Down To The Home Stretch!

Last Tuesday was Mom's last infusion of "The Big Ugly" and she couldn't be more excited. She has three treatments left...forever! They gave her some extra medicine to take for her last treatment, and it did help, she says her nausea isn't as bad as it has been after the previous big treatments. During her last cycle, she had to miss her treatments for weeks two and three because her counts were too low. But they came back up just like always, which is good. If history keeps repeating itself when it comes to her treatments she more than likely just have two treatments left to go. Her weight is holding pretty steady. Dad says she's eating him out of the house.

She's starting to get cabin fever from being in the house so much that they're already planning their next trip to Vegas in November. And, now that it's cooling off, she's also gearing up to hit the golf course!

Thank you all so much for your continued prayers and well wishes. Don't forget, visitors are always welcome at the Beatty house!

Calling All Photos

We are working on a little project for Mom. We are in need of any pictures anyone may have from Mom's Retirement party or any events from the past year. You may email those pictures to me at kimrey4@yahoo.com or any extra copies can be mailed to me, Jodie, or Jason. We can email the addresses to you if you would like to help us that way. Thank you!

Guess What???

Time to update again, I hear! Once again, Mom had to skip the third week of this last cycle because her counts were too low, just like the last time. However, she was able to receive her treatment yesterday. We're pretty sure this will be a week three thing for the next two cycles. We're not really upset about the skip, she kind of looks forward to having a week off of the side effects.

Even better news, SHE IS HALFWAY DONE WITH CHEMO!!!

She has come so far. So much has changed for her since February 19th, 2009. We pray that helping her reflect on all she has overcome since that day will help her get through the next eight weeks. She is so strong and we know that she will be just fine. She is even ready to hit the links once again. She's looking forward to the golf tournament the city puts on every year. We think we have our scramble strategy worked out...I drive and she putts...you all better watch out!

This week is the Cass County Fair and what better place to celebrate her "Halfway Milestone" than to gather together at the Miller Pavilion tomorrow night to help her celebrate being halfway done with chemo! If you're out and about tomorrow night, stop by and say hello and even join us in toasting her!

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.