evening of the 2nd day.
Seems I have at least a Stage 2 carcinosarcoma, because it
involves not only my uterus but my cervix – that’s where the ‘2’ comes from –
more than one organ involved. During the
surgery, local lymph nodes will also be taken to determine if any of the cancer
has moved around. The surgery will be a
robotic one, with 5 small incisions, rather than abdominal open surgery.
After the surgery, they will do a further staging based on
the pathology report and at that point, the full treatment plan will be identified. At present it certainly includes getting
radiation. If it’s moved outside of the
2 organs, then treatment will also include chemo – 6 rounds , 3 weeks apart,
similar to Noel’s chemo pattern. We
won’t know the specific cocktail until that report which will be available
approx. 5 days after surgery.
The radiation portion will be at West Penn Hospital, in
Pittsburgh, while the chemo – once known if it’s involved – can also be there
or I could choose to have it at Forbes Cancer Center in Monroeville. Both are part of Allegheny General Health
Network; we just need to see which one works better for us. These are the only 2 locations within this
medical network that handles gyn – oncology.
That’s why I won’t be using the same teams Noel did – gyn-oncology is a
specific sub-specialty with it’s own specific sites supporting their
patients. My bloodwork will also have
the option to be at either location, too.
Once the post-op procedures [ radiation or radiation+chemo]
are known, we will break it to Cory since she’ll need to know that the
follow-ups are going to happen.
The sheer number of comments from everyone on my first post
about this is overwhelming and the sense of support is amazing.
Thank you all!
Cancer Chronicles –
Book 2 – Chapter 3
2/6/21
Surgery etc.
Well, Thursday Feb. 4th was surgery day. It’s taken me until today to have a clear
enough head to write some. Mostly I’ve
wanted to sleep and rest. Have to move
every so often because I get butt burn.
Surgery took from 10:30 -
4:45PM Dr. had to take a number
of breaks because it was longer than they expected to be able to clear
everything up, and called Noel a few times during the surgery to give him 3
updates – 2 during and one afterwards.
The reason for the lengthy surgery was that she had to clear up all of
the ‘junk’ left behind by my prior 3 abdominal surgeries. Evidently there were adhesions moving body
parts into weird locations, that she had to rearrange to get to what she wanted
to excise. At the end of the whole
thing, she couldn’t get to a set of lymph nodes without potentially damaging my
colon, so she left it. That signals that
chemo is definitely in order at this point.
She used surgical glue to close up the 6 entry points for the robotic
surgery so no stitches to remove.
I was able to leave on Fri. – that was a comedy routine of
its own. This nurse thought that one had
called for transport, that one hadn’t so I sat for another ½ hr while Cory and
Noel were on the street waiting for me.
Overall the care was good but the departure left a lot to be
desired.
Right now my gut is in pain, I have to be careful that Cory
or Luna don’t land there – but it’s better Sat. evening than it was
Friday. Getting up from laying down is
an exercise in figuring out which method is least painful too. I was too fuzzy from everything to write
earlier, so here we are 😊
I won’t know the full details of the labwork until the
pathology report is done. That’s
expected to take until next Fri. At that
point, it’s a matter of heal some more from surgery, then get ready for the
next rounds.
Thank you ALL for the kind
words, prayers, thoughts, comments.
Progress is being made. We will
beat this!
Cancer Chronicles –
Book 2 – Chapter 4
2/16/21
Pathology Report –
draft plans and more fun!
The past 16 hours have had more excitement than anyone
should be allowed to have!
Most importantly, my doctor called with the pathology report
today about noon. Confirmation that the
cancer is Carcinosarcoma, a very aggressive type. Surgery got almost all of it out. The left lymph nodes showed micro-metastasis,
which means there’s a high likelihood [30-60% chance] of the same in the right
lymph nodes that weren’t removed. Left
and right fallopian tubes [surprisingly still there pre-surgery] showed no sign
of cancer after removal. Cancer was
limited to my uterus and lymph nodes – this is a good thing. I explained it to Cory that there are tiny
bits of ‘glitter’ [aka cancer cells] still inside and we need chemo to make
them go away.
Since my CAT scan is already done, next step is to meet with
the oncologist who will manage the chemo treatments. Then get scheduled for a
port insertion and figure out the schedule.
I will be having my treatments at Forbes Cancer Center, still part of
Allegheny Health Network but easier on us for getting in and out. The medications I will be getting are
Carboplatin and Paclitaxel in combo as well as the various concoctions that
make it easier to handle, like antihistamines and antinausea meds. Each round will take about 4-6 hrs of treatment
through the port. Then time off [for
good behavior! 😊] for about 3 weeks before another
round. Rinse and repeat for a total of 6
treatment cycles. At that point I will
get another CAT Scan to determine if all is well. If not – then we talk potential radiation
treatments.
I am going with Cory to get my hair cut to ‘above shoulder
length’ to start with, later this week.
My hair will likely fall out between round 1 and 2, after which we will
see what’s next in that regard, but I didn’t want to deal with the full length
of my current length being what comes out.
So, remember I said past 16 hours of excitement? Well,
last night, as a result of it NOT getting so cold here that it was
snowing, we instead got sloppy sleety rain.
That lead to the existing snow to melt.
All is good, right? Well, not so good, in that the water off the roof
found it’s way into our basement utility room just under the front steps. And then it continued to roll down through
the basement storage area and bathroom, into the laundry and hallway.
When found, at 10:30 last night as we were getting ready for
bed, there was over an inch deep water sloshing in the laundry room. Cue the next 2 hrs vacuuming it up with shop
vac, moving things that were in the water and in general, attempting to salvage
what we could in a very packed storage area.
After getting up what we could, setting up 2 dehumidifiers and then
phoning in a claim to our homeowners insurance, we could finally go to bed last
night. Of course I was starting back to
work this morning…. just what I needed 😊.
We’ve had the ServiceMaster folks out to plan for
remediation; tomorrow they come out with their drying heaters to work on fully
drying everything up. More on that fun
later.
So – as of today, we have a diagnosis,
a plan and MORE stuff to keep us occupied.
Thank you all for the emails, comments, flowers and cards. Your support has been most welcome and
heartwarming. Now we work on the next
steps.
Cancer Chronicles –
Book 2 – Chapter 5
Getting the show on
the road!
2/26/21
This past week included a visit with the surgeon and the
oncologist. The surgeon had to clear me
for chemo, which she did. Four weeks from surgery and everything is healing
well. I haven’t bounced back from any
abdominal surgery this well! If you ever
are faced with a choice of robotic surgery or traditional – seriously, go for
the robotic! I took the week after
surgery to rest and went back to work on the 16th, handling things around the
house as well, with no real impact. I
rest when needed but that’s not very often.
During that meeting with the surgeon she filled me in
further on the pathology report. Stage
3C1 carcinosarcoma. The Stage 3 part is
in reference to cancer being found in 4 areas – uterus, cervix, fallopian tube
and the lymph node. A whopping .25 mm
micro-metastatic presence in the removed lymph node. She confirmed also that they didn’t go after
the 2nd lymph node because they didn’t want to cause complications [nick or
larger impact] to my colon – that would have been much worse. So, since the cancer spread outside of the
uterus and cervix, best to treat with chemo.
After the chemo treatments, a CAT scan will identify whether I need
radiation to finish getting rid of it or if the chemo can take care of it
all. After all of this attack, there’s a
30 – 70% chance of beating it but without the radiation it would be 30-40% so
we go with all guns blazing for eradication.
Thursday I saw the Oncologist and her team. They mapped out a busy week next week. I am scheduled for Port insertion on Monday
morning to handle the chemo infusions.
Then Wed., I have a training class – essentially the Do’s and Don’ts of
living through chemotherapy. Given some
of our scheduling, Cory will likely be with me for that training session – I am
allowed one support person and this allows Noel to get his allergy shot since
they are at the same time. My 1st round
of Chemo is scheduled for Thurs. morning.
The protocol involves getting Carbo/Taxol combination, as well as other
meds to make it tolerable. From what
I’ve been able to find out, this combo will have me losing my hair pretty much
before the end of March. Not looking forward to that part but…. the faster this
is started, the faster it’s over and behind us.
My 2nd round is also scheduled for March 26th – I opted for Fridays for
the rest of the cycles, to give me the weekend to recover and still handle some
levels of work.
We are going out for dinner tomorrow evening for a ‘special
meal’ similar to what we did for Noel before he started his regimen, and I am
stocking up on things that are better gotten in person than using ‘shopper
services’ right now. Cory has stepped up
her game too – helping where possible – and being a champ. Still concerned, as we all are, but she’s
doing better than when this first broke.
As you could see with the haircut [her cutting my hair from long to
shoulder length] – I am trying to involve her in as much as possible so it’s
not a scary mystery. It’s helping her,
which in turn helps us.
There are some differences between Noel’s cancer and
treatments and ‘living with chemo’ and the cancer I am dealing with. His involved a blood cancer, and his immunity
was more compromised than mine is supposedly going to be. The Red/Green/Yellow weeks we had mapped out
for him aren’t appropriate for tracking my cycles of chemo. Theoretically the
first round will have me tired for a few days, then the next ones will increase
fatigue levels each time. We shall see. I have been overwhelmed by the outpourings of
support coming my way – people are asking what they can do to help. Right now – I am not sure yet. Thank you all for the kind messages, emails,
cards and support offers. They truly
mean a lot to us.
Meanwhile, the basement is dry. The machines all left on Monday. We haven’t yet heard from the remediation
team on what THAT schedule will be – so are in a little bit of limbo
there. I am sure by the end of March,
that too will be underway.
Cancer Chronicles –
Book 2 – Chapter 6
3/4/21
Chemo #1 in the books – 16% done
Today was my first infusion of all the lovely chemicals that
are going to attack the cancer cells, and a bit more in the process. Many different items were pushed through my
port which was installed on Monday.
These ports make it easier to administer all of these chemo related
items – without in, veins would collapse with the volume going on for the
length of time it will have to be done.
Arrived at 7:45 for an 8AM start. A few hiccups, like the dr. hadn’t signed the
paperwork to start the sessions…. which delayed getting the meds up to us. But the nurse went to her office rather than
wait for email replies, got the signatures and we were off and running.
I had taken my laptop intending on doing some reading of
things I parked to do precisely that…..only to find out that where I was
parked, no WIFI. So I mostly slept
between rounds of things, especially after the huge dose of Benadryl which was
the first drug. Woke a few times, walked
a little and was done by 2:30PM.
One of the final meds they gave me was the same Neulasta
medicine delivery that Noel had for his first treatment. It's a small plastic item sitting on my right
arm, with a tiny catheter into my arm's vein, and counting down 26 hours from
when inserted. At that point it will do
a push of the medicine, beep a bunch, retract the catheter, and be ready for
removal. Noel's time with this got
denied for future use by insurance.
However they approved mine this year.
Puzzling out what changed. Is it
more often used, so price came down to within insurance co. norms? Don't know - just curious.
Had taken my lunch to eat, but slept thru lunchtime, so I
ate it after the treatments concluded,
while waiting for Noel and Cory to pick me up. Took another nap later in the afternoon. Woke up feeling fine! Made Cheddar Cheese soup with ham for dinner
as planned. It was a packaged mix….but
still, it was dinner 😊 Really good too! Wanted
to take advantage of feeling good enough to do it.
I have a few days before my immune system is trashed, then
the rebuild starts. That's the reason
for the meds and the plan.
I am now waiting to see how long before the hair loss
starts. Supposedly will happen in about
2 weeks, but definitely after my 2nd chemo treatment in 3 weeks. I’ve also heard that, while these treatments
hit people differently, even for the same drug combos, the reactions tend to
get worse as we move forward. So I am
relishing the good post-treatment time I have, knowing the roller coaster hills
have valleys that are coming. I am also trying to pump up my liquid intake to
help flush out the toxins ASAP.
The basement saga continues as
well – still waiting on the verdict about the floors with the asbestos
tile. Can’t wait [insert sarcasm here]
for when they are working on the floors, the dogs are nuts [they might go to
Doggy day care if too bad] and I am trying to work. Gonna be fun times all over, here!
Cancer Chronicles –
Book 2 Chapter 7
3/28/21
Chemo #2 done – 1/3
of the way
Yesterday’s chemo went well, other than the doctor’s
schedule causing it to delay almost 2 hrs.
All of my bloodwork looks good according to her, so on we go! Luckily the nurses were very helpful and got
everything done as efficiently as possible. I fell asleep after moving my mask
to drink some water, without replacing it.
So rather than wake me they drew the curtains around me to not disturb. Very thoughtful. I am working with the staff to move my
treatment days back to Thursdays, since the day after treatment doesn’t seem to
be a ‘down’ day. I have energy, mostly,
and no aftereffects that day, due to all of the pushed meds with the
chemo. Again, I was fitted with he
Neulasta device [that I call the bug] which is attached to my arm and delivers
its dose about 27 hrs after attached. It
went off today as planned. This is the
medicine that caused the bone pain last time.
It’s because it is designed to stimulate red blood cell growth in my
bone marrow to counter the debilitation that the cancer drugs cause. So it’s a good thing but is painful. Last time, calling the on duty dr, I was
given permission to take oxycodone if I needed them, so am holding on to them
‘just in case’. So far tonight, no
impact. We’ll see how tomorrow goes.
2 weeks after my first dose of chemo my hair started to come
out. At first, just a little more than
usual, and then it accelerated to huge handfuls coming out every time I’d brush
my hair, let alone when the wind blew or just walking around. I got to feeling like I was a tree in autumn,
losing leaves like crazy. This was the
most depressing part of this illness.
It’s the visual, the in your face part.
The rest isn’t as visible, so is more easily handled. Monday I have an appointment with some
volunteers that provide a wig in the patient’s color choice, style choice –
free! We shall see what they have so I
don’t look so much like a naked mole rat on my head. It’ll be warmer, too, if I can tolerate it on
my head. I’ve never really been a hat
person, so this is all new.
About 2 weeks ago I received a wonderful ‘care’ package from
a group called Mrs. Claus, which is a mission group from a church nearby. One of the Special Olympics coaches [
Katherine Blahnick] is part of that mission and put my name into their
list. Truly wonderful package, chock
full of good things like a handmade shawl, a ‘chemo cap’ that came in handy
these last few days, books to keep me busy [ word search, coloring books with
colored pencils]. I’ve ordered a few
more for variety. They should arrive
tomorrow and will help since I now have the shortest buzz cut – it would make
the intake officers at boot camp happy!
I didn’t want to shave it fully since that tends to cause bumpy skin.
Thank you to all of the friends
who have been saying prayers, checking in with me and Noel, and those who Cory
has been talking with. She’s scared,
very scared, that I am not going to beat this.
We keep reminding her that’s why we are in this fight – to beat it. Told her that she was going to have to deal
with me for another20-30 years!
Cancer
Chronicles – Book 2 Chapter 8
April 17, 2021
Chemo #3 done – 1/2 of the way through!!
In case you are curious – these are the meds delivered:
• diphenhydrAMINE (BENADRYL) 50 mg
in NS (PF) 10 mL syringe
• EPINEPHrine (EPIPEN,AUVI-Q)
injection 0.3 mg
• famotidine (PEPCID) 20 mg in NS
50 mL IVPB (premix)
• hydrocortisone (PF) (Solu-CORTEF)
injection 100 mg
·
CARBOplatin (PARAPLATIN) 620 mg in NS 250 mL
chemo infusion
• PACLitaxeL (TAXOL) 360 mg in NS
500 mL chemo infusion
• sodium chloride (NS) 0.9 % bolus
500 mL
·
pegfilgrastim (NEULASTA) on body subcutaneous
inj 6 mg - this was on my arm as I left
for later infusion – 27 hrs later.
For this round, I decided to have Cory join me as my
‘support person’ for a few hours. Mostly
to help her understand what was going on and make her feel more a part of
it. She did really well during the few
hours she was with me. Mission accomplished= demystified it, she got to talk to
the dr. and ask her most burning question - 'Will we be able to go to Disney
World in October?' - to which she got a response that indicated it was likely
possible, as long as everything is going well. She met my oncology nurse Don,
as well as some of the other support staff, too. Had a Ginger Ale, and watched
TV somewhat. What's not to like with a visit like that!!! I struggled to stay
awake until it was time for her to go.
Then she went off for her afternoon with Kristen while I finished the
treatments. At dinner I asked her if she
wanted to go again.....NO - once was enough. Glad she wasn't there all day!
The hospital has so many programs to support people going
through cancer of all types. Ones I’d
never thought of. I’ve attended a class
on handling wigs and doing makeup [not that I wear much] to help counter the
loss of eyebrows and eyelashes [mine haven’t disappeared yet]. I did choose a wig to wear but haven’t yet
started with it since I was having a rash reaction on the back of my head. Now that it’s healing, I might try it this
week.
There seems to be a rhythm now to the chemo cycles. The day I have chemo I feel ok but a little tired afterwards. There are the reactions to the medications
which make me sleepy then recede. The
day after, I usually feel ok but tired.
This is the day that the Neulasta shot will hit about 6pm. Then, Day 2 after chemo I start with the bone
pain. Learning to think of it as ‘building me up’ since it’s designed to help
my red blood cells build up after being knocked down by the other medications
in the treatment. That bone pain lasts for Days 2 thru 4. By day 5 I am feeling better but tire easily,
can make it through the work day but a nap before making dinner is good. Each day I feel better, might tire easily,
get dizzy, but can handle most of what I need to around here.
While talking with the doctor before treatment, we went over
the weekly bloodwork results - and they are showing really good things. I seem to bounce back well from each chemo,
recovering and not dropping to dangerous levels. Most importantly, the CA125
measure is more than 1/2 what it was when we started, and that's the cancer
marker. So it's reducing!!! She was
really pleased with them.
While we are handling the chemo treatments and after
effects, Noel has lead handling the renovations from the water damage to our
basement areas. Talking with the
flooring guys, and trying to figure out schedules that allow for the movement
of 'things' while flooring is laid. Huge
Tetris puzzle going on.
I’d like to thank everyone who is reaching out, with their
thoughts and posts of support. It helps 😊 Special thanks to a friend who has made some
meals for us to have around my chemo days – they are a godsend.
Cancer
Chronicles – Book 2 Chapter 9
5/6/21
Chemo #4 done – 2/3 of the way through!! On the Downhill side of the curve!!!
My usual nurse in the infusion lab, Don, was out on
paternity leave, so I had Anna. She’s
been in the US for 10 years but was born and raised in Russia – that made for
some interesting conversations when we were starting.
No Dr. visit this morning, so just on to the infusions. Good thing – it helps get done earlier! Same cocktails, same results. The first one, Benadryl, gets my legs crampy,
parts of me burn a little. My legs keep
wanting to stretch, move, mostly involuntarily, but this all subsides in about
an hour. Probably because of the rest of
the infusions, like the steroid, but it’s something I’ve gotten used to and
just work through it.
I’ve been taking my own blanket – one that was an award for
fundraising for Special Olympics Polar Plunge.
It doesn’t leave the little white fuzzies all over my clothes that the
hospital’s blankets leave. It’s nice and
cozy – they keep that room COOL!!!! I
was able to make it through one catalog and some FB browsing before dozing
off. Woke up as the Carbo was going in,
usually is set for a 90-minute infusion and I woke up with 30 minutes
left. Then the final one – another 30
minutes. Get the Neulasta put on, port
flushed and DONE. Just in time to catch
Noel, who was dropping Cory off to work at Home Depot for her 2-6 shift. Saved him a round trip. Quiet evening watching Dr Doolitte after
eating some take out.
Meanwhile, we are still working on the recovery from the
basement flooding, too. The front porch
has been treated to not leak again [YAY!] and has been seriously tested with
these last few rainy days. Basement
under the steps is still dry. Now we
need a concrete guy to work in the utility area to create a waterproof lip
about 3-4 inches tall as a ‘retaining pond’ in case of flooding from the hot
water heater or any other item that would do so. Add in a pump that will pump the water out of
there through tubing, and we’ll be able to ensure that the rest of the
downstairs won’t flood from THAT area again.
THEN we can do the flooring renovation.
Tried to have some flooring people out for estimates but the
work they want us to do to move everything can’t be done with Noel and I out of
commission, so we are looking for flooring people that will work with us –
probably by only having one room done at a time. That way, we can empty the bathroom into the
hall, do the bathroom flooring, then reload it.
Then do the laundry room, emptying into either the storage room or
hallway, getting it done, and reloading the room afterwards. The final portion to be done would be the
hallway. So now we are looking at
installer options AGAIN.
Meanwhile last week had further excitement when on 4/30 Noel
learned that the reason he’s been in such back pain for a few months is that he
has 2 broken vertebrae – L1 and T12.
They are next to each other in the lower back area. He has an appointment for a contrast MRI to
see how badly and what can be done. This
will also help identify somewhat how old they are. Currently the 2 leading theories on how he
broke them is [1] when he fell off the stage backwards about 14 months ago – at
that point more attention was paid to the concussion he got and not to his
back, or [2] one/some of the motorcycle related incidents he had in his
20’s/early 30’s. No matter when he got
them, they have to be treated so this MRI will tell us how. This is why he’s not allowed to move any of
the boxes any more….and why we have to stage the bathroom, laundry room and
hallway renovations.
Other fun around here – we have to have the 2 huge [25 to 30
ft tall] pine trees out front removed before they fall over and hit the houses
across the street while taking out all of the wiring on the street. The trees have been losing huge branches and
pulled the wiring a bit last month, and the power company said we’d have to do
so – that they’d not be responsible for tree removal. The removal is finally scheduled for
5/15. Tree removal company has to
coordinate with the Borough because our street will be constricted for a bit
while they drop them and cut them up.
So, life isn’t dull while going through these
treatments. But I am in the home
stretch. 2 more, ending mid-June. Then a CAT scan to see how ‘we’ did getting
it to go away. And then further
determination of treatment. Radiation
remains a possibility – depends on what they see. But I am heartened by the fact that it’s so
close to the end. Once done with chemo I
can get a dentist appointment [postponed since March], go with Cory for the
massage she got me for Christmas, and socialize a bit more as my immunity
improves.
Thank you all for your prayers, kind wishes, offers of
support, gifts that keep surprising me in the mail. The support is amazing and really helpful,
especially during a down time. I recall
how many people are pulling for us, and then I feel better.
Here’s to KICKING CANCER’S BUTT!!!
Cancer Chronicles –
Book 2 Chapter 10
6/1/21
Chemo #5 done – 5/6th of the way through!! I can see the end of Chemo!!!
Last Thursday, I went for my 5th Chemo with my
cheerleader, Cory. She stayed the whole
session this time. I warned her that I’d
wind up falling asleep for some of the day and that she needed to let me do
that.
This time I went into the Dr meeting with questions. I wanted to know the significance of some of
the lab work that showed I had lower than ‘normal range’ for platelet counts, hemoglobin and red blood
cells from the blood work. I also wanted to know why I was slated to wait a
full 2 months after the final chemo to talk with the main Dr handling my
treatment.
Got some good answers – the platelet, hemoglobin and red
blood cell counts were within their expected levels – high enough to continue
treatment, but they’d be lower because of the chemo. Those levels they were comparing with weren’t
for people having chemo – they were just the general range. Ok, Phew! Got that cleared up. If they weren’t high enough, they’d have to
pump in bags of platelets or blood – so at least I are at a tolerable level.
As far as the follow-up visits after the 6th
chemo, Wow! Just mention it and get the
MRI scan ordered! That’s the one I want
– to see what, if any, cancer cells still are running around. With all of this chemo, I am really hoping
its all gone, but this check will tell.
And, after questioning why it wasn’t scheduled, it’s now scheduled for
the Mon. after my final chemo.
This round’s Neulasta is kicking me, as usual. Sat. and Sunday were pretty much recuperation
days, but today, Memorial Day, I had the energy to do supermarket
shopping. Saturday was also the day Noel
and I put together the new treadmill -his doctors got on his case for losing
muscle tone as a result of some of the issues he’s facing. So now, no matter the weather, Cory, Noel and
I are able to do walking. We have it set
up just off the kitchen and it allows our laptops / tablets to be viewed to
make the time pass faster.
After a bit of reflective sadness, about the possibilities
of conquering this specific type of cancer carnicosarcoma] I am back on the
hopeful path. I don’t want to wallow in
the ‘negative what if’s’…..I am focusing on getting thru this, getting to the
next step [post chemo updated diagnosis] and dealing with that, once known.
Part of the sadness has to do with hair loss, loss of
identity as a result. Everyone keeps saying “It’ll grow back” – yeah, that’s
great but when? And finding out that it
could take until past Christmas before any appreciable length of hair will be
back – well I didn’t want to deal with no hair all the time for that much of
the year. So I met with a hair salon
that focuses on hair loss and tested out a number of versions of wigs. One was really funny – it was a platinum
blonde version of the old Marlo Thomas flip!
Obviously not a winner but great for humor. The one I selected will be in shortly,
trimmed to work for me, and be worn when I go out in public and feel the need
to use it. Many fellow cancer treatment
travelers have told me they seldom wore them after getting their wigs, but I
wanted the option. At least I will have
options – something I don’t have right now other than different chemo caps.
The basement situation is being worked but seems like
ever-so-slowly. We’ve found a contractor
who has room in his schedule to do the floors.
He’ll start right before my final chemo.
We have to be out of the house for a minimum of 2 days [dogs to Pet
Hotel, us to a different one] because of fumes from the mold reduction
work…..but that will give us a little break, too. And the huge trees out front are finally gone
– we are getting sun in the windows at the front of the house for the first
time [not blocked by the huge pines].
I’d like to thank everyone who has been a supporter so far on
this path, whether it’s been meals, gift cards for meals, offers for cleaning
support, chemo caps or packages from cancer-support agencies – can’t thank you
enough!!! The amount of help has been
overwhelming to me, unexpected but oh so appreciated! I’ve been able to cook, shop, keep up a
little with the cleaning, do laundry and work, but at my pace, which helps
since Noel’s still trying to get all of the tests done to handle dealing with
his broken vertebrae and other issues.
Cory has been helping, handling her own parts as well.
Eye’s on completing the chemo [last round is June 17th]
an MRI on the 21st. Still
working to Kick Cancer’s Butt!
Cancer Chronicles – Book 2 Chapter 11
6/28/21
CHEMO is DONE! As of
6/17! YAY!!!
I waited until today to write an update because I wanted to
get more information and not do multiple posts.
The final chemo went well, as it has in the past – no bad reactions. I purposely did NOT ring the bell there because
I wanted to know what the CAT Scan was going to say, as well as the doctors,
for next steps. Took a photo of it, but
really didn’t want to ring it – felt premature.
CAT Scan was on 6/21 – had to wait until last Thursday for
the results to post in the online chart to read, and until today for a meeting
with the gyn-oncologist to determine next steps. The report shows “No Evidence of Disease” –
Happy Dance Time! However, I will have
to get follow-up radiation to really seal the deal, or as the doctor put it, “Throw
everything as well as the kitchen sink at it”.
I have another appointment looming with the
radiology doctor to discuss those treatment plans.
I asked how they can do radiation when there’s no evidence
of disease……didn’t make sense to me.
Felt like we were just aiming at ‘nothing’. With this type of cancer, she explained, you
can choose to do the radiation at all of the ‘likely hiding spots’ to make sure
it’s not there hiding in miniscule amounts.
If left to grow big enough to be seen, it would be traveling
[metastasizing] and become harder to eradicate.
This specific cancer, if it metastasizes, doesn’t have good outcomes at
all.
So we are throwing the kitchen sink at it to make sure we
KICK IT!
My hair is supposed to start growing back in, slowly, in a
few weeks. Really can’t wait for it to
be back but it’s supposed to grow slowly after the chemo. I have gotten a wig
for being in public so I am not so self-conscious, and getting something else
to look like I have hair for our trip to Orlando/ Disney World in October. That trip got the green light as well, from the
doctor.
Meanwhile, we were able to go to 2 concerts this past
weekend [Fri. and Sun.] so socializing is doing my heart good. And the basement remediations are underway, a
little slower than we’d like but making progress.
Baby steps, but still progress.
More updates after the radiology
appointment. Thanks for all of your support - it really means a lot to me.
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