One Cycle Down, Three More To Go!

Mom's counts were back up and was able to get her treatment Tuesday completing the first cycle of chemo. Woo-hoo! She tolerated her treatment very well, not getting sick at all. She is doing very well staying on top of her nausea meds. She has three cycles to go (12 weeks). Her treatment this coming Tuesday is another "big one" where she gets both chemo drugs.

She's even becoming a Facebook phenom reuniting with people she hasn't talked to in a while. I think she's getting addicted!

We'll update you all on how Tuesday goes!

Third Time's Not A Charm

Well, Mom's chemo started good the first two weeks. She gets it on Tuesdays. The first week when she received both medicines the nausea kicked in Thursday morning and lasted until Friday afternoon. We didn't even wait to find out if the Compazine they gave her for nausea worked or now, we called for a prescription for Zofran. The combination of the two medicines for nausea really worked for week two when she just received the Navelbien. Last week she was just a little nauseated on Thursday but did really good.

Today, Mom went for her third treatment, she was supposed to get the Navelbien today. Unfortunately, her blood counts were too low to let her get it safely. Her white blood cell count (WBC's) are normally supposed to be 5,000-10,000, they will treat her even if they are as low as 2,000. Her WBC today was 1,700. Another component is the absolute neutrophil count (ANC). The ANC is a count of the immature WBC's. This level should normally be greater than 1,000. Today, hers is 200. Unfortunately, they had to hold her treatment for today. We knew this would probably happen. Dr. Stephenson had told us before that usually the third and or fourth weeks of the cycles have to be held due to low counts. It just stinks to really have it happen.

Her counts are low enough to have an effect on her immune system so you might see her around with a bottle of Purell and a container of Clorox wipes in her purse. She's wanting to stay as healthy as possible for Dad's big reunion this weekend. They are going to St. Louis for a reunion with Dad's company he served with in Vietnam. He is really looking forward to this.

Once again, thank you all for your continued thoughts, prayers, and occasional taxi services for Mom. We are a very blessed family to be surrounded by such wonderful people.

16 Weeks and Counting

Tomorrow, Mom gets to begin the wonderful world of chemotherapy!!! Okay, so much for the excitement. This will be the long day as she will be getting both chemo drugs. The Cisplatin is the one that takes 6-7 hours to take as well as getting the Navelbien. She will get the Navelbien every week as her blood counts allow.

She is a little nervous about the entire ordeal, but is remaining is good spirits. She even has her bag of goodies packed in preparation for the long day. She's planning on watching some movies on Jodie's mini DVD player and reading some of her book. I think she is most nervous about the inevitable nausea. Her oncologist has already prescribed her some Compazine to ward off the evil nausea spirits. We'll see.

We'll keep you all posted on how tomorrow goes!

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

Thank you ALL so much for your thoughts and prayers! They were answered yesterday. Mom saw Dr. Seligson for another follow-up appointment and things looked really good. So good, in fact, that her CHEST TUBE IS OUT!!! No more air-leak and no more fat-leak! She is very ready for a steak dinner, but Dr. Seligson advised her to take it slow. She can't wait for that filet at the boat. She said it feels so good!

She met with the oncologist, Dr. Stephenson, on Monday and discussed her treatment plan. Unfortunately, it wasn't as she expected. Originally, she was being told that it would be eight weeks. Somewhere along the line it has doubled. She also wanted to do some traveling before she started to feel bad again. Dr. Stephenson advised her against that. He said that the longer she waits to start treatment, the effectiveness decreases. He said that without treatment, she has a 50/50 chance of recurrence. With chemo, there is a 10-15% increase in her favor, making that a 60-65% chance that it will not come back. She thought about it a lot over the last month and is willing to take those odds.

They are going to use two different chemo drugs during her treatment. The first one is Cisplatin (the Lance Armstrong chemo drug). This one will take the longest to infuse, approximately 6-7 hours one time every four weeks. The second is Navelbine. She will get this one weekly with these infusions lasting for 1-2 hours. Dr. Stephenson informed us really well about these drugs and made her feel very comfortable with his plan for her. She is now taking applications for drivers for chemo days on the days that we are working.

She's really hoping the rain will let up soon. She's ready to get out to the golf course for some putting practice before it gets too hot. =-) Thank you all again for your continued thoughts and prayers. We are so grateful and extremely blessed to be surrounded by such caring wonderful people.

Follow-Up With Dr. Seligson

Mom saw Dr. Seligson today for her first follow-up appointment. He is pleased with her progress and said her lungs sound really good. Today's big test was seeing if she still has an air leak and, unfortunately, she still does. He is impressed with the small amount of drainage she has been having. He decided the chest tube needs to stay in for another week. Also, she gets to add more food to her restricted diet. She's pretty excited about that. Dr. Seligson said that she's earned the right to "cheat" a little. When she goes back next week he said that if the drainage stays minimal and the air leak is gone he will take it out. But, if the air leak is still there, he will pull out the tube a little and re-stitch it in to secure it, as he thinks this will help speed the sealing up. Many prayers are needed for this week that the drainage stays minimal and that the air leak seals up. Mom is SO READY to get the chest tube out. She said it's really hindering her sleeping on her right side!

Just In Case You Didn't Hear....

Many of you already know, but just in case you didn't hear, Mom came home from the hospital on Tuesday. She's doing really good. Just being home makes a world of difference in her recovery. She's loving visitors coming to keep her company. Unfortunately, I've had a cold this week so I've had to stay away. Hopefully, it will disappear soon so I can get back over there and help out more. The diet is going okay. She sees Dr. Seligson on Wednesday, so hopefully the leaks are all sealed up and she can get the chest tube out and eat a regular fatty meal. Keep your fingers crossed!

HAPPY EASTER!!!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. Mom had a pretty good day yesterday. She told us all about her visitors on Saturday. Many thanks go to Pastor Kent and Carla for the bunny ears. Also, apparently the nursing staff started to wonder about the crowd Mom runs with after Bob, Kathy, Norm, and Bev came up to visit....all decked out in their biker gear. She loved it though! As for Easter, Mom thoroughly enjoyed her plain potato, steamed vegetables, and flax seed. Mmm, mmm! She is doing really good with the no-fat diet she is now on. The drainage from the chest tube was only 40ml from 1am until 7pm yesterday. This was a HUGE change. Dr. Seligson was extremely impressed that he took one of the chest tubes out and changed the chamber to a smaller one (the new one only holds about 80ml) because she still has the air-leak. He told Mom that he expects it to seal up in about another week since the fat duct issue is now under control. Soooo, this means if the new chest tube goes well today.....SHE'S COMING HOME TOMORROW!!! What a blessing! As you can expect, she's getting pretty antsy to get out of here.