Hello everyone--
It's been a long weekend waiting for results, but my wonderful nurse practitioner just called. My PET scan shows that the size of almost everything remained the same with a couple of spots getting smaller. But the activity was decreased throughout (especially in the radiation area). So basically good news. I have to make an appointment with my doc to come up with the game plan from here, but at least I can sleep tonight. I don't remember a thing I did or said all day today, so my students probably think I'm crazy, but what's new? I have an echo tomorrow morning and Dad is going in for a procedure too, so please do keep us in your thoughts and prayers--they're working! :)
Monday, November 14, 2011
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Just a little update: We waited an extra week for chemo, but I was finally up to it, so I had a reduced dose on Thursday. I’m just starting to get sick from it now. We’ll see how I do through next weekend, which is when the numbers usually start to tumble. My next PET scan is on Veteran’s Day, so we’ll see where I’m at and go from there. I’ve been back at school since the 17th, but moving very slowly. I couldn’t get through it without my amazing Dad taking me to all my appointments and even to and from school each day. Without the help of my parents, this all would be impossible. Dad even went on his first field trip with us Friday! We had a great time at the “Real Men Sing” men’s choral workshop at San Jose State.
Please continue to keep me in your thoughts and prayers to get through this round with no more hospitals and (hopefully minimal transfusions too) and especially for the news on this next scan Nov. 11th. I’ll keep you posted.
Please continue to keep me in your thoughts and prayers to get through this round with no more hospitals and (hopefully minimal transfusions too) and especially for the news on this next scan Nov. 11th. I’ll keep you posted.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Please keep me in your thoughts & prayers. This morning I was so sick that I had to use an ambulance (first time, if you can believe it) in all this time. I thought it was all over for me and I was saying final goodbyes to Richard & Amanda. Very scary morning for the three of us. They took me to the ER and got me stabilized, but I have a touch of Pneumonia. I'm feeling so much better. I'm going to be in the hospital tomorrow, but I'm insisting on only that long, enough to hopefully see my pulmonologist & cardiologist and get a transfusion. Something was really wrong. I'm very thankful to be here & can't wait to get back to school. Thanks again, everyone!
Monday, August 15, 2011
Well, I haven't even had the chance to respond to all of your wonderful emails yet, and the doc's office already called. I was on my only 2-day getaway to Monterey, came home today and just got the call. Everything is improving! Wonderful news! The doc is very pleased, and of course so are we. Now because of a little glitch, tomorrow will be my last radiation treatment (it's been making me cough, but they say that will go away in a few weeks). Tomorrow and Wednesday will also be the other scan, so please do keep me in your thoughts and prayers & I'll update again when I get the news from that scan. I cannot thank you all enough for the support you continue to give me. It means so much!
Friday, August 12, 2011
Well, I'm almost through with radiation (Tuesday) and I had my PET scan this morning. I should have the news Monday or Tuesday. We're praying for the best. It has been a tough summer, and I just got another two units of blood and a unit of platelets on Tuesday, so I'm hoping I'm good for a little while, since there are only two treatments left of radiation. It turned out that I had to do 10 treatments (not 5 like he originally said).
This week I will be having another type of scan that will tell us if my tumors are hormone-secreting or not. It will take most of Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, and I start back to work on Thursday. There went my summer! If the tumors are in fact hormone-secreting, there is a new treatment my doc would like to try that is NON-chemotherapy and NON-toxic to my body. I'm really praying this will happen. It will be so good for my body to get a break from chemo (especially if it works). Please keep me in your thoughts & prayers for good news on both scans. I truly thank all of you for your love, friendship & support! They mean so much to me!
This week I will be having another type of scan that will tell us if my tumors are hormone-secreting or not. It will take most of Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, and I start back to work on Thursday. There went my summer! If the tumors are in fact hormone-secreting, there is a new treatment my doc would like to try that is NON-chemotherapy and NON-toxic to my body. I'm really praying this will happen. It will be so good for my body to get a break from chemo (especially if it works). Please keep me in your thoughts & prayers for good news on both scans. I truly thank all of you for your love, friendship & support! They mean so much to me!
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Hi everyone--
I thought it was time for an update. When we last talked, I was suffering from pain in my back and was going to start radiation. Well, it was all very confusing. I had radiation (5 days), but I found out yesterday that the radiation oncologist had a mind of his own and radiated the wrong spot (not the one that was causing pain on a nerve between two vertebrae, but another one on my lung that he thought was a better one to nuke). At least he radiated a cancer spot and not something important, but I still have no relief from my pain. It was a little awkward sitting in my oncologist's examining room as he yelled at the radiation oncologist (in front of me) for not doing as he asked. Now I have another 5 days of radiation to face, starting on Tuesday. The radiation, combined with the chemo put me through a few transfusions, as my platelets and hemoglobin took a serious dive.
Meanwhile, I had round 15 of chemo yesterday and today, and will have a PET scan in two weeks to see how my body is doing after all of this. The last two rounds were an increased dosage of an extra day. I'm so tired of hospitals. I'm sure you can see it's been a lovely summer for me so far. Can't wait to get back to my students!
Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I go through more radiation and the PET, and that the results are back on the right track. I'll keep you posted.
I thought it was time for an update. When we last talked, I was suffering from pain in my back and was going to start radiation. Well, it was all very confusing. I had radiation (5 days), but I found out yesterday that the radiation oncologist had a mind of his own and radiated the wrong spot (not the one that was causing pain on a nerve between two vertebrae, but another one on my lung that he thought was a better one to nuke). At least he radiated a cancer spot and not something important, but I still have no relief from my pain. It was a little awkward sitting in my oncologist's examining room as he yelled at the radiation oncologist (in front of me) for not doing as he asked. Now I have another 5 days of radiation to face, starting on Tuesday. The radiation, combined with the chemo put me through a few transfusions, as my platelets and hemoglobin took a serious dive.
Meanwhile, I had round 15 of chemo yesterday and today, and will have a PET scan in two weeks to see how my body is doing after all of this. The last two rounds were an increased dosage of an extra day. I'm so tired of hospitals. I'm sure you can see it's been a lovely summer for me so far. Can't wait to get back to my students!
Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I go through more radiation and the PET, and that the results are back on the right track. I'll keep you posted.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Hi Everyone--
I haven't been feeling great and need some prayers. My red blood cell count and platelets took a dive, so I wasn't able to have chemo this week as planned. I had two transfusions Tues/Wed (2 units of blood and 1 unit of platelets). I also had two shots to help my body make more platelets. After the transfusion and the first shot, they only went up from 30,000 to 53,000 (still too low for chemo). I had a second shot today. The shot makes me short of breath.
On top of that I'm trying to start radiation for a spot that is on my diaphragm and causing some breathing issues and a ton of pain. We thought it was on my spine, but the radiation oncologist is saying it's on the diaphragm. Very confusing. Anyway, I've had extreme pain and very little sleep since December, and they can't even start my radiation until July 5th. After that it will take at least a month to start helping my pain, but they do think they can eventually get rid of it. I'm just feeling low right now--low energy and needing the support of your thoughts and prayers. I need those platelets back up so I can have treatment, especially since you'll remember my last scan showed a little progression. Thanks so much, in advance.
I haven't been feeling great and need some prayers. My red blood cell count and platelets took a dive, so I wasn't able to have chemo this week as planned. I had two transfusions Tues/Wed (2 units of blood and 1 unit of platelets). I also had two shots to help my body make more platelets. After the transfusion and the first shot, they only went up from 30,000 to 53,000 (still too low for chemo). I had a second shot today. The shot makes me short of breath.
On top of that I'm trying to start radiation for a spot that is on my diaphragm and causing some breathing issues and a ton of pain. We thought it was on my spine, but the radiation oncologist is saying it's on the diaphragm. Very confusing. Anyway, I've had extreme pain and very little sleep since December, and they can't even start my radiation until July 5th. After that it will take at least a month to start helping my pain, but they do think they can eventually get rid of it. I'm just feeling low right now--low energy and needing the support of your thoughts and prayers. I need those platelets back up so I can have treatment, especially since you'll remember my last scan showed a little progression. Thanks so much, in advance.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Hi everyone--
Yesterday, I got the results from my latest PET scan. There was no new growth, which is great, BUT there was slight growth in size & activity in the existing tumors. We’re taking this is a yellow flag of warning. We had decreased one of my two chemo drugs to only 1/3 of what I was getting before. We decided to stay with the drug combo that was working and increase back to 2/3 (not all the way). All in all, not the best news, but I’m still here and continuing on. They are also looking into another treatment for me that we will be checking into once school is out. I remain positive and strong in faith. Please do keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I continue through the summer.
Yesterday, I got the results from my latest PET scan. There was no new growth, which is great, BUT there was slight growth in size & activity in the existing tumors. We’re taking this is a yellow flag of warning. We had decreased one of my two chemo drugs to only 1/3 of what I was getting before. We decided to stay with the drug combo that was working and increase back to 2/3 (not all the way). All in all, not the best news, but I’m still here and continuing on. They are also looking into another treatment for me that we will be checking into once school is out. I remain positive and strong in faith. Please do keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I continue through the summer.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Hi everyone--
Well, it is indeed wonderful news. No fun to wait, but worth the wait. The voicemail from my nurse practitioner said "this scan is better than we ever could have hoped for." Apparently, pretty much everything has shrunk in size and activity, and by quite a bit. My NP and doc keep saying "congrats," so that feels pretty good. My NP said to tell everyone that's been praying for me that it's definitely working! So we're pretty excited. I see the radiation oncologist on Wednesday to get an update on how well the radiation in December worked. The doc had decreased my last chemo dose, so we will stick with what is working & I will have round 10 on March 8th, the week before our production of The Sound of Music opens.
My thanks for the supportive emails, thoughts and prayers! Please, keep 'em coming!
Well, it is indeed wonderful news. No fun to wait, but worth the wait. The voicemail from my nurse practitioner said "this scan is better than we ever could have hoped for." Apparently, pretty much everything has shrunk in size and activity, and by quite a bit. My NP and doc keep saying "congrats," so that feels pretty good. My NP said to tell everyone that's been praying for me that it's definitely working! So we're pretty excited. I see the radiation oncologist on Wednesday to get an update on how well the radiation in December worked. The doc had decreased my last chemo dose, so we will stick with what is working & I will have round 10 on March 8th, the week before our production of The Sound of Music opens.
My thanks for the supportive emails, thoughts and prayers! Please, keep 'em coming!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Hello everyone--
I got a message from my doc's office saying "your PET scan results are in and everything looks better, so that's good news." That's all they said, so I have to wait until tomorrow to talk with my nurse practitioner and get the details. We're very happy to at least have that news. I'll blog again when I have details.
I can't thank you enough for all the supportive emails and comments on my blog (which I don't really know how to respond to--so sorry). That, along with your prayers have really helped me get through!
I got a message from my doc's office saying "your PET scan results are in and everything looks better, so that's good news." That's all they said, so I have to wait until tomorrow to talk with my nurse practitioner and get the details. We're very happy to at least have that news. I'll blog again when I have details.
I can't thank you enough for all the supportive emails and comments on my blog (which I don't really know how to respond to--so sorry). That, along with your prayers have really helped me get through!
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Hi everyone--
It's been quite a while, and I wanted to update you. Since my last blog, I've done four more rounds of chemo, had radiation at the end of December, two blood transfusions and a platelet transfusion. All my levels are ok right now, but my doc decreased my last chemo dose because it has been too hard on my body. I've now had 9 rounds of Etoposide/Carboplatin. My scan will be on Monday, so we can see how I've done these past four months. I've had my times of weakness, but overall I've been ok. Now we'll see how I'm really doing when we get the results (probably around Wednesday). Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers for good results. No matter how strong my faith is, it's always hard to wait. I thank you so much for the love and support you continue to show me.
It's been quite a while, and I wanted to update you. Since my last blog, I've done four more rounds of chemo, had radiation at the end of December, two blood transfusions and a platelet transfusion. All my levels are ok right now, but my doc decreased my last chemo dose because it has been too hard on my body. I've now had 9 rounds of Etoposide/Carboplatin. My scan will be on Monday, so we can see how I've done these past four months. I've had my times of weakness, but overall I've been ok. Now we'll see how I'm really doing when we get the results (probably around Wednesday). Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers for good results. No matter how strong my faith is, it's always hard to wait. I thank you so much for the love and support you continue to show me.
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