Saturday, July 3, 2010

Chemo Continues until September

Happy July 4th weekend and the weather is lovely!
I went for the CT report on Wednesday (6/28). Some tumors have shrunk and some have grown so it's back on chemo til Sept. anyway when another CT scan will let the doctors know what comes next. Thanks for your continued prayers. We expect to go to Oklahoma when Jacob is born in mid August and the doctor assured me that would be a priority.
Hugs and Blessings--
Teri/Theresa

Saturday, June 19, 2010

6 down, CT scan to go

OK pick yourself up off the floor. I know it has been several months since the last entry -- end of January to be exact. I had to read that lengthy thing to find out where I left off. That hospital visit was followed by another at the beginning of February for low blood count of some kind. Soon after that, the Chautauqua County Home informed us that my Mom's lungs were filling with fluid and her organs were beginning to shut down. We went to see her once, sometimes twice a day until February 21. My prayer had been that she would die peacefully and that we would be with her. On that Sunday we arrived at 4:00p.m. and at 4:30 she simply stopped breathing without a struggle of any kind. As she had done with Dad, we prayed the Hail Mary several times "now and at the hour of our death". Our prayers had been answered and we knew she would now know life in fullness once again -- better than ever. The day after her funeral in Rochester, I attended a retreat for women with cancer in Niagara Falls which was a great experience with time to process all that had happened. In mid-March Suzi was home during her school's break for almost a week. Then came Easter and I never seemed to catch up with life and here we are in mid-June. I finished this last series of chemo treatments and will have a CT scan on Tues. June 22 with a follow-up check up and meeting with my oncologist on Wed. June 30. I hope and pray to be able to begin a joyful July with no more chemo please and thank you for your prayers as well. And then on to moving Greg to Case Western University Law School in Cleveland and being a grandma in August with a trip to Oklahoma to meet baby Jacob before school begins again. So there you have it -- the mid-year update. I will attempt to do a July 1 report. Until then, may sunshine dance on your path day by day. Happy Fathers Day tomorrow to all Fathers and Happy summer on Monday to everyone!
Love and Bunny Hugs,
Teri/Theresa

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Happy New Year and 1 Down, 5 To Go

Hi Blogster Buddies!!
We hope everyone had as enjoyable a Christmas celebration as we had. Can't believe the month of January is almost done too.
On the medical scene, I had a CT scan on Dec. 4. At my Dec. 9th check up and what I thought would be the beginning of the same chemo regimen, I was told that the Topotecan (the toucans) didn't work as well as hoped and I would begin another combination of chemo drugs - Cisplatin which I had the first time and Gemzar which I haven't had yet. It would be given 2 weeks on and two weeks off for 6 sessions, basically 6 months. They wanted to begin on Dec. 16th but that would mean I would have to go for the 2nd session on Dec. 23rd, the day Greg, Suzi and Jason were scheduled to arrive for Christmas. I asked if we could begin on Dec. 30 and they OK'd it. On Sat. Dec. 19th I was getting ready for bed and noticed a stream of blood coming from my left ear. Most people get bloody noses. Of course, I wanted to be different and have a bloody ear. I called Roswell to see if I should go to the ER but they said it would stop and just make an appointment the next week with my primary care dr. So I stuck some cotton in my ear and saw one of the doctors in the group I go to the following Monday (12/21). He said it was an external ear infection and prescribed some drops to put in for a week. Actually Dave put them in every morning and evening. Drainage continued to come out and the pressure gave me a headache so that I had to take Ibuprofin every 5 hours. When I went back for the follow-up, I told the dr. that I didn't think the drops did the trick because the drainage continued and was now more orangish. He took a sample to send to a lab, put me on penicillan for 10 days and sent me to an ear, nose and throat dr. The lab said it was streptococus-pneumonocus (don't think that was it exactly but it sounded like that to me.) The e/n/t dr. said I had a small hole in my eardrum which may have been good because it let the yuk out. The hole would heal. Because I had the ear infection, I could not begin the chemo because you can't have it when you have an infection. So I did finally begin on Jan. 13 and 20 to complete my first round. I am now on 2 weeks off and will have the next round on Feb 10 and 17. Side effects are minimal, mostly tiredness.
Last Sat. (1/23), I woke up at 5:30am to visit the BR and went down on all 4's. Still not sure if I passed out for a few seconds but I got up, went to the Br but had to hurry back to bed as I couldn't stand for very long. I slept another couple of hours hoping that feeling would go away. It didn't. I was fine sitting or laying down, but couldn't stand for very long. Called Roswell again and they told me to go to primary care dr. or ER. My dr.'s office has Sat. morning appts. but they couldn't fit me in so we went to Westfield ER around 2:30. They said I was anemic and had some internal bleeding. They could not take care of me there so I went by ambulance to St. Vincent's Hospital in Erie, PA., about an hour away from Fredonia. I never rode in an ambulance before so that was a new experience. I had to be on complete bed rest and couldn't get up for anything, even though the br was 3 feet from the bed. Couldn't have anything to eat except clear liquids until Monday night. On Sunday they did a dopler test on my legs and found there were some blood clots in the lower leg. On Monday they put a scope down to my GI track and found an ulcer most likely caused by the Lovenox injections I have been giving myself since March when a blood clot in the abdomen was discovered - common after surgery. I also have been taking low dose asprin for several years on the advice of my dr. to prevent heart attacks. The combination of the two blood thinners most likely caused the ulcer so I'm off asprin for good, off the injections for two weeks until Roswell decides when I need to go back on. The ulcer should heal in a couple of weeks. I'm taking a generic protonix med now for the ulcer (anti-acid drug). On Tues. they inserted a filter in my groin which will prevent any blood clots from going to my lungs. That's a good thing. I was released on Wednesday and got home about 3:30p.m., so happy to be home. Dave had a lovely bunch of daisies on the table for me, my favorite flower. I'm feeling better every day and will return to work on Monday. So that's this month's kind of long update.
Thank you for your continued prayers for both Dave and I. Got us through another hurdle. Always does. Always will. Have a happy heart all through February!
Love, Bunny Hugs and Blessings--
Teri/Theresa