PET Scan Results and Infection Update

I'm still at my doctor appointment but I thought I would update my blog before I forget. My infection is going away! Yeah!!! My PET Scan was good and bad. The spots on my bones seem stable, my spine, hips, and ribs are the same as 6 months ago. My right lung, however, has increasds cancer activity since the last scan. We are going to increase my chemo a little to see if I can handle it and hope that it will keep the lung tumors from growing too much.
I'm feeling better everyday and that is the best part! I think I slept most of the week but now I can get up and get some Christmas shopping and decorating done!!

It's Just a Little Cold! Right?

I've had a cold since Thanksgiving, but today I woke up the a rash on my chest. It was the oddest thing I've ever seen. The rash covered only where I had received radiation in 2009, it was in a perfect square! So I had a red square of hot skin with a white football or eye shaped cute out in the middle with a nipple tattoo as the bullseye! The skin was so red and hot to the touch. It was sore too. I called my doctor and begged for them to get me in right away. I'm so glad I did! My doctor came in all smiles as usual but as soon as he saw my chest I could tell he was worried and even let out a "shit". He asked if I was allergic to any meds. When I told him penicilin, he said "shit" again. I've never heard him like that! My little cold has overworked my already poorly functioning limph nodes and so I developed an infection. They gave me an antibiotic in an IV right away and a prescription for a week of antibiotics. They took my blood and my white count is good so hopefully this antibiotic plan will work. I hate being sick and feeling so terrible. My boob is now really sore and throbbing. Thank goodness I have so little feeling in my chest after all my surgeries or it would be really painful! Other than this little cold I have been doing pretty well. I'm on 2 chemos. One is and IV that I get once a month, and the other is in pill form that I take for 14 days followed by a 7 day break. The infection has earned me an extra few days off of the pill chemo! It's not a hard chemo, in the world of chemos, neither one is actually, but a few days off of any chemo is pretty exciting to me! I'll post as things progress! Hopefully this will all be cleared up soon!

Staying on this Chemo

I just got back from my doctor and he would like me to stay on this chemo. He gave me one more week off to recover and then I will start back up on the lower dose. I'm happy with that decision. New chemos stress me out a little. Managing all new side effects can be difficult and the only bad side effect from this one is the hand and foot syndrome and it's not fun, but with a lower dose it can be completely avoided. Right now the skin is coming off of my hands and feet, and some other places but I'll keep those private, where they belong. The blisters on my feet started popping this week but it seems the skin under the blisters is just tender and not open so most of my sores are not open wounds. I will spend another week off of my feet and feeling like the laziest person ever. I haven't "cooked" a real dinner in a while and I've also stopped picking up, so my house is worse than ever but it's just not worth ripping more skin off. So pray for healing skin and a good week of rest. I will post if anything new happens.

Stupid Side Effects

My feet have blistered up so I had to stop the chemo I was on. I get a full week break and will go back in next week to talk with my Dr and probably start a new chemo. I know it's vain, and a minor detail, but I hope I get to keep my hair. The week off will heal my feet and my radiation burns that are still giving me discomfort. I will keep you updated!

Tumor Markers, Chemo and Radiation

I've completed a few rounds of chemo and all of my radiation. My tumor markers went up at first but have since slightly dipped. They are still too high, but we hope they continue to go down. The dr thinks we might have tested too soon after starting chemo to see any positive results. So, I will continue this chemo for a while, until my markers indicate a need for a change. That would be them go back down to an inactive level or they increase and we change chemos. He assured me he has lots of different kinds to give me. The side effects suck and as a result we are lowering my dose. I was taking 4 pills twice a day for 14 days followed by a 7 day break. Starting tomorrow I will take 3 pills twice a day with the same 7 day break. I hope my markers will continue to go down even with the decrease of dose. The worst side effect is hand and foot syndrome. It's when all the tiny blood vessels in your palms and bottoms of your feet break and can cause the skin to come off. It starts with a warm feeling that turns to an odd tingly feeling and then pain. Pain to walk, touch or even sit with my feet up. Heat and friction make it worse, so I take cold showers and wear the softest slippers I own. I try to stay off of my feet and not touch too much, but it's not really realistic. Opening jars is the worst. Ok I'm done complaining but I'm really over this hand and foot thing.
Stupid!
Oh maybe a little more complaining, but it's my blog and I'll whine it I want to.
Radiation is over and I can't wait to heal. I only had 14 sessions to my hips and 12 to my rib, compaired to 33 to my chest and neck in 2009. My rib had no bad side effects and is nearly pain free! Very very happy and grateful for that. My rib was so painful before and I was amazed at how much of a difference radiation made so quickly! My hips are a little different. When I started, my right hip was worse than my left, during and now after, my left hip hurts worse but not in the same way. Now the muscle hurst when I move wrong, and it's not always the same movement to be able to avoid it. And sometimes just sitting makes it hurt. Before radiation it was a deep stabbing bone pain. Odd. But still radiation made a big difference on my pain and I hardly limp at all. The worst side effect and my last complaint is the burn that now covers all of the soft tissue that covers my hips. Front and back. It's like the worst sunburn I've ever had on all of my softest and most tender areas. Radiation continues to radiate for 7-10 days after you stop and chemo kills cells making the healing process very slow. Spray aloe and aquaphor are my new besties, sorry people friends, you've been squeezed over, but just until the burning goes away :)
After all that complaining I guess I should list things I'm greatfull for!
Tony!!! Both, big Tony for everything! Encouraging me to still go get my hair cut and colored even though I might have lost it within 2 weeks. (I found out after my haircut that the chemo I'm on now won't cause hair loss. However, radiation does, and it could be forever. No waxing for me, radiation bonus!!!) Doing all the housework, all the shopping, making me laugh, and knowing his way around a spray can of aloe!! I'm not sure how I landed the worlds best husband, but the man deserves some serious awards!
Little Tony for understanding when I can't crawl around on the floor when we play and happily moves all his toys where I can sit on the couch and still play! He also has increased his household chores. He evens replaces toilet paper roles and makes sure the paper is over not under :) what a guy!!! And he says he wants more chores! I love 6 year olds! So happy to please!! He got to see the radiation room and thinks I get to hang out the Death Star with Darth Vadar every day.
Sarah! Again!! For the meals and the laughs!!
Heidi and Olga! Megan! Mary! My sister! My nieces! I know I'm going to miss someone so maybe I shouldn't try to list everyone but there are so many people that have helped, offered help, and just made me smile by showing they care.
My dad!!! It's so unfair that he has to take care of me so much and he does it so well. He is so strong and caring. I love him even more for being so great during these hard times.
Thank you for reading, and ignoring all the typing errors. I hate rereading and proofing. So I don't do that. Feel free to post comments, ask questions, share......
Oh and happy 200th post.

Time to Dust Off the Ol' Blog

Usually when I bog I have some thoughts as to what I want to say. This time I am typing by the seat of my pants. I will probably be shorter than I should be since I am also cooking dinner, but the lap top was open, a rarity on our house, and I prefer to type on a real keyboard. So here goes....

I went for a PET scan in June and results came back positive for active cancer cells. My cancer is back and has now spread to my bones. Mostly in my pelvis. There are some spots in my chest, lung and ribs, etc. So I started chemo that day! I love that my doctors don't waste any time waiting around for it to sink in. I am on 2 chemos at once, one is an IV that I will get once a month. The other are pills that I take for 14 days straight and then am off for 7 days. I will also be starting radiation this week. It took a little longer for radiation to get started.Because your hips hold you up, I had to get some X-Rays to see if there was enough bone left to keep me from collapsing on myself. If my bones were too weak, a surgery would be needed to pin me together. After meeting with the doctor and reviewing the X-rays, we decided not to have the surgery. The surgery to prevent the crushing pelvis is the same as it is to repair the pelvis. So in hopes of saving me some pain, a surgery, and because I am already treating the cancer, it is a better risk to hope that nothing breaks.

I will start updating my blog as I get more results, and have anything funny or newsworthy to share. I don't really have too many thoughts on it right now, maybe I'm just used to it, or maybe since the last recurrence was so devastating this one isn't so bad. At least I can breathe this time! My side effects have been keeping me busy. The pain from the cancer alone is pretty bad, and fairly constant. The IV chemo makes me sick with fever and vomiting for a while after treatment, but the pills, so far, aren't as bad. Unlike the other chemos I have been on in the past, the IV one will not get worse as it goes. The other positive news is that neither chemo causes hair loss and my MRI, brain, was clear. Radiation will cause fatigue and some skin irritation, but that should take a few treatments before those start causing me any discomfort.

Of course my family and friends are amazing, as always! My cousin Sarah and her family made us some delicious food! My guys were so grateful, me too! Food has been pretty low on my list and there have been many days that I forget or just can't make dinner so the help has been amazing! Having been on chemo before, mouth sores are something that I am working on now to avoid and my mom bought me a case of my favorite oncology mouthwash. Thanks Mom!

That's all I have to share right now, I will update more soon. Thanks in advance for the prayers, and for reading!

I'm still in shock!

Wednesday morning I got up and had a quick chat with Tony to go over our list of things to do and touch base, pretty normal everyday stuff. I was laying down on the bed, propped up on my left elbow. I shifted around and heard a pop. Tony has bad knees and always thinks any popping noise is his knee and I just let him take have credit for it. Living with me and my constant medical issues leaves him with little to no sympathy from others. So I giggled and got up and went about my morning. When I was in the shower I couldn't do much with my left arm. Once out of the shower I could hardly towel off. There was pain but mostly pressure in chest and left shoulder. Heart attack!?!?! I just knew it wasn't. So I checked my pulse and took a Xanax and my prescriptions for heart burn just in case. It didn't make since that it would be either of those types of issues because I was completely pain free and comfortable if I was still. I went to Target and couldn't even pick up a box of cake mix. I couldn't figure out what could be wrong. It must be gas. I came home and made a cake for my father in laws birthday. I took a few pain pills because now I was in a lot of pain and laid down to take a nap. By 2:30 I was scared and finally told Tony.  We agreed something was wrong and called my Dr.  The Dr asked a few questions and agreed it wasn't heart related and made an appointment for the next morning to get a chest x ray.
After the results come back the dr comes in and asks me what I have been doing. I say nothing really. She asks a few more questions and finally tells me that I broke a rib! So I think back to when the pain started and it was from when I laid on the bed! I had even given Tony credit for the popping sound!
They are going to order a bone scan to make sure the cancer has not spread to my bones, my blood work has been good so they don't think it has, but they want to rule it out. They will also do another bone density test to compare with the baseline test I had when I started my current cancer treatment because it can weaken bones. The medication along with radiation to that area and having my ovaries removed can all contribute to the brake. Even with all of this info, I am still in shock that I could brake a bone so easily. All I did was lay down, gently. I didn't flop or bounce or jump on the bed. And it was a bed! Not the ground or anything. The doctor checked to make sure the lung was ok because of course it is my good lung! In a few weeks I will have the results from the remaining tests they are doing and I will let you know. Until then, Happy Valentine's day!!!