CHEMOTHERAPY CONTINUED BUT MODIFIED

Dr. Homsi was pleased to report today that the CT scan and MRI reviews were essentially unchanged from those taken eight weeks ago which is good news.  The plan is to continue chemotherapy, but reduce the chemo drugs from two to one. 

One complication is that the PICC line is not functional (it was impossible to get a blood draw through the line), so it was removed today.  The one chemo drug, dacarbazine, was administered today through an IV.  A saline solution was also administered through the IV with the chemo drug to prevent the chemo drug from burning the local tissue.  Irene could feel the burning in her arm, and they would vary the mix entering the IV to keep her comfortable and prevent the tissue damage.  I was surprised to hear Irene say that the burning was really hurting her.  She almost never admits to pain above a three on a scale of 1 – 10.  This process extends the time of the infusion for the one drug to four hours. 

She will have the Nulasta shot to protect her heart, anti-nausea and IV fluids tomorrow and Friday.  The next chemo infusion is scheduled for June 27^th and new CT scans and MRI’s at the end of July.  The blood draws and how Irene feels will determine any additional treatment along the way.  With the PICC line removed and the Inferior Vena Cava filter in place, we no longer need to flush the PICC line each night, and Irene does not have to administer the Lovenox shots each night in her tummy.  Life is good.

DHG

ONE THING LEADS TO ANOTHER

As I noted in my last entry, I have been very weak, and now we know why.  Last weekend (May 12-13) I started having pretty bad abdominal cramps plus some nausea.  This went on into the beginning of the week, but at times wasn’t as bad.  Tuesday morning at about 4:30 a.m., I awakened Daryl and said that we were going to Emergency as I had been up and down all night feeling terrible.

One of the first things they did was test my blood and found that my hemoglobin was dangerously low.  Thus, I was admitted to the hospital and given two units of blood.    They felt it was too low to be caused by the chemotherapy, which led to my having a colonoscopy and an upper GI scope to find out if there was internal bleeding causing the low hemoglobin. The tests did indicate there was some ulceration and inflammation in the bowl resulting in internal bleeding.  Therefore, they have had me discontinue the Lovenox shots to thin my blood which I have been giving myself daily for months.  I am not unhappy about that.

The next step was to place an Inferior Vena Cava Filter to prevent any blood clots from my lower extremities migrating to my heart and lungs.  I am also on some medication to help heal the inflammation.  The IVC Filter was placed by a radiologist going through my jugular vein in my neck with a catheter.  It was about a 40 minute procedure.

I came home on Friday, feeling much better.  I actually had the energy to mop my floors and do the wash on Saturday.  Daryl would have objected, but he was at the temple officiating at some sealing sessions. 

Our prayers are often answered differently than what we are asking for.  I feel blessed at this point that I ended up going to the hospital to discover things that needed to be taken care of.  Hopefully, I am learning to be more patient.

The image is the IVC Filter which sits in my vein a couple of inches above my navel.  It is much smaller than the picture.  The medical field is amazing.

FAMILY NEWS - GREG, HALF IRON MAN

A few weeks ago, our son, Greg, participated in a Half Iron Man event in Oceanside, California.  This consisted of a 1.2 mile swim in the ocean, a 56 mile bike ride, and a 13.1 mile run.  Greg completed this in 5 hrs. 35 minutes and felt good at the end.  Needless to say, it is beyond my comprehension, but we are proud of him for his training and for how well he did.

BIRTH OF ALLISON IRENE GARN

I am excited to write about something besides cancer and chemotherapy reports. Our newest grandchild, Allison Irene Garn, was born on April 6, 2012, to Kevin and Tara Garn. She weighed 6 lbs. 15 oz. and was 19 1/2 inches long, and in this grandma’s unbiased opinion, she is beautiful. There is nothing quite like a new baby in the family. We are all crazy about her!

UPDATE ON IRENE

For those of you who check this blog, please forgive me for going so long without a post.  I think it boils down to the fact that I do not “love” writing about myself, and what I have to write is pretty repetitious.  I will try to do better. 

Going back to my 5^th Chemo treatment which I wrote about at the end of March, it was a little different experience in that I felt pretty normal (normal for me) even the first couple of weeks after the treatment.  I did not go through the “being weak” phase which was nice.  I am grateful for any positive results. 

On to the 6^th treatment which was last week, April 25.  We spent eight hours (from 8 am until 4 pm) at the Banner MD Anderson facility.  A couple of those hours were waiting, but the chemo infusion took four hours.   The following two days we were there for about four hours each day for infusion of fluids and anti-nausea medicine.  I am so grateful for that, as I am not having any nausea.  Unlike my 5^th treatment, however, I have been very weak.  Well, that is something that I can deal with.   

I am slowly learning that I shouldn’t count on anything as far as these treatments are concerned, as it is not an exact science.  Basically, Dr. Homsi, wants to do two more chemo treatments using just one chemo drug each time.  In all my past treatments, they have given me two drugs, and he does not want to go from two to nothing.  I will have another MRI and CT Scan on the 22^nd of May then chemo on the 30^th.   

This is a fun time of year in that we have had many grandchildren events to go to – elementary school programs, gymnastic recitals, band, orchestra, and choir concerts coming up and Mt. View HS graduation for Josh, Chuck and Gayla’s oldest.  It is good for me to have something to get out of the house for besides going for my weekly blood draws.   

As of today, I uploaded my book to blurb.com that I have done for my brother who is turning 90 in June.  He wrote a wonderful journal of his 30 missions over Germany in World War II as the bombardier.  My project has been to get that into a book with the text, pictures, certificates, awards, etc. documenting his military career.  I have spent hours a day on it and have really enjoyed the project.  I think that my next project needs to be indexing.