Good morning – two weeks since I last reported in but I have quite a bit of news to tell you.
Last week was quite busy – on Monday, (July 19) my chemo day, it was discovered that my hemoglobin was down to 81 (from the normal 120 or so) and I almost didn’t get my chemo. (This happens when you are given chemo over a long period of time – it destroys fast-growing cells and the red blood cells in your bone marrow would be one of the ones ‘under attack’. They said it was surprising that I hadn’t already had a transfusion, due to the amount of chemo that I have had.) I was scheduled for a blood transfusion Wednesday morning – 2 units and 4+ hours to do this! Then Tuesday afternoon, I already had appointments in Windsor for a CT scan and bone scan. For the bone scan, you get a needle of radioactive dye that has to circulate through your body and you have to wait while it does that. I got the needle at 1:30 but had to wait for the scan until 4:15 – and then it took most of an hour. Lots of practice waiting ! The rest of the week was fairly quiet; a good thing, because it was still very hot and humid.
Amy came back Sunday to be with us for my chemo yesterday morning and also for the trip to Windsor to hear about the results from the scans. I was quite anxious – more than I realized – and afraid that I was going to hear that my bones looked like Swiss cheese. However, God is good and so was the news ! I have only the two metastases on my head – lumpy head – and the CT scan showed that my liver is still clear, so I am clean, clean, clean except for the cancer in my lungs. Such a relief !!! The doctor explained that the CT scan also showed progression of that cancer since April but that she didn’t feel it was accurate – that I had dropped farther after the CT scan in April than we realized and was now on the upward swing but still not back to where I was in April. However, I feel extremely well and everything is working very well – breathing especially – so we are going with that. The blood transfusion has helped with my energy levels – no red blood cells, no oxygen, no energy – and my colour is better too – according to onlookers!
We celebrated this good news by going to a Red Lobster in Windsor and ordering lobster ! Haven’t had one for years ! It was quite an exercise – they don’t cut it open for you as some places do, so you have to wrestle it ‘to the ground’ all by yourself. But boy! Did it taste good!
We are contemplating actually going away on a weekend trip to see if we remember how to do it – haven’t been too many places since all of this started. We did make it up to a park on the St. Clair River south of Sarnia, one of our favourite places, to have a little picnic a week ago Sunday and enjoyed that. For those of you who don’t live in this area, that’s the river between the USA and Canada, and between Lake Huron and Lake St. Clair. You can look across and watch road traffic in the USA on the other side and if you were a good swimmer you might be able to swim across. There’s always a good chance of seeing a lake freighter, too – pretty impressive at close quarters.
So I am very happy to report this good news to you and to thank you once again for all your support and prayers, especially during the last few months when things looked pretty black. I think it’s safe to say that I’ll be here long past October now but each of us only has today and I am still practicing living in ‘now’.
May God’s presence be known to you today.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
Update - July 12, 2010
Good morning – hard to believe it’s been this long since I updated the blog but things have been busy, as you will see.
We came home from the weddings two weeks ago today – arrived home about 3:30 in the afternoon from Kitchener. I went out for groceries about 5:00 p.m. and as I was arriving back home at 5:30, David saw me and decided to come and help. He stood up quickly, forgetting that he needs to be slower and to wait, because of his vertigo problems. He made it to the door of his den, realized that he was going to fall and turned to go back to his desk chair. He didn’t make it – he passed out and fell, striking his face on the edge of his desk and falling with his head under it. I was in the house by then and rushed in to see what was happening. I could see that he was bleeding but not from where. He was groggy and couldn’t move himself, but in a few minutes he was able to roll over onto his back and out from under the desk. He had bruised his face and was bleeding around his left eye. I decided an ambulance was the only option and he agreed. He was taken to ER after being checked out and eventually had 6 stitches under his eye. However, he is on blood thinners and that caused tremendous bleeding; most of his face turned dark purple and his eyes were terribly swollen for a few days. He still has vestiges of the bruising two weeks later.
A neighbour saw the ambulance and came over to check it out. She took me to the ER and stayed with me, eventually bringing David home as well. It was quite shocking and very painful for him as well; he had a headache for several days and didn’t wear his contacts because of his bloodshot eyes. Most of that seems to have passed now. I was very impressed with the ambulance crew – their kindness and their efficiency.
A week ago today, I had two doctor’s appointments in Windsor. In the morning, I saw the radiologist, who confirmed that the treatment the first week of May had been very effective in improving my breathing and reducing the tumour that was restricting the airflow. I do not need to see him again unless my oncologist feels it is necessary. (This would be because there was another tumour in my lung that was possibly treatable by radiation.) In the afternoon, I saw my oncologist and the news from her was more mixed. She showed me my two chest x-rays from May and June and pointed out the improvements – less compression of my heart, more breathing room in my left lung – all very good news. This shows that the new chemo is having an effect and I will be staying on it indefinitely (as long as it is working, at this point.) I have a weekly treatment for two weeks and then the third week off. The bad news was that the lump on my head is a bone metastasis and that the cancer is spreading to bones as well as lungs. However, she was quite matter-of-fact about it and said, “This is what it is; this is what we are going to do.” I am now on an additional medicine called Aredia which is not chemo but a bone-strengthener. It is also used for osteoarthritis. Tuesday, I went for my chemo in Chatham and wound up getting the Aredia right away. It didn’t have any effect at the time, but I had a low fever that night and spent the next two days in bed, just wiped out. I didn’t feel nauseated or anything – just had no energy and actually slept for part of Wednesday, quite unusual for me. I’m still coming around from it and do not feel anything like I felt at the weddings – but there are other contributing factors to that, I’m sure. I will have a treatment of Aredia every three weeks.
Amy was with us all week and Mike and Lian came down for part of the weekend but everyone went home last night and today it’s just David and I.
I’m struggling with this bone cancer diagnosis; I was feeling so well at the time of the weddings that I thought I might get a break and be ‘normal’ for a while. Now I have to figure out what this means and what consequences I will have to deal with – not too positive the last couple of days, I must admit. However, I have been reminded by several family members that I am much better than I was in April and that I have just come through a fairly intense time of travel and emotion and I should give myself a break. So I am trying to do just that. I’m really not a good patient – I can cope with an illness as long as I don’t feel bad!
I know that God is still in this with me and I continue to trust in His guidance – blindly, sometimes, like a little kid hanging onto a parent’s hand or coat – but trusting in the knowledge, wisdom, purpose and love of the One who is leading. Thank you so much for your prayers – there are so many of you who are so kind to remember me.
We came home from the weddings two weeks ago today – arrived home about 3:30 in the afternoon from Kitchener. I went out for groceries about 5:00 p.m. and as I was arriving back home at 5:30, David saw me and decided to come and help. He stood up quickly, forgetting that he needs to be slower and to wait, because of his vertigo problems. He made it to the door of his den, realized that he was going to fall and turned to go back to his desk chair. He didn’t make it – he passed out and fell, striking his face on the edge of his desk and falling with his head under it. I was in the house by then and rushed in to see what was happening. I could see that he was bleeding but not from where. He was groggy and couldn’t move himself, but in a few minutes he was able to roll over onto his back and out from under the desk. He had bruised his face and was bleeding around his left eye. I decided an ambulance was the only option and he agreed. He was taken to ER after being checked out and eventually had 6 stitches under his eye. However, he is on blood thinners and that caused tremendous bleeding; most of his face turned dark purple and his eyes were terribly swollen for a few days. He still has vestiges of the bruising two weeks later.
A neighbour saw the ambulance and came over to check it out. She took me to the ER and stayed with me, eventually bringing David home as well. It was quite shocking and very painful for him as well; he had a headache for several days and didn’t wear his contacts because of his bloodshot eyes. Most of that seems to have passed now. I was very impressed with the ambulance crew – their kindness and their efficiency.
A week ago today, I had two doctor’s appointments in Windsor. In the morning, I saw the radiologist, who confirmed that the treatment the first week of May had been very effective in improving my breathing and reducing the tumour that was restricting the airflow. I do not need to see him again unless my oncologist feels it is necessary. (This would be because there was another tumour in my lung that was possibly treatable by radiation.) In the afternoon, I saw my oncologist and the news from her was more mixed. She showed me my two chest x-rays from May and June and pointed out the improvements – less compression of my heart, more breathing room in my left lung – all very good news. This shows that the new chemo is having an effect and I will be staying on it indefinitely (as long as it is working, at this point.) I have a weekly treatment for two weeks and then the third week off. The bad news was that the lump on my head is a bone metastasis and that the cancer is spreading to bones as well as lungs. However, she was quite matter-of-fact about it and said, “This is what it is; this is what we are going to do.” I am now on an additional medicine called Aredia which is not chemo but a bone-strengthener. It is also used for osteoarthritis. Tuesday, I went for my chemo in Chatham and wound up getting the Aredia right away. It didn’t have any effect at the time, but I had a low fever that night and spent the next two days in bed, just wiped out. I didn’t feel nauseated or anything – just had no energy and actually slept for part of Wednesday, quite unusual for me. I’m still coming around from it and do not feel anything like I felt at the weddings – but there are other contributing factors to that, I’m sure. I will have a treatment of Aredia every three weeks.
Amy was with us all week and Mike and Lian came down for part of the weekend but everyone went home last night and today it’s just David and I.
I’m struggling with this bone cancer diagnosis; I was feeling so well at the time of the weddings that I thought I might get a break and be ‘normal’ for a while. Now I have to figure out what this means and what consequences I will have to deal with – not too positive the last couple of days, I must admit. However, I have been reminded by several family members that I am much better than I was in April and that I have just come through a fairly intense time of travel and emotion and I should give myself a break. So I am trying to do just that. I’m really not a good patient – I can cope with an illness as long as I don’t feel bad!
I know that God is still in this with me and I continue to trust in His guidance – blindly, sometimes, like a little kid hanging onto a parent’s hand or coat – but trusting in the knowledge, wisdom, purpose and love of the One who is leading. Thank you so much for your prayers – there are so many of you who are so kind to remember me.
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