Christmas week

We had a wonderful Christmas. The four of us just enjoyed each other and then relaxing doing our own things. It was peaceful. Our Jehovah Jireh (Provider) really was felt in our home this Christmas. He showed us in His gentle and loving way how He can and will provide.

Wednesday the 26th insurance still had not approved the Chemo, so I only did Herceptin. The doctor was happy with the rise in my iron level, due to taking the iron supplement.

My surgery for the Port came off without a hitch. There were some funny terms used while I was waiting to be operated on; the nurses said "Good Luck" (kind of like crossing your fingers) and the doctor stated he would "Tunnel under the skin". I was really looking forward to the 'procedure' after hearing these things. The Anesthesiologist was very nice, but he had some trouble getting my I.V. started. He had to stick me 6 times before he got a good vein. We are all glad I am getting this Port in. The pain will wear off in a couple of days. I can take the bandages off on Monday. (and take a shower-so if you smell me before then you'll know why) ha ha.

Neal found a muffler shop that would install the catalytic converter for a reasonable price. So he got that done with the hope that it will be enough to pass smog. The van can hobble along for a few more months till things settle down.

I received a call today the 28th from the Oncologist office letting me know that the insurance had approved the new Chemo and that I will be receiving that on Wed. Jan 2nd. Thank the Lord for He is faithful!!

And Yes! it is still OK to do a Colonoscopy the very next day after Chemo. (that's because 'they' are not doing it) What fun!!

Hair today gone tomorrow

When my hair started to fall out, it felt like when your hair has been in a ponytail too long and it is sore. Then parts felt like I had sunburned my scalp. At first it came out slowly then it just came out in clumps. My very sweet hair stylist cut my hair to this cute style on the 20th. I was having an emotional day about the hair lose and the mess it was making. I liked the cut, and who knows maybe I'll have it like this someday when it grows back. I was praying the hair would hang on thru. Christmas day. You know... so the Christmas morning pictures wouldn't look hideous.The Lord blessed me and let it hang on thru. Christmas day. Then on the day after Christmas I had to take a shower and it REALLY came out.

Thursday the 27th I had the Port put in and my hair was very patchy and sore.

So that eve. I had Neal shave the scraggly patches off.

Here is the wig I borrowed, it doesn't quite fit. I'm will still working on some different ideas to cover the Kojak look.

Delay Chemo

My day started off with this devotional message (paraphrased):

~ It was into the real world that Christ came, into the city where there was no room for Him, and into a country where Herod, the murderer of innocents, was king. (Luke 2:25-35)
~ "He comes to us, not to shield us from the harshness of the world but to give us the courage and strength to bear it; nor to snatch us away by some miracle from the conflict of life, but to give us peace - His peace - in our hearts, by which we may be calmly steadfast while the conflict rages, and be able to bring to the torn world the healing that is peace."

Christ did not come to shield us from the grief and pain of life;

But those who have His peace inside can thrive within the strife.

~

Thankfully no dogs got hit today. The doctor told me my iron count went down even farther and firmly suggested I take my iron supplements or he would need to either do iron I.V. or do a blood transfusion if it gets much worse. Then Chemo did not go well...I had an adverse allergic reaction to the Chemo, Taxotere. I couldn't breath, I got very hot (my face reflected how hot I was) and there was a fogginess in my eyes. My friend rushed over and got a nurse. They immediately stopped the Chemo and flushed out the line with saline, meanwhile bringing over the oxygen tank, but I didn't need it. As quickly as the reaction came on it also left. (thankfully) ....So they could not continue with Chemo today....

~

So now it gets complicated!! I could take a Chemo called, Taxol, the allergic reaction to it is Anaphylactic Shock. Since I had a reaction to the Taxotere (and they are in the same family of drugs) I could have this reaction but no guarantee!?! Attempting to prevent this reaction I would need to take 40 mg of Decodron a day. The first round of Chemo I had to take 16 mg of Decodron and I had adverse reactions to that, so they reduced my dosage to only 2 mg for this round. There is no way of knowing how I would react to that much Decadron.

.....OR.....

Chemo choice number 2 is a new drug (the Doctor didn't tell me the name) This Chemo they have been testing on Metastatic Cancer Patients. Which means it is very powerful (not really what I need). It has not been studied on patients in my situation, so that leads to uncertainty about results. The other challenge is insurance only likes to cover things that are absolutely studied and required. This drug is new and therefore expensive another reason insurance will not want to cover it. The good thing about this one is I wouldn't have to take Decadron. We have 2 days to get all this worked out so that I can have Chemo on the 26th.

~

Meanwhile.... Neal had my van today to get it smogged for renewal. It did not pass smog. The technician stated that it need more work than the vehicle was worth and to just drive it to a lot and trade it in. A friend mentioned the DMV will purchase a "Gross Polluter" then you can do what you want about getting another vehicle...Add this to our schedule.

~

Getting back to the devotional; I thought God was so gentle to prepare me for this day with His peace!!

Not that it makes this any less difficult, but I know when my faith is getting stretched, I am learning to be calmly steadfast in His peace. Through each experience I am reminded to rest in His provision and love for us.

~

-Please pray that His hand would be in all of this.

-Please pray for clear direction and choices.

-Please pray that our emotions rest in His Peace.

~

P.S. -A side plus in all this is I will NOT be sick for Christmas !! YEAH !!

What's ahead

It appears I have little veins and they are not handling all the sticks. I need to get a 'Port' put in to make this easier on everyone. A port is a small device with a hollow space inside that is sealed by a soft top. The port is connected to a small flexible tube called a catheter. A special needle is put in the soft top of the port so that medications and fluids can be given and blood samples withdrawn. In a short procedure, the port is implanted, which means it is placed completely beneath your skin, and the catheter is inserted inside a blood vessel. Ports are usually implanted on the upper chest. So I need to meet with the surgeon, have a pre-op visit at the hospital and then the procedure on the 27th.


I have my next Chemo on the 19th and hopefully the tweaking of the med's will cease all reactions.

Next on the agenda I need to have a Colonoscopy and Upper GI Endoscopy scheduled for the 3rd of January. I have already met with the Doc and the question they are looking to answer with these procedures is why my blood count shows I am loosing blood somewhere somehow. Before the procedure you have all this fun stuff to drink and a list of things you are NOT to eat or drink.

In the middle of all this I am able to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior with my family. To watch their faces, see the beautiful sights everywhere, enjoy the sounds of laughter, music and feel the love we all share will definitely refresh my soul.

"I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for ALL the people; for today in the city of David there has been born unto you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord...

Glory to God in the Highest"

Luke 2:10-14 (paraphrased)

Reactions

Sorry it has taken me sooo long to blog we have a time of it. First I had some reactions to the medicine that you take in conjunction with Chemo.
-a red flush from my cheeks down my stomach/ hot to the touch
-shakes
-heartburn
-tingling and tightness across chest
-sleeplessness
Then we had some possible reactions to the shot they give to bring your white blood cell count back up or they say could've been possible reactions to Chemo.
-Ulceration (lump in my throat) in my throat.
-inflamed burning around my rear
-trouble breathing
Then the nausea got out of control and I wasn't able to keep any thing down.
They gave me med's orally and I.V. to stop the nausea, to no avail. They needed to rehydrate me and wanted me to go to the hospital till they could get things under control. I refused so they ordered some suppositories and 2 other drugs. I was to take these every 6 hours. After about 24-30 hours. I could get some things down that would stay. after 48 hours I was feeling much better and stopped the medicine. YEAH!!!!!!!

They say next go around (Dec. 19th) they are adjusting the med's to hopefully compensate for all this.

Everything has a metallic taste to it, but it goes down and stays. So I am grateful for this. I am also thankful, as of yet, my hair is still in place.

Sasha our dog is recovering without a hitch, back to her old self.

God is so good. He provided His servants throughout all this just when and where we needed them.

1st Chemo -Nov 30th

Where to begin...Neal as always, being a gentleman opened the gate to our driveway for the generous ladies who where able to help with today's events. It seemed as though everyone arrived at the same time.

Someone mentioned that our dog Sasha had a hurt foot and was bleeding. Then the children came in all commenting on the same thing. So while trying to get kids, paperwork and final details together I needed to find out what was going on with the dog. As soon as I came near her I could tell she was traumatized by something. I called the vet explained the situation of where I needed to be and would it be OK to have a friend drop her off and keep in contact with us by phone. They agreed that would be fine. Praise the Lord my friend was willing and had a dog crate in the back of her vehicle (what are the chances) and was going by that way. I went to Chemo, kids went with friends, dog to the vet. Whew!!

Chemo started with Herceptin (slowly) it was cold but thankfully no other reactions. Then they did a medicine flush....

Meanwhile we got a call from the vet... the dog had definitely been hit by a car. She had a punctured lung, 3 broken ribs, 3 broken or missing teeth, kidney damage, road rash under her neck and leg, and her lung was gassing out into her body and if they couldn't get it under control the pressure could cause the lung to collapse. They couldn't get her liver score it was off the chart. She would need to go to the Loomis Basin Vet Clinic for the night if not for longer....

The next drug for me was the Taxotere. Which is the one you need to soak your fingers in ice so that you hopefully don't loose your fingernails. Then another lady there told me to eat ice chips or popsicles because she had bad mouth sores from this drug also... Praise the Lord still no allergic reactions.

There was a delay between the next drug due to air in the line. So this set us back in time. Meanwhile the doctor came back to talk to me about the Iron blood work. Stated he still didn't like what he is seeing and would like me to go take a colonoscopie (sp?) Worst case scenario we could be looking at colon cancer.... The last drug for the day was the Carboplatyn. Everything went well with this one also. Thank you Lord. My friend endured all this with me and even went and got us lunch, but now we were late in timing for her to pick up her children and deal with the dog....

So I called a neighbor to see if she could be available to get the dog crate from our house meet me at the Vet and bring the dog and me home...

She was!! We couldn't lift the dog out of the crate till Neal got home. So she dropped me and her vehicle off at our house. Neal arrived within about an hour (traffic) He moved the dog and crate over to our van and drove her vehicle up to her. She went to turn her vehicle around and ran over the water spigot and broke her water main.... So with the kids not yet back and Neal needing to help our neighbor with the water situation, I took the dog to the Loomis Basin Vet.

ARE WE HAVING FUN YET !?!

Neal buttoned up the main for the eve. the kids got home and had a wonderful dinner and I returned home safely. All in all it was an eventful day.

Redue blood work

Upon arriving home from an expansion on the 26th I received a call from Dr. Campbell at 7:20 pm to state that he didn't like the blood work from the Kidney and Iron. He would like me to re due these blood tests Tuesday so he can have the results by Wednesday to confirm whether to begin Chemo on Friday. The Kidney showed it was under stress and the Iron showed I was loosing blood. Worse case scenario we were looking at some sort of cancer causing stress on the Kidney, best case I was just still recovering from the surgery. I put in a few calls for prayer...

I went in Tuesday and Wednesday during Co-op the nurse called to state that the Kidney results were improved and that I needed to begin an Iron supplement of Iron Sulfate 325 mg per day. We were a go for Chemo on Friday.

Thank you for all your prayers.

Thanksgiving

Neal's parents came over the hill Wednesday afternoon and brought plenty of food. They live in Fallon, NV. and are 80 yrs old. So we worry when they travel. On Thursday before we had dinner the kids, Neal and his Dad went over and played flag football with some other families. Some slight injuries but that didn't out weigh the fun. Neal and his mom cooked everything. The big glitch in the day was that Dorothy got sick, something upset her stomach from breakfast and she was throwing up most of the day so she didn't eat any of the Thanksgiving dinner. We played games and visited, it was a wonderful time.




Friday Dorothy and I went to the local fairgrounds for the craft fare. She still wasn't feeling the best. I had fun looking at all the booths. I got lots of ideas but only made a small purchase. She needed to get back and my energy wasn't at it's top.


Neal's parents had to leave Saturday morn. to head on up to Klammath Falls, Oregon to see some more of the family. Cameron wasn't quite himself which was explained later that day at about 5 pm he began throwing up till about 5 am, then at 9 am he started a low grade fever. That was gone by 2 pm. Neal took him to the pet store later that Sunday. Cameron had been saving his money since summer to purchase a Bearded Dragon.

He is named Spark

(from Spartacus)

Expansions

Well since my last entry I have had 3 expansions. (14th, 19th and 26th) All have gone well physically. The doctors are happy with the progress. Here are some pictures are the implements they use to fill me.


The blue contraption is what they are able to find the magnetic center of the port with. They make an X on the center, cover the whole area with betadine. Inject the area with numbing medicine then inject it with the larger needle that is attached to the tubing and syringe. The syringe sucks up the sterile saline and pushes it into the expander. The last one we did they put 100cc into the expander per side. This whole process takes about 30 min. Fascinating I'm sure.

Due to Chemo and the lowered white cell count I will now have to gage my expansions on the up time in relation to Chemo. So instead of 1X a week it will be (if all goes smoothly) 1x every 3 weeks.