Catching up

After Lynette left, Bob and Kathie went to North Carolina to deal with the house "issues." Besides a little cold that she picked up from home, she did fine while she was down there. While they were in NC (staying with Lauren's boyfriend's family and then with Eddie and Melissa), Lauren drove back to Indiana from Connecticut to be home for Kathie's chemo while Bob was on a business trip. The lapse in blogs has been a result of Lauren's driving exhaustion;)

Yesterday, Kathie went in for the usual - some chemo and Avastin. They gave her precautionary Benadryl since she had a reaction to the Avastin last time. Instead of the almost 2 hours it took to push the Avastin two weeks ago, it took only an hour and Kathie just had some slight tingling around her mouth. She felt a little sleepy at chemo and managed an hour nap.

I'm not sure we really need to be worrying about her appetite - Kathie wanted a taco salad and practically licked the take-out box clean. Lauren sat in the chair next to her, wearing her new wig towards the end - just to prove that she literally is turning into Kathie.... all Lauren needs is the mom haircut and pair of mom-jeans;)

Kathie, as usual, was feeling pretty impressively good after chemo and so Lauren and her ran a couple of errands - including creeping out their hairstylist, Natalie, when Lauren went in wearing Kathie's wig.

Due to a low hemoglobin count (less than 10) she got a shot to boost red blood cell growth - different from the Neulasta that boosts her white blood cells. Btw, her white blood cell count is still sky high.

Today, you would never know that we have a sick woman on our hands... she slept in (after staying up until midnight watching Night at the Museum with Lauren) and then Lauren and her were running around, doing errands and spending an enthralling hour looking at door handles and locks. With her wig on, it was like looking at Kathie 4 months ago - Fr. Dan thought it was her hair. We'd like to video tape people's reactions - some people are seeing her with extremely thinned hair and the next day she has a full head of hair!

The hair has disappeared at a quick rate, though she's still holding on to every precious strand in hopes that some grow back before they all disappear... which the doctors suggested may happen. We shall see. The part she's absolutely loving? It's all red, no hair dye needed... not that she does that;)

Tomorrow, we return to give back the pump and there is an appointment to chat with Dr. DiMartino.

Posted by Lauren