Second Chemo

I made it to my second treatment today, where I got the four-hour treatment instead of the one-hour variety I was expecting. I was glad to be able to have it today, but I have to say, it was a different experience from last time. We started with talking to the doctor. Dr. Abrass assures us that this blend of drugs I'm getting for chemo has been shown to shrink tumors in similar cancers. It won't cure what I've got, but he hopes it can keep it at bay.

To start with, the people were quiet in the room today. No chatting and "partying," just a lot of tired people who seemed to prefer a quiet room. Joyce, my chair neighbor from last time, was there earlier in the day. She called me and waited for me for 1 1/2 hours, but our appointments didn't overlap after all and I missed seeing her. Maybe it was the quiet room, maybe the drugs, but I was a little emotional about all of this. It's hard to be alone with your thoughts for so long sometimes. Also, the chair was not as comfy as I remembered it from last time. I went into a jam-packed chemo room and "my chair" was taken, so I had to sit in a different place. The nurse gave me another back patch to help with the pain in my back. As the patients cleared out, I moved into my first chair, which had an empty seat for David. By the time I was finished, it was just us and the nurse.

I am home now, and hoping to eat and rest. The doctor hopes I am able to get blood work done on Monday, talk to him with the new blood work results on Tuesday, and hopefully have chemo (the 1-hour variety) again on Wednesday of next week.

Sheri's Birthday

Dear Blog Readers,
As many of you know, Sheri's birthday is coming up this month. We would like to invite you to contribute to a memory book for her. Please type your your memories and thoughts for Sheri (in Microsoft Word format if possible). Then e-mail your memories in an attachment to Anne Hyde. She will print them out and put them in a book. Feel free to spread the word so that we get a good response for Sheri.

Please have your memories to Anne no later than August 17. If you prefer to mail or hand deliver to Anne, her address is 9655 Pioneer Way.

Anne's e-mail: pioneerway9@hotmail.com.

Thank you for contributing. We think this will be something that Sheri and her family will enjoy.

Sincerely,
Anne Hyde
Julie Stockard

Chemo tomorrow

Dr. Abrass says I am ready for another chemo treatment tomorrow. I don't know that chemo by itself is something I look forward to, but I know this is something I need, so I am glad I am able to have it tomorrow. My appointment is at 11:50 and it is a one-hour treatment.

Today I have felt good. I was mostly pain-free, until the early evening when I started getting pain in my back and abdomen. I'm hoping for a restful night before my big day tomorrow. Thank you for your prayers and concern - it really gives me strength!

Bili Count

I got my blood work done early enough to get the results back before the lab closed for the day. My bili count was a 6.6. That is a slight increase from what it was in the hopital over the weekend, but I think it is low enough for chemo on Thursday. I'll talk to the doctor tomorrow to see what he thinks, but I'm optimistic. I am feeling good and I hope we're in agreement that I'm ready for another chemo this week.

Fever

The Home Health nurse came today and I had a temperature of 100.5 and my feet are still swollen. I was surprised about the fever because I have felt good today. She called my doctor because having a fever so soon after surgery is not a good thing, but they say it is not a real concern unless it reaches 101.5. As for the feet, I need to stay off them as much as possible, to keep the swelling down. I was under orders to rest and drink lots of fluids today.

I have felt fine. I ate small but frequent meals today and I am still draining. I go in for blood work tomorrow and hopefully I will have the results by the end of the day. I'm hoping for low numbers!

Day of Rest

I planned to rest today, since I have seen from past experience that I need to rest after a stay in the hospital. My sisters wanted to come out to visit, and I said that I would be resting and maybe another day would be better. As the day got going, I actually felt stronger than usual, so I called and said to come on out. They came out and we visited and had a nice day. We even walked over to my mother-in-law's house and I felt good.

The one complaint I have is that my feet are swollen, which is a little painful for me. I have tried icing them, which was uncomfortable and didn't really help. I tried a few other things, and in the end, having David rub my feet was what helped the most. As long as I stayed off my feet, they were o.k., but when I got up again, the swelling came back. I am going to try sleeping with them up on a pillow tonight so we'll see how they do tomorrow.

For the upcoming week, I have blood work on Tuesday, I'll talk to the doctor on Wednesday, and hopefully I'll have chemo on Thursday. Thank you so much for the prayers and kind words. It means so much to me!

A Bit of Good News

Well, all my new hardware seems to be working…lots of draining all the way home from San Francisco today. We got home around 2 this afternoon. I have some internal aches and pains from the work that was done, but nothing that is more than I can handle at this point.

It’s TOTALLY worth some discomfort though because not only do things seem to be draining better, but get this….my bili count was down to a 6 (SIX!) today. That’s low enough to start chemo again. Now I just need to rest up from my trip and hope my new tubes keep doing their job.