Prayers answered

Hello everyone,
I can't tell you the great pleasure it gives me to share this news with you. I had my PET/CT scan this morning, and already by this afternoon my doctor's office called with miraculous news! My main tumor has shrunk in activity from 14.6 to a mere 2.8! The nodules on my lungs that they use to track progress have gone way down. In fact the one in the right upper lobe is COMPLETELY UNDETECTABLE by PET or by CT. The one on the lower left lobe is almost to the same point of being undetectable. All the nodules are shrinking in their activity and many in size too! Your prayers, love and support have all been the reason for this and I thank you and of course I thank God!
The plan now is to continue with this chemo drug (Gemzar). This week is my week off, and next week I will start round three. We will continue until we get into full remission, and I KNOW that we will get there! Thanks, everyone!!

Hello everyone. Well, Thursday I had the 3rd dose of Gemzar in the second round of this new chemo drug. Things have gone well. My hair is hanging in and I very minimal water retention. I've tolerated the drug well, so if it works I should be able to continue on with it as long as I need to. On Monday morning I will have a PET/CT scan to show what both the radiation over the summer and this chemo drug have done. I feel confident going into it, but of course I ask for your prayers as I await more news this week. I should know the results by Halloween or the day after, and will update again then. I thank you so much for all your love and support!

Sorry it’s been so long since my last update. We just finished our third week of the school year and things have been busy as usual. I finished radiation on August 20th with no problems. It was a piece of cake compared to chemo. Now I am back on chemo, this time with the drug Gemzar. We will be taking a scan in mid-October to see where I’m at from both the radiation and chemo. I’m tired (and a little sick) from the chemo, but so far I’m functioning just fine. This drug is given through IV once a week for three weeks with the fourth week off. It should not make me lose my hair, but there is the possibility of severe water retention. So far I have not experienced any of that, and hope that I will not. Your prayers continue to be a great help to me, so thank you from the bottom of my heart. God is walking with me every step of this long road, and I am doing just fine.

August 10, 2007

Hello everyone, so sorry it's been so long. Things are crazy getting ready for school to begin. Well, I now have only 7 radiation treatments left (ending on Mon., Aug. 20th). Things have really gone great so far. No burns on my skin, but I've started to have what I call "the worst heartburn known to mankind." My radiation oncologist put me on two prescriptions to hopefully help that because unless I'm drinking plain water everything else pretty much feels like acid going down. Hmm...maybe it will help me lose some WEIGHT!!! :) Otherwise I'm good. I met with my regular oncologist on Wednesday. He said the radiation would probably make me quite tired the week after I'm done (which will be the first week of school--oh yay), and that we can get back to chemo as soon as possible. I'm going to meet with the nurse for the chemo teaching on the next drug next week and then get started right after we start school (either the last week of August or the first week of September). He doesn't think I'll lose my hair with this one, but it will mean going to Walnut Creek once a week for infusion before school; three weeks on/one week off. I don't think it will be too bad. I'm up for the fight. I will not have any results for a while on the radiation, as they said we have to wait six weeks after the last radiation treatment before a PET scan, because it keeps working that long. It is miraculous that my blood levels have still never dropped and have remained basically normal through everything! I really feel great and believe I'm going to win this fight. I know I feel that way because of all your prayers and support. I thank God for all the friends and family I have with me on this journey! Love to you all! I'll update again when I have more news (probably September).

July 16, 2007

Well, I had my consultation with the radiation oncologist today. I really liked him. He was very confident that they will be able to shrink this tumor. It was very positive, and it looks like the radiation will be much easier on me than chemo, except for the fact that it will be every day. He said that he could condense the treatment into two weeks, but they would get better results with fewer side effects for me if they spread it out over 5-6 weeks, so I’m ok with that. Tomorrow I will go in for the pre-appointment where they do a CT scan and make ink marks on me. They will then meet with other specialists to customize my treatment plan (that takes 2-3 days). I’ll probably go back on Friday for the tattoo marks and then start the actual radiation after that. He said I should not get sick, will not lose my hair and will only feel a little tired (but not like when I was on chemo). It will be a bit of a pain to drive to Castro Valley each day, but it will not take long, so I should be ok. I remain positive. I will keep you up to date on how things go. I thank God for all of you and the prayers & support you have given (and continue to give) to me. It is a huge help to me every day!

test results

Ok, technically it is now Saturday, but since I just got home from seeing my student Andy Surrena play "Chris" in Miss Saigon (beautifully), for me it is still Friday night.
This afternoon my oncologist called with my PET/CT scan results, saying that the chemo has not worked and the main tumor and three spots on my lungs are still growing. He did not seem sure that this was where the pain was coming from, but we decided to do radiation on the main tumor. He seemed quite sure that we could stop the tumor from growing with radiation, so I have a consultation with the radiation specialist on Monday morning. I'm not sure of what it will entail, but I guess I'll know much more after talking with him on Monday. The oncologist did say that the usual radiation cycle is every day for 2-6 weeks. He felt like my case would be closer to 2 weeks, but he wasn't sure. The place is in Castro Valley. The best part of the news is that it has not spread anywhere. It has remained contained to the main tumor and the lung spots. I remain hopeful and thank you all so much for the prayers, because that is where the hope comes from. I will update again on Monday after my appointment.

The latest update

Hi all,
Well I've had 2 treatments of this new chemo drug Alimta, and was supposed to have the third one on the 16th, but on Monday I started having pain in my chest. Today I called the oncologist and we decided to do a PET/CT scan tomorrow to see what is going on. I'm a little worried, so I need your prayers a little more than usual right now. If we find out this drug is not working, then I guess we will go from there. Maybe we will just go on to the next drug on the list. After all, this is like a big experiment with my life. I'm praying we will find the drug that works very soon. I have a great doc and I trust that my life is in God's hands, so I have to remain positive. Thank you all so much!

The Latest Update

OK, so after visiting the oncologist today, there is both good and bad. I choose to remain positive and focus on the good.

The bad news is the main mass is back to the size we began at. The spots on my lungs that began at “innumerable,” but had shrunk to half their size and number have begun to grow again in size and number (but we’re not back to “innumerable”). On the PET scan before this one we were down to only the main mass and one spot being “active” and now many spots are again active (but certainly not all).

The type of cancer I have is quite uncommon. My doc is very up on all the literature, and there just isn’t any out there on what I have. The good news is he’s in touch (by email) with the world’s authority on this type of cancer, and that doc has given us many different chemo drugs to basically experiment with. We will go through them one by one until we (God willing) find the one that helps us shrink this beast into remission. We’ll do three to four rounds and then a scan. If it works, we’ll keep going with it. If not, we’ll try the next. I’m ready for the fight!

The good news is the drug we will start with has a low toxicity for me, so I will not lose my hair and I should not get sick like before. If I get sick, he thinks it will only be for one day per treatment. This is so important because I did not want to give up another summer of quality time with Amanda. I want to enjoy every moment of our summer break together. The drug will not require a port and will take less than an hour for infusion (it used to take four hours). I will only have to go once every three weeks (like before). The best news is that although the cancer has started growing again, it has not spread anywhere. I will focus on this!

I thank God for the support He has given me through my family, friends and students. You have all been overwhelmingly wonderful, and I can’t thank you enough. My faith is strong and with God leading me and your support, I will win this battle! It will not be easy, so please keep praying that we find the drug that will work soon! Thank you!

Well, if it can happen, it's going to happen to me

Hello everyone,
Well this morning I drove from Livermore to Walnut Creek in the morning traffic after unwillingly having to take a day off work to have a CT scan and PET scan. They hooked up my IV, started my contrast, and after 20 minutes of trying to figure out their new IV machine, my CT scan was done. They then took me upstairs for my PET scan, injected me with a radioactive glucose tracer, had me sleep for 45 minutes, and then brought me in for the PET. Not 5 minutes into the scan, the machine breaks down WITH ME IN IT!!! Yes, my worst nightmare, I'm caught in the machine. Luckily, I didn't know for sure that it had broken while I was in it. They finally got me out, but I had to jump off the table, because the table wouldn't even lower me down. YIKES!!! I waited another hour and a half while they talked with technicians on the phone trying to get it to work, when they finally came in and told me they would have to reschedule, because my $500 radioactive glucose tracer's two-hour life span was up, and the machine had still not been fixed. Oh YAY now I get to have ANOTHER IV with ANOTHER radioactive glucose tracer!! If you can believe all this, they are going to take me after hours on Thursday after school (which is what I wanted in the first place) to redo the PET, so now it will be until Friday or Monday until I have results. If my doctor is able to give me ANY results at all from just the CT, believe me I would love that, but I have a feeling I won't know anything until Monday. Wow, it's not like it's hard to wait through the weekend or anything...
Oh well, I'm sure God has his reasons for having me go through all of this. He's gotten me this far, and continues to be there for me. And so do you! Thanks for bearing with me everyone!

Good News

Hello everyone! I’m so thankful to report that my scans show NO GROWTH in the tumor or any of the spots on my lungs! HALLELUJAH!! Thank you, God!!! The PET part of the scan did show that the main tumor and the one spot (the only ones that had remained active after I finished the last round of chemo) had shown a little more “activity,” but no growth. We could possibly do radiation on those two, but his recommendation was to just watch it for now and do another scan in two months, since there was no change in size. I’m very happy with this news, and so thankful to GOD! Hey, I’ve got a show to put on in a week and Disneyland is waiting for me, my family and my Chamber Singers this weekend!!
I’m so thankful for all of you, your thoughts & prayers and your support! Please keep me in your prayers. I continue to need them always...

Well, it's been a while...

Hello everyone. I know it's been a while. Life has been so normal since I had my last chemo and they took out the broken port catheter, that it's almost surreal. I feel just fine. I still get tired, but nothing like before. I've even started walking again (1 mile on the weekends). Of course, before all this began I was walking 2-2 1/2 mi. 6-7 days a week. I even have about 3/4 inch of hair growth!!
I'm scheduled for my first PET scan since I've been off the chemo on March 6th. That will tell my doc how I'm really doing. Of course I'm anxious, but I just say my prayers and believe I will be OK. I would truly appreciate it if you could keep me in your prayers for complete healing and peace during this time. The results should be in within 1-2 days, which means I will pray that I have GOOD news just before I leave for my Disneyland tour with my advanced choir on March 9th. I thank God that I am so busy right now with planning the tour and getting ready to open our spring musical on March 15th that I don't have a lot of time to sit around and worry... Thanks so much for your prayers and support!

THEY GOT IT!

Well, thank you so much for all the prayers, everyone! This morning's repeat procedure was a success! They were able to remove the port catheter tube after close to two hours. I can't tell you how thankful and happy I am that I won't need major surgery! I've seen the inside of way too many hospitals recently and hope it will be a very long time before I see another one... At least this part has come to an end. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers for continued healing. I truly appreciate it!

A Little Good News

Well, my mammogram results came back clear today! Yeah! I've been waiting since Dec. 27th. I know, only a little over a week, but it feels like forever when you're waiting! Thank you, God!

Surgery #3

Well, I met with the surgeon, and rather than have surgery right away, he’d like me to try the same procedure one more time with another internal radiologist at John Muir. That outpatient procedure is scheduled for 6:30 am on Tuesday (Jan. 9) at John Muir Walnut Creek. Because of where the 6-inch catheter is lodged, IF they can’t get it out on Tuesday, it will be major surgery where they will have to go through the sternum and possibly even have to stop my heart to get this ridiculous thing out. IF I do have to have that surgery, they will also take out the mass at the same time, to make it worth everyone’s time. Obviously I’d rather not have major surgery, because I DON’T HAVE TIME! My oncologist would rather just watch the mass and IF it grows, we will do radiation at that time. I will just have to wait and see how it goes. Please keep me in your prayers for this procedure to go well and for continued healing. Thanks so much.