Starting Monday I enter hopefully my last round of chemo...ever! I went to the oncologist and got some more information.
This will be my last scheduled round of chemo unless my numbers start to go up again. I will have weekly blood tests for awhile (a few months) then move to every other week etc...
I will have another cat scan and chest x-ray to see if some spots on my lungs/back are changing. I have one spot on my back that they still want to watch closely. Then depending on the results of that a PET scan if necessary which is kinda like a cat scan but more detailed and if that still shows a significant spot, surgery to get the spot out. The PET scan and surgery are last resorts and kinda unlikely. Just throwing that out there to let you know that cancer is never really done, there is always something.
It is kinda hard for me to get really excited about being done, when the docs always give the what ifs and never the 100% you're done. I am very hesitant going forward but yet sort of happy.
It is going to be very hard to go through this next round of chemo knowing that I already hit zero and I have to feel like crap again for a week.
To tell the truth, it is very scary to go into recovery after I have been living the cancer life for 6 months or so. I realize that with time I am going to be responsible for making dinner, taking care of my kids all day by myself, and taking care of the house etc...These are things that I have done nothing with for half a year, and now I have to teach myself again how to do them and balance them with normal life. So prayer requests in this area.
I will let you know of any changes in the next few days.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Well I am home. I was released from Butterworth on Sunday evening. I am still on meds for several days and plus new addititional meds then sent home with me. Things are going ok, still plenty tired and still need constant help with the kids. I have an apt. thursday with the oncologist and we will go from there. That's all for now. :)
Saturday, April 18, 2009
More news....finally
A lot has happened since the last post...My count was at three for many weeks and we thought I would have to have my chemo changed. That was not the case however.
Thursday: I went to an appointment at the oncologist and found out that my count was actually down to two. Yea two. After lots of discussion between Dr.'s they decided that my baseline number would be two. Which means that they pretty much were counting two as zero. Also they were planning only one more chemo round for good.
I also went into the oncologist fighting a fever since Monday and having a (yet another) nasty cold. Plus fighting blackouts and being dizzy when standing. So after some blood cultures I found (once we got back home ) that I would need another blood transfusion pretty fast. My hemogloban number was 6.8 and normally they start to consider giving blood at 8.2ish, so needless to say I needed some blood, the problem was I was considered symptomatic and I needed to go to the hospital to have a private room, no rooms were currently available. So we had to wait. Later that afternoon we got a call and we headed to Butterworth.
Thursday evening I got two units of blood and some magnesium again and that made me feel only a little better because my cold was so bad. I continually was fighting a fever and that lovely freezing to burning instantly phenomenon. I originally was only suppose to stay in the hospital over night for the blood, but that was no longer the case.
Friday: Nothing spectacular happened I was still fighting fevers and now I wasn't keeping any food down. We were waiting on the results of chest x-ray to see what was going on. The doc finally ordered some antibiotics, but that takes hours to finally make it to the patient, so I was still in bad shape.
Saturday: I am not sure how much of the following happened in the middle of the night or not, it gets a bit foggy after awhile. :) I found out that the chest x-ray revealed that I have pneumonia, not to fun. So I am here at least until my fevers are gone and I can keep food down, the antibiotic I currently am on can be transferred to pill form to go home.
I also found out my beta count actually went to zero if not negative numbers. THANK THE LORD and thanks to all you for praying all the time GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME!
I still have one round of chemo to finish and timing of that will depend on my health and condition ( it currently is suppose to start Monday but might be delayed a week). Then hopefully this will start to be behind us and I can start the long road to recovery and hair growth. :)
I will try to keep you all updated in the next few days with changes. thanks
Thursday: I went to an appointment at the oncologist and found out that my count was actually down to two. Yea two. After lots of discussion between Dr.'s they decided that my baseline number would be two. Which means that they pretty much were counting two as zero. Also they were planning only one more chemo round for good.
I also went into the oncologist fighting a fever since Monday and having a (yet another) nasty cold. Plus fighting blackouts and being dizzy when standing. So after some blood cultures I found (once we got back home ) that I would need another blood transfusion pretty fast. My hemogloban number was 6.8 and normally they start to consider giving blood at 8.2ish, so needless to say I needed some blood, the problem was I was considered symptomatic and I needed to go to the hospital to have a private room, no rooms were currently available. So we had to wait. Later that afternoon we got a call and we headed to Butterworth.
Thursday evening I got two units of blood and some magnesium again and that made me feel only a little better because my cold was so bad. I continually was fighting a fever and that lovely freezing to burning instantly phenomenon. I originally was only suppose to stay in the hospital over night for the blood, but that was no longer the case.
Friday: Nothing spectacular happened I was still fighting fevers and now I wasn't keeping any food down. We were waiting on the results of chest x-ray to see what was going on. The doc finally ordered some antibiotics, but that takes hours to finally make it to the patient, so I was still in bad shape.
Saturday: I am not sure how much of the following happened in the middle of the night or not, it gets a bit foggy after awhile. :) I found out that the chest x-ray revealed that I have pneumonia, not to fun. So I am here at least until my fevers are gone and I can keep food down, the antibiotic I currently am on can be transferred to pill form to go home.
I also found out my beta count actually went to zero if not negative numbers. THANK THE LORD and thanks to all you for praying all the time GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME!
I still have one round of chemo to finish and timing of that will depend on my health and condition ( it currently is suppose to start Monday but might be delayed a week). Then hopefully this will start to be behind us and I can start the long road to recovery and hair growth. :)
I will try to keep you all updated in the next few days with changes. thanks
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Change and no change
Hi everyone,
No huge updates to give you but some little ones. It's been 12 weeks with the chemo i have been on so they finally took out the bleomyicin which has been giving the high fevers and many many blistering areas all over my body. The bleo was the realy toxic stuff I was on, so it's nice to be off that.
My beta count has stayed at 3 for three weeks now so....we are glad it's not going up but it's not going down either. Our guess is that when I go back to the oncologist they will most likely switch my chemo again to something else. Which can change my schedule and who knows what else. So prayers in this area would be appreciated. Thanks
No huge updates to give you but some little ones. It's been 12 weeks with the chemo i have been on so they finally took out the bleomyicin which has been giving the high fevers and many many blistering areas all over my body. The bleo was the realy toxic stuff I was on, so it's nice to be off that.
My beta count has stayed at 3 for three weeks now so....we are glad it's not going up but it's not going down either. Our guess is that when I go back to the oncologist they will most likely switch my chemo again to something else. Which can change my schedule and who knows what else. So prayers in this area would be appreciated. Thanks
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Okay sorry again about the lack of updates but I have been busy. Busy by running to appointments and to the ER etc...
Last week Sunday we made the trip to the ER because I wasn't feeling good and ended up getting some potassium and then being sent home.
Monday I was in for my chemo and then was sent back to the ER because I needed blood and my magnesium was critically low so almost five hours later we got to go home.
Then on Tuesday we had to go to a follow up appointment at my Oncologist's office for a check up.
Friday I had a cat scan on my pelvis, ab area and chest. All this well I was fighting a terrible cold and wasn't eating much at all because my throat was really swollen. What a week.
Which brings us to this week Monday I went into my regular scheduled chemo and found out my blood was low along with my magnesium again.
So on my "down" week I went in on Tuesday and wed. to get blood and magnesium. Along with an eye dr. apt., brought both kids to check ups, and had another apt. at the oncologist. I am telling ya busy busy busy.
My beta number stayed at 3 for two weeks now. I am starting to finally feel back to normal now that chemo is almost here again for 5 days. :) My cat scan results were looking good and everything that was there before has decreased. So that is a good thing.
Where we are now is that we are hoping that my number is not leveling off. If that is the case a switch might have to be done in the type of chemo I am getting. We want the number to go down again and then the road to recovery can begin.
God is in control of everything and this is in his hands. I know the road of suffering is long but the glory at the end I can only imagine :) Please keep praying!
Last week Sunday we made the trip to the ER because I wasn't feeling good and ended up getting some potassium and then being sent home.
Monday I was in for my chemo and then was sent back to the ER because I needed blood and my magnesium was critically low so almost five hours later we got to go home.
Then on Tuesday we had to go to a follow up appointment at my Oncologist's office for a check up.
Friday I had a cat scan on my pelvis, ab area and chest. All this well I was fighting a terrible cold and wasn't eating much at all because my throat was really swollen. What a week.
Which brings us to this week Monday I went into my regular scheduled chemo and found out my blood was low along with my magnesium again.
So on my "down" week I went in on Tuesday and wed. to get blood and magnesium. Along with an eye dr. apt., brought both kids to check ups, and had another apt. at the oncologist. I am telling ya busy busy busy.
My beta number stayed at 3 for two weeks now. I am starting to finally feel back to normal now that chemo is almost here again for 5 days. :) My cat scan results were looking good and everything that was there before has decreased. So that is a good thing.
Where we are now is that we are hoping that my number is not leveling off. If that is the case a switch might have to be done in the type of chemo I am getting. We want the number to go down again and then the road to recovery can begin.
God is in control of everything and this is in his hands. I know the road of suffering is long but the glory at the end I can only imagine :) Please keep praying!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
New week and new numbers
Hi everyone,
Time for the new update. Zero escaped us this week but we didn't go up either. I was at 6 and went to 4. This is good, but I know we have a great God and He is all powerful and can get me to zero. I just need to have more patience. Please keep praying because my numbers are still going down. This will come to an end eventually.
kids update:
Annabelle: Was very excited that Aunt Cassie is staying with us this week. Unfortunately this is the last week Cass is going to be able to stay with us. The Workmans have bought a house in Ohio and are moving very soon. So we thank Cass for all her willingness since about January to live with us every couple of weeks--it has made all the difference in our lives.
Talin: A trooper as always, has 3 teeth coming in and you wouldn't even know. Still as naughty as ever getting into EVERYTHING possible including the trash, which now resides on our counter most of the time-yuck. He is not walking yer but it come sooner than mom wants. HE will pull to stand on anything and is now standing with flatter feet than before for more balance....so we all know it's coming in time. He now is just short of 9 months.
Thanks again for all your continued dedicated support and prayers.
Time for the new update. Zero escaped us this week but we didn't go up either. I was at 6 and went to 4. This is good, but I know we have a great God and He is all powerful and can get me to zero. I just need to have more patience. Please keep praying because my numbers are still going down. This will come to an end eventually.
kids update:
Annabelle: Was very excited that Aunt Cassie is staying with us this week. Unfortunately this is the last week Cass is going to be able to stay with us. The Workmans have bought a house in Ohio and are moving very soon. So we thank Cass for all her willingness since about January to live with us every couple of weeks--it has made all the difference in our lives.
Talin: A trooper as always, has 3 teeth coming in and you wouldn't even know. Still as naughty as ever getting into EVERYTHING possible including the trash, which now resides on our counter most of the time-yuck. He is not walking yer but it come sooner than mom wants. HE will pull to stand on anything and is now standing with flatter feet than before for more balance....so we all know it's coming in time. He now is just short of 9 months.
Thanks again for all your continued dedicated support and prayers.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Another week of numbers
Hola (hello for those that need translation) :) hehe
Last week I didn't post anything because there was minor changes and therefore not blog worthy in my opinion. :0 My beta count was 10 and last week it went to 13 and that was about it. I did get some more blood, but that's about it.
This week my number went down again to six. Single digits now guys. Remember I have at least 2 more sessions to go once we hit zero. As glad as I am to hear six, to me it's not zero and therefore I need at least 6 more weeks of chemo and more time to get to zero. This is a long hard road for me and I and emotionally ready and needing zero more than anything now. Spring is on the way and I am ready for a change in a major way.
So please pray because this is getting harder now more than anyother time, or at least it seems that way. I am going to boldly ask that everyone pray that my beta count does not go up anymore. If it goes up that just prevents me more from getting done with this all. So please pray and pray earnestly and with conviction. Thanks in so many ways.
Last week I didn't post anything because there was minor changes and therefore not blog worthy in my opinion. :0 My beta count was 10 and last week it went to 13 and that was about it. I did get some more blood, but that's about it.
This week my number went down again to six. Single digits now guys. Remember I have at least 2 more sessions to go once we hit zero. As glad as I am to hear six, to me it's not zero and therefore I need at least 6 more weeks of chemo and more time to get to zero. This is a long hard road for me and I and emotionally ready and needing zero more than anything now. Spring is on the way and I am ready for a change in a major way.
So please pray because this is getting harder now more than anyother time, or at least it seems that way. I am going to boldly ask that everyone pray that my beta count does not go up anymore. If it goes up that just prevents me more from getting done with this all. So please pray and pray earnestly and with conviction. Thanks in so many ways.
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