Treatment Plan

Dr. Kumar and Dr. Vogel spoke at length yesterday morning. I got the information through Brenda (the fun nurse) yesterday but have waited to blog until today because I knew I'd have more information after being at the clinic today for my Procrit shot.

First thing we did was stop the Xeloda chemo pills. I'll take the anti-nausea pills for a couple more days though to be sure it's far enough out of my system to no longer make me sick.

Next appointment I have is actually with my dentist to be sure the Zometa has not affected my jaw or teeth at all. Good dental hygiene is also important when undergoing chemo and taking various cancer-related drugs. As long as everything checks out ok we'll continue with the Zometa infusions. I think it should all be fine. There was just a bit of a red flag when they noted I had jaw pain last week or the week before, but I'm sure that was from the intense vomiting.

The appointment after that will be at the hospital, as an outpatient, to have a port put in. That is a device that's placed in my chest, underneath the skin, through which chemo drugs can be given, all my other infusions can be given, and blood can even be drawn. We've talked about this in the past because I have such poor veins, but now it's going to happen.

Then on Friday, September 8th, we will start a regimen of chemotherapy. I will receive a drug called Taxol every week for three weeks, and the Avastin every other week. What would be week 4 will be a week off of everything. I am currently scheduled for two rounds of these treatments, followed by another CT scan. Depending on what the scan then shows, I may be able to start the estrogen therapy. (not sure yet if that will involve a trip to FL or not)

Potential side effects include thinning/loss of hair, numbness or tingling in my hands, feet, arms and/or legs, nausea and loss of appetite and taste, and fatigue. Those are the main ones.

I am really dreading all of this...but if we can accomplish something favorable in "only" eight weeks time, it will be worth it!

A New Day

Thought I better check in and let everyone know that I am doing much better than expected today. I did allow myself a "mental health day" to continue to try and absorb this latest news and to take some steps to make me feel as though I am getting my life in order. Eliminate chaos of all kinds is my newest goal.

I am thankful that I am feeling quite a bit better physically so that I can handle the latest mental/emotional anguish. I can't imagine having received this information last week when I already felt like I was down for the count. Timing is everything!

From what I'm hearing, the gates of heaven are being rattled loudly as MANY prayers are sent that way on my behalf. It's overwhelming to realize how many individual souls are praying for mine. What a tremendous gift!

Time to get out in the sunshine and pick my ripened tomatoes.

More updates as they become available...

Extremes

What a wonderful weekend and fantastic party we had to celebrate my parent's 50th anniversary!! Seeing family (both immediate and distant), seeing old friends, meeting new friends...it was all good. The energy and love all weekend long were just absorbed into my system and it did my heart and spirit a world of good.

I woke up this morning feeling pretty darn good. Since I started the new anti-nausea pills last Friday I have not thrown up even once. That is a HUGE barrier to be over. I feel my appetite slowly coming back and hopefully will regain some of my lost strength very quickly just by eating.

I got a call at 8:15am from the clinic to cancel my appt with the gastroenterologist. I was ok with that because I figured that since I'm not vomiting any more I didn't really need him and the scan was just precautionary. BUT...Dr Kumar wanted to see me today instead to go over the results. It didn't click with me right away, but eventually I figured out that that was a bad thing. To confirm this suspicion I called back and asked the nurse if she felt Brian should accompany me to the appointment and there was no hesitation when she said 'yes.'

What we learned this afternoon is what I suspected all day. The cancer has spread, and there are now spots on my liver. This is a very bad thing. The liver can be very difficult to treat. We are looking at two options, however, and I will try to explain them the best that I can.

Our first choice right now seems to be to try and get an appt with a doctor in Florida who has had some success with treating liver metastases with high-dose estrogen therapy. We're hopeful he will find my situation to be one that makes me a candidate for this treatment. Dr Kumar has heard this man speak at seminars and is familiar with his work. His name is Dr. Charles Vogel and, apparently, he is someone who thinks outside the box. We hope to hear back from him within the next day or two.

The second choice is to begin another infusion, this one being Avastin. It is used primarily for colon cancer patients. The trials with breast cancer patients have shown good promise. And while not FDA approved yet for breast cancer patients, my insurance company has already okayed the treatment.

It is undetermined yet if I will need a liver biopsy or if I can maybe be spared that procedure.

This is all I know for now. Well...this, and the fact that I am now scared out my mind. Suddenly I feel as if there are lots of loose ends that need to be tied up.

So, as always, please keep praying for me. And pray for each other too. This isn't easy for ANY of us!!

Feeling Rough

I haven't been feeling very well for a long time now. We've tried this, that, and the other thing but I'm still nauseous. Today we made plans to delve further into the problem.

First of all they gave me some different anti-nausea pills to try. I haven't taken any of them yet though. Then we scheduled a CT Scan of my chest, abdomen and pelvis for tomorrow afternoon. The trick will be to keep the chalky drink down long enough to accomplish the scan. I'll meet with a gastroenterologist on Monday to get the results. We need to find out why I'm still throwing up so often.

Every day I try, try, try to get my butt to work. I haven't been so successful. It's very discouraging. When I am there I tend to not last very long. When I'm home I accomplish little or nothing. I spend lots of time on the couch and in bed; sleeping, reading, and watching bad television.

I'm sorry to be such a downer here, but that's just the mood I'm in right now.

My biggest concern is trying to figure out how to make myself feel decent enough to get through Mom & Dad's big anniversary open house on Saturday!

That's all for now. I have soooo many long overdue 'thank yous' to get out to people. I hope to be able to accomplish that soon, right here in this blog. Until then: THANK YOU to everyone who has called, cooked, visited, donated, and prayed!!

I think today is Wednesday

Funny how easily I lose track of the days of the week when I don't go into work each day. It gets very confusing.

After not keeping anything down on both Monday and Tuesday, I ended up at the clinic yesterday afternoon where they gave me IV fluids, IV anti-nausea drugs, IV steroids, and one other thing through the IV that I don't remember. All of this was to help with the dehydration and hopefully get the stomach back to where it needs to be. THANK YOU Sheryl for the ride!!

I slept most of the time I was at the clinic from that "other" thing they gave me, napped at home, and then slept like a rock last night. The head was a little fuzzy this morning yet and I just now had some Gatorade and saltines so here's hoping all is good.

Sue is driving all the way from DeForest this morning to pick up Dominic and take him to the airport for me. We also have school registration before he takes off. Depending on how I feel at that point in the day I may have her drop me off at work (or if my head is more normal I may drive myself). I have a brand new desk chair there that I really need to go and sit in!

Hope to write more again later today...

Quick Update

Have to keep this short as I'm back to feeling lousy again...

For a few days I was off all meds of all kinds except Advil. I was starting to feel like I might have some good days, but then developed more pain flairs. I think all the meds had time to leave my system and that's why the pain started up again. Advil was no longer doing the trick. I tried half of one Tramadol before bed last night and 1/2 when I awakened to some pain at 4:30 this morning. By 7am I was sick and haven't kept anything down yet today.

I called the clinic and they prescribed me with a patch that will more evenly regulate the dosage of pain meds I receive. Time will tell what side effects I'll experience from this now. Poor Brian was greatly inconvenienced in his work day running around town to pick this up. It's new and there was only one pharmacy that carries it.

Back to my couch or bed now.

I HAVE to blog again soon because the Rally on Saturday was quite the amazing event once again. My Stecker family outdid themselves!!

Conspicuous in my Absence?

My observant sister, Sue, told me that when I say things like "I'll keep you posted" and then I don't post anything it usually means that I'm not feeling so good. I guess she's right! Because I haven't posted anything in a week, and it's now been a week since I started the Xeloda.

Strangely enough I am now posting this shortly after midnight. Could it be that after two weeks of what feels like non-stop sleeping I've finally reached my limit? No, I don't think that's it. I think I've just taken some meds too late in the evening that are now keeping me up. My eyes are tired and I keep yawning, but I can't seem to fall asleep. All jittery.

I haven't been feeling so great lately. But I do think it may be improving a bit day by day. I worked a grand total of one hour last week! Can you believe that?! I'm averaging around 2.5 hours/day this week though. So that's a big jump percentage-wise. Mornings seem to be my worst time of the day. But I'm muddling through. I mostly have myself weaned from the pain pills (which may be part of why I'm sitting here at this hour), with the Xeloda and some Ibuprofen taking over in the pain treatment area.

Today was NOT a good clinic experience for me and I came home in a pretty down mood. A nap seemed to snap me out of it though. They had to poke me three times to get the IV started. Plus all the blinds were shut and a lot of the curtains between the patients were closed and it felt almost claustrophic in there (and I'm not a claustrophic person).

They did give me some samples of Ensure, Boost, Support, and Carnation Instant Breakfast drink. All of these are protein/energy drinks. I've lost nine pounds in the last two weeks from not eating much at all, and not always keeping down what I have eaten. Plus, I can't seem to tolerate any protein. Even the word "meat" turns my stomach---much less the sight or smell. So these drinks should maybe help keep my diet slightly more balanced.

I checked out a book today (now yesterday, I guess) from the resource library they have at the VLCC. It's the first book I've come across that's written for a person with metastatic breast cancer. There is a TON of information out there for a woman who is first diagnosed, or who is going through breast cancer treatment for the first time. But there is far, far less info on the taboo subject of a cancer that may have returned/spread. So far I've only read the preface, but I know I'm going to gain a great deal from the experience of reading this book. I'll let you know when I'm done with it if it's recommended reading for any/all of you. I'm hopeful that it will be a catalyst for some heart warming, and even heart wrenching, conversations about this reality that is the Cancer in my life.

OK...still not quite sleepy enough. Maybe I'll go buy something on QVC now. (Just kidding!) But I will sign off for the night. Hope all of you have managed to stay cool this past week and that you're tucked away safely and snuggly in your beds.

Hugs!