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!

Results

Hallelujah my CT scan came back with everything remaining stable! We’re coming from the last PET/CT showing growth, so that means things have stopped growing and we’re hoping the next scan shows reversal/shrinkage. There was no new growth, and that’s always what I pray for. I will continue with chemo (Gemzar) round 12 starting tomorrow. There is still some fluid in my left lung (Gemzar is a known fluid-maker) and my oncologist and surgeon are getting together to make a plan for that. Everything is good around my heart again, so the CT scan was pretty much good all the way around.
The ultrasound results came in showing no clots, but they will be doing a further vein study because of my puny veins (injecting the dye into the veins for the study). That should just be a BLAST. The pain is still keeping me up, but last night was a little better. I’m thinking at some point I’m just going to collapse from sleep deprivation, but so far I’m still going like the “Energizer bunny.” I will be home from school today, seeing the Rheumatologist about my foot, so hopefully I’ll get some relief soon.
Still waiting for the voice to heal… Thanks so much for the prayers & support everyone. They really do keep me going!

scan tomorrow

Hi everyone--
Well, it's been a little tough these past few weeks. I thought my voice was healing, but it's not. It's still the same, and it gets me down sometimes. On top of that, something has happened with my right foot. I already had neuropathy (numbness) in my feet, but now my big toe (and the other toes on that foot) are turning blue and cold. I don't have Diabetes or anything. The pain has kept me sleeping 2-3 hours max for the past two weeks. I've gone in for four different doctor's appointments and they can't really figure it out. I've tried absolutely everything for the pain (including Darvaset and Vicodin) and nothing does a bit of good. It's tolerable during the day, but I'm literally screaming from the pain at night. They did an ultrasound on my legs/feet on Friday and we should have the results tomorrow. The tech did go so far as to say there were no clots or anything that showed as needing immediate attention--just very puny veins, so that made me feel a little better while I wait the weekend. So far they think it is something called Raynaud's Phenomenon, where the little capillaries give off spasms. If so, I would need to see a Rheumatologist for it. I just want to be able to sleep through the night. Tomorrow morning I have a CT scan to see how my chemo has been working. I ask that you please keep me in your prayers and thoughts for good news on the scan, and healing of my voice and foot. It's been a tough few weeks, but I truly appreciate your love, support and especially prayers. I'm keeping positive...thanks everyone :)

Biopsy negative!

Well, I finally got the results of the fluid biopsy and it was negative--Thank God! I'm in the middle of round 11 right now, and my doc decided to make the next scan a CT instead of a PET, so we're probably going to do that the week of September 15th and I'll probably get the news right around my birthday--woo-hoo! Thanks so much for all your love and support--it means so much! Please do keep me in your prayers.