Well, I saw the cardiologist on Friday, he wasn’t much help. He changed some medications, can’t figure out what’s wrong with my foot or why my heart function is low. His best guess was the chemo or the radiation to the chest. He wants me to have a nuclear stress test, which is scheduled for Friday, and then come back for a follow-up. I was pretty fed up, so I called my oncologist. He thinks I may have a virus (since I’ve had a fever) that is really kicking my behind, so he prescribed a six-day steroid. I do feel a bit better. I actually started feeling better Saturday morning before I started them. If things continue this way I’m hoping to be in school tomorrow. I’m still moving slowly and out of breath, but I definitely feel better. I hope to go back to chemo on Thursday. Thank you for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers. It really gets me through.

Well, so much has happened, and yet so little. It took all day to get ahold of the cardiologist, and now I’m going to see him in the morning. For some reason, I had a fever today, so now the oncologist thinks I probably have a bug and that’s why I’m so weak. They changed my antibiotic to something super strong. Then they called back and said they read my labs a second time and realized my sodium was extremely low (to the point where most people would be hospitalized), and that I need to cut my fluids way back to a liter and a half a day--so much for “flushing out the bug.” My heart rate was quite high yesterday in the hospital, so they put me on something to bring it down. It seems to be working. We decided to hold off on chemo this week and start round 13 next week. I know it’s confusing. I’ll update after I see the cardiologist and maybe I’ll have some answers. Thanks for the prayers, everyone!

Hi everyone--
Well, I've been in the ER all day. I'm home now. I wouldn't let them keep me in that jail overnight. There is something wrong wtih my heart. It's functioning at 45%. I guess that's probably why my toes are blue. I'm seeing a cardiologist tomorrow. Supposed to have chemo too, but I'm not sure that's going to happen. They did bloodwork, a chest x-ray, a CT angiogram, an echocardiogram and an EKG (all today). They want me home from work this week, but I plan to be back Monday. I hate being at home and miss my students. Please keep the prayers going--they are what gets me through all of this. Thanks so much everyone.

Hi everyone--
I thought I'd update you, since it's been a while. I just finished round 12 of chemo. I became a little anemic this last round again, so I got my Aranesp shot and now some of the tiredness is getting better. The last few weeks I've been exhausted. I'm not sure if my next scan will be after round 13 or round 14.
I still don't have any resolution with my toes. The angiogram also showed no significant circulation problems, and yet my toes are still blue, cold, numb and painful. Now they want to do an echocardiogram. I've been seeing doctor after doctor for over five weeks now and no one can figure it out. I'm a little worried because I've noticed the toenails on that foot are not even growing, and yet I get no reaction from the doctors when I tell them that. I'm thinking about acupuncture for the pain. I'm just saying my prayers and trusting I will have an answer sometime soon. Thank you so much for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers!