Pumpkin Patch

Mom, Ryan and I on the hayride down to the field



Mom and Ryan walking around


Ryan & I


Mom & Ryan with the pumpkins we picked


Ryan on the way back to go pay for our pumpkins

Well, this round of chemo seems to have hit Mom a lot harder than the other rounds have.

Mom has had a lot of muscle and joint pain, and it has moved into her wrists, elbows and lower limbs. So she has been taking a lot of trips into the hot tub. So she is going to talk to Dr. Pansegrau about getting something for this the next time around.

She has also had a lot of fatigue this time, so Mom has spent a lot of time sleeping. Mom has also had some nausea (thankfully no throwing up though) and another not so pleasant side effect. . . . Well you get the idea… thankfully they both seem to have disappeared.

Mom has been fighting a bit of a cold for the last couple weeks and it doesn’t seem to want to go away. She’s been taking some Cold-FX and getting lots of rest but nothing seems to be working. .Hopefully it will go soon. She has also had a bit of neuropathy in her fingers (tingling and/or numbness in her fingers). This is also a side effect from the chemo that she was told by other’s could happen.

Mom goes in for a CT scan on Nov. 4 at 9:30 to see if any of the tumors have shrunk. She will get the results on the 10, so I will update you all on that when it happens. Mom is also going to get a flu shot on Nov 10-this is free for her as it is a must for cancer patients and also because Brian is diabetic.

Mom, Ryan and I headed out to a pumpkin patch this past weekend to go pick out a couple pumpkins. We took a hayride down to the field and we all had a ton of fun walking around. We did get to the patch about 30 minutes before it opened so we thought we were going to have to sit and wait, however; we got invited into the barn to watch all the cows come in to eat. Ryan LOVED it and for the rest of the day, all I heard was “tows, tows, tows”. I will add some pictures from our adventure.

Mom also took a trip out to her office on Wednesday to go visit. She had a great visit with everyone and got some “goodies” (as Mom put it) from one of the girls.

Chemo Round 3

Well not much to report this time around... Everything went as planned and thankfully there were no reactions or anything like that. Mom had the same nurse she had during round one, Trish, who is fantastic!! Brian went to take a picture but the camera died, so no picture time around!!!!

Mom goes in to see Dr. Pansegrau on Nov. 10 for her blood work and all that fun stuff. If everything goes as planned she will be having round 4 on Nov 12.

Stay tuned for more updates!!!

Chemo's a Go!!

This is going to a quick update as I am in desperate need of sleep!!! :)

Mom went in for her blood work today, to check her blood counts and make sure they are all normal. Thankfully, they are exactly where they should be!!! She also went and saw Dr. Pansegrau as well, who told her everything is good!!! He sent her for a chest x-ray as Mom is starting to cough again and have shortness of breath. And as she put it the other day she's "starting to crackle again"... I'm not sure when the results from that will come back but I am assuming it will be soon.

Round 3 of chemo is a go for Wednesday morning. They are still going to be using the same drug as before (docetaxol), however; instead of waiting to see if there is going to be an allergic reaction, they are going to give Mom two doses of Benedryl as well as a hydrocortisone shot. Once they have done that, they will then start the docetaxol (same dosage as before 75%). We are hoping for no reactions this time!!!! :D

Sorry for the scare!!!!

Didn't mean to give everyone a scare! But, yes, I did go to the hospital - I spiked a fever and when I spoke with the cancer clinic, they said go into emergency. Which we did. I was masked right away and the sent to the isolation room in Pediatrics Emergency - with a fever of 39.2. For the most part if was ok - till the end when a few babies were just not happy little campers. They did blood cultures and took a ton of blood - well maybe not quite a ton...... We sat and waited - I lay on a very uncomfy gurney for about 2 hours give or take for a doctor to come back in and give the results. And I am cold, but you can't have a warm blanket because you have a fever, not quite sure on that one - but I did have my cancer quilt and it stayed with me! And we were happy with the results - my white blood count was just fine! And the rest of the blood work was fine as well. The doctor figures it had to do with the cold that I am fighting. But he said to follow up with Dr. P whom I am seeing on Monday. This doesn't mess up my chemo at all - wahooooo!!!!

Roni

Finally IT'S here!!!

First off, I wanted to apologize for not getting more updates on here lately... Our computer went of the fritz and I wasn't able to do much with it until it was fixed.

So after countless stores and "hours" of searching, Mom was finally able to find a pink wig... It got brought out on saturday night at our Thanksgiving dinner and well a couple other people decided to wear the wig...

Mom with the wig....

Then Brian decided to wear it...

Mom and Brian looking cute...

Then it was Matt (Brian's son) turn to wear it...

Update re eyeballs and other body parts!

Hi there

Yes, I still have my eyeballs!!!!

But the chemo has affected them as well. I saw the opthamologist this morning, very nice doctor, though he did keep us waiting for almost an hour. He checked my eyes, and then put those horrible drops in - you know the ones - that make your pupils HUGE and then you can't stand light for hours. Those drops! He said that my retinas were fine - they always want to check those. BUT - I have to stop wearing my contacts for two weeks - yech! There are some spots on the corneas and he wants them to be able to heal. These are caused by the chemo - it dries the eyes out. So, I have drops that I have to put in 4 times a day for the next two weeks as well. I go back and see the specialist on the 21st at 8:30 and hopefully he will let me put the contacts back in. Good thing I did have my spare glasses around or I would be in big trouble.

Other than that, I am healthy - no real side effects to speak of. My mouth is a bit sore, but I got medication for that, so no problems there! The joints were sore for about 24 hours, but the hot tub helps cure that and they are fine today. Go back and see the oncologist on the 20th and chemo on the 22nd.

They are going to do a CT scan a week prior to treatment four, to see if the chemo is working at all and the tumors are shrinking (they had damned well better - if they know what is good for them!). They will do another one two weeks after treatment six as well and then go from there.

Had a wonderful visit to my office on Monday - it was so nice seeing everyone again - and getting a wonderful surprise gift from them - it is being well spent, I can assure you - the 2005 Bordeaux's came out on Saturday and well, let's just say, I have plenty to last me for a while. Booking my spa day - the spa forgot to call me back this morning - Friday at 2:15pm - I can't wait..... 75 minutes of total relaxation!

That is about if for now...... readership seems to have fallen off of late - maybe Meghan and I need to make this a little more interesting. And we did have a tracker but it seems to have disappeared as well. Keep reading and post comments - they don't have to respond to the post - something funny, silly, sad..... I love to hear from people - and well, I don't hear from anyone..... I still do want phone calls - if I am tired, I will tell you - but I do get lonely. People say they will come by and then they don't and don't call or anything. I look forward to these visits - and when people don't show, it is very disappointing. And I do want people to visit!!!!

Hugz
Roni

Round 2 - More Exciting Than Round 1!!

Seems my blogger has been a little busy, so I am updating it as people have been asking lots of questions.

Met with Dr. P. on Tuesday after I had my blood work done. Asked me how I was feeling, any fever, how the lungs were doing. He liked the new hairstyle!! He is going to reduce dose of the Docetaxel to see if I tolerate it better. He has also referred me to one of the ophthalmologists for the eye problem that won't go away - goes from eye to eye. He wants to make sure nothing serious is happening.

Seems when we filled out the disability paperwork, we both put down wrong dates for last day worked – so that is getting changed and I will get an extra two weeks of disability benefits!!!!

Asked about alkaline water - he said regular tap water is fine - just maybe add lemon to help with the metallic taste. Also asked why the cancer came back, when told 0.1% of it coming back and being told 5 years cancer free. He said it is basically luck of the draw.

Chemo treatment 2 on Wednesday, was a little more exciting - chemo nurse was Donna and was a lot of fun. She asked what had happened after treatment 1 – and filled her in on the reactions and the week long hospital visit. Then she got the IV put in and got the Docetaxel - which this time I only got 75% of the power rather than 100%. Well, the first two and a half minutes were fine - then the allergic reactions started big time..... I told her I was feeling very light-headed - almost to the point where I thought I was going to pass out - and then both Donna and Brian looked at me - I was fire engine red in the face and head - she called for one of the other nurses Darlene and all of a sudden I am surrounded by a RN and a doctor. And then the really bad lower back pain started. And all during this, there are tears – think more from fear than anything else. They stopped the drug immediately. I got two injections via IV of Benadryl and then they gave me hydro-cortisone via IV and after that stopped they waited 10 minutes and the started the Docetaxel again. This also messed up the emotions - I looked over at the book shelf, and there was a Willow Tree statue that Shannon gave me when I got breast cancer 7 years ago - well the tears started.... Brian told me to breathe! Donna said this is quite common - the emotions for all over the map and to just let them out. This happened a few times during the day - when talking to Meghan in the restaurant and to Shannon on the phone. But we made it through and that is what is important.

Ryan and Gammie after the hair went

Donna putting the IV in

Trying to relax after the allergi reaction