Kathie is doing well. Bob and her made a trip down to North Carolina last week to give the oncologist at Wake Forest (in Winston-Salem) a little test drive - it went very well. The oncologist down there (Bob is supposed to e-mail me his name) worked at MD Anderson for a bit (for his residency?), so there's still the name, even if it's somewhere else. The great thing about him is that he actually has a bedside manner, something that has been missing with Dr. Eng a bit. To add to the pros, he worked with Dr. Eng when he was at MD Anderson, so he knows her personally. This will help a lot with communication when Kathie has Wake Forest as the primary care and MD Anderson as consultants. Kathie will officially be moving her treatment to Wake Forest December 10th, after her December 4-6 check-up at MD Anderson.
"Is the house almost finished?" that may prompt you to ask. No, not quite - Kathie and Bob were disappointed by the progress since they had last visited. However, Eddie and Melissa have generously offered to house Kathie until the house is ready. (We're not sure how many margaritas were shared before this offer came about;)
Posted by Lauren
Monday, October 29, 2007
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Red Fingers
Kathie started having a little reaction from the chemo in her hands on Thursday. The tips of her fingers look burned and she has a little bit of peeling skin. Oh the joys of chemo. Luckily, in the stages of this side effect, she's only on stage 1... stage 3 is the whole hand (or whole foot... or both), and a purple red - we're trying to prevent that. While Lauren was in Chicago yesterday she bought Kathie some moisture cotton gloves and socks to wear at night (one of the recommendations in the literature about this side effect).
If it doesn't go down by next week, the doctor will discuss changing the dosage of the chemo. Hopefully, it will clear up.
On the plus side, she was feeling up to a game of bridge... the first time Bob and Kathie have made an appearance to couples bridge in four months.
Posted by Lauren
If it doesn't go down by next week, the doctor will discuss changing the dosage of the chemo. Hopefully, it will clear up.
On the plus side, she was feeling up to a game of bridge... the first time Bob and Kathie have made an appearance to couples bridge in four months.
Posted by Lauren
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Take II (again)
This past Monday was Kathie's second chemo treatment with FOLFOX. Kathie's friend, Mary Ann, was supposed to take her... but unfortunately, Mary Ann had another friend diagnosed with cancer who needed a ride to Indy for test... so neighbor Sue stepped in to take her instead.
Kathie had chemo followed by a delayed Avastin treatment -- the paperwork hadn't been sent over for the exam she had last week, looking at why she was bleeding (they needed proof that it was not perforation or some other side effect of the Avastin). Debby (Dr. Cusack's wife) brought over Dr. Cusack's report that he had found it to be internal hemerrhoids and not side effects of Avastin and then the Avastin was finally administered. Kathie had a nice nap from the Benedryl (they give it to her to prevent reactions from the Avastin).
Jackie, a family friend from South Bend, met up with Kathie towards the end of treatment to take her home and stay with her while Bob is in Mexico. Kathie was feeling pretty good until today - she just feels like she ran out of steam. She had her pump removed this afternoon, but has felt a little worn-out all day. Tomorrow she'll receive her neulasta shot, which will hopefully help give a little boost.
Of course Jackie and Kathie have been doing a little shopping - mostly for floor tiles as the house in NC slowly but surely getting there.
On a closing note, we need a lot of prayers to be directed towards Kathie's chemo buddy who has started clinical trial chemo treatment - it's a rough treatment and she and her family could really use all of our prayers.
Posted by Lauren
Kathie had chemo followed by a delayed Avastin treatment -- the paperwork hadn't been sent over for the exam she had last week, looking at why she was bleeding (they needed proof that it was not perforation or some other side effect of the Avastin). Debby (Dr. Cusack's wife) brought over Dr. Cusack's report that he had found it to be internal hemerrhoids and not side effects of Avastin and then the Avastin was finally administered. Kathie had a nice nap from the Benedryl (they give it to her to prevent reactions from the Avastin).
Jackie, a family friend from South Bend, met up with Kathie towards the end of treatment to take her home and stay with her while Bob is in Mexico. Kathie was feeling pretty good until today - she just feels like she ran out of steam. She had her pump removed this afternoon, but has felt a little worn-out all day. Tomorrow she'll receive her neulasta shot, which will hopefully help give a little boost.
Of course Jackie and Kathie have been doing a little shopping - mostly for floor tiles as the house in NC slowly but surely getting there.
On a closing note, we need a lot of prayers to be directed towards Kathie's chemo buddy who has started clinical trial chemo treatment - it's a rough treatment and she and her family could really use all of our prayers.
Posted by Lauren
Monday, October 8, 2007
"Are you looking at my bum? You bum looker!" (read in Brittish accent - it's better that way)
So, the title is only funny if you were a fan of SNL during the time of Mike Meyers. I thought of it today when Kathie was telling the awkward story of how a family friend was looking up her bum this morning - no worries, it was just our family doctor (who is my friend from HS's dad). Needless to say, she isn't thrilled this is being shared to all of you either;)
Anyway, rather than immediately seeing a gastroenterologist, who would have made her clean out once more - something no one was thinking was the best idea since that's all she's been doing on her own - she saw the fam doctor to see if he thought she needed to see someone else. As it goes about 50% of the time, Dr. DuCharme (Kathie, for those of you that have missed that family joke over the last billion years) had accurately predicted that it was basically an interior hemorrhoid (not quite, but basically) that was pretty dang tired of all the stuff that has been pushing it around over the last few weeks. So, that's the good news - nothing too serious, but she needs to resolidify (it's been getting better, but not perfect quite yet), to give her bum a little break.
She also had another round of blood tests while she was in - again, looked decent - not the best, but not bad. With positive results and some peace of mind about the bleeding issue, Bob and Kathie are in Tennessee for a couple of days and then off to North Carolina with the boat in tow. We're aiming for it to be a less "exciting" trip than last time she was in NC.
Posted by Lauren
Anyway, rather than immediately seeing a gastroenterologist, who would have made her clean out once more - something no one was thinking was the best idea since that's all she's been doing on her own - she saw the fam doctor to see if he thought she needed to see someone else. As it goes about 50% of the time, Dr. DuCharme (Kathie, for those of you that have missed that family joke over the last billion years) had accurately predicted that it was basically an interior hemorrhoid (not quite, but basically) that was pretty dang tired of all the stuff that has been pushing it around over the last few weeks. So, that's the good news - nothing too serious, but she needs to resolidify (it's been getting better, but not perfect quite yet), to give her bum a little break.
She also had another round of blood tests while she was in - again, looked decent - not the best, but not bad. With positive results and some peace of mind about the bleeding issue, Bob and Kathie are in Tennessee for a couple of days and then off to North Carolina with the boat in tow. We're aiming for it to be a less "exciting" trip than last time she was in NC.
Posted by Lauren
Saturday, October 6, 2007
What goes up must come down
This won't be full of accurate counts, as I just got back from NYC and Kathie was catching me up on my drive from Indy back to school.
This past week, Kathie's sister, Eileen, and niece, Melissa, came to help out in case the new chemo caused a down day or two - but this time around, it did not. Kathie felt pretty great all and all. In fact, Bob and her have plans to head to Tennessee and then North Carolina - or they did until today.
Kathie had a little bleeding today, and spent a couple of hours in the emergency room trying to figure out the cause. No answers have been found yet, and Kathie may have to go see a gastroenterologist (just what she wants to have to do again). They did blood counts to make sure her platelet count wasn't in the toilet (though to some extent, that's exactly where it was;) - that was Kathie's pun, I can't even take credit for that one.
Anyway, all the blood counts were reasonable, some better than others. She went to the bathroom later this afternoon without another incidence, so we're hoping it was just a side effect of all the stuff that has been going on the past 2 weeks. She'll be calling her Lafayette doctor tomorrow to see what his thoughts are on the issue.
As I mentioned, the chemo went well and no major side effects, but she can already tell that the cold sensitivity is real.
This past week, Kathie's sister, Eileen, and niece, Melissa, came to help out in case the new chemo caused a down day or two - but this time around, it did not. Kathie felt pretty great all and all. In fact, Bob and her have plans to head to Tennessee and then North Carolina - or they did until today.
Kathie had a little bleeding today, and spent a couple of hours in the emergency room trying to figure out the cause. No answers have been found yet, and Kathie may have to go see a gastroenterologist (just what she wants to have to do again). They did blood counts to make sure her platelet count wasn't in the toilet (though to some extent, that's exactly where it was;) - that was Kathie's pun, I can't even take credit for that one.
Anyway, all the blood counts were reasonable, some better than others. She went to the bathroom later this afternoon without another incidence, so we're hoping it was just a side effect of all the stuff that has been going on the past 2 weeks. She'll be calling her Lafayette doctor tomorrow to see what his thoughts are on the issue.
As I mentioned, the chemo went well and no major side effects, but she can already tell that the cold sensitivity is real.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Change of Chemo
Hello all. Sorry for the delay. I am traveling this week, and Lauren is in NY without internet, so we are a bit behind.
Anyway, Kathie started her new chemo (FOLFOX plus Avastin) on Monday. All went well so far. She did start to feel some pain when she touched some cold things (one of the common side effects of FOLFOX), but it wasn't too bad. She kept her drinks lukewarm for the last few days as well b/c cold drinks can cause a person to feel like their throat is in pain or swelling.
We will try to get more posted to the web site, but for now, it is about 2:30 AM my time, and I need to hit the hay.
posted by Ed
Anyway, Kathie started her new chemo (FOLFOX plus Avastin) on Monday. All went well so far. She did start to feel some pain when she touched some cold things (one of the common side effects of FOLFOX), but it wasn't too bad. She kept her drinks lukewarm for the last few days as well b/c cold drinks can cause a person to feel like their throat is in pain or swelling.
We will try to get more posted to the web site, but for now, it is about 2:30 AM my time, and I need to hit the hay.
posted by Ed
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