Lucy! I'm hoooooomme!

Oh I can’t tell you how happy I am to be home. I had the surgery on Thursday afternoon and 800 ml of fluid was drained, and another 500 ml drained while I was in the hospital. I feel much better, I’m not out of breath, and the best part is I think the fluid is what was affecting my voice, because other than being sore/hoarse from the tubes, my voice almost sounds back to normal!! Yeah!!! I was up the next day walking the halls, amazing the nurses and just so excited to be walking with no troubles!
I did have a nightmarish first night, because I apparently stopped breathing for some reason when they were taking me out of the OR, so they had to bring me back in and put me on a ventilator. Staying that way for the entire night was pure torture—but it’s over now, and that’s all I care about. I just felt bad that my poor parents, husband and daughter had to see me laying there looking like a dead person and go home that night with that image in their heads. The fluid will be sent in for biopsy, but my surgeon said he didn’t think it looked like anything suspicious.
I will start round 11 of chemo on Thursday, and my doc wants to do two more rounds before we do another PET scan. Please do keep me in your thoughts and prayers. I truly appreciate all your love & support!

more surgery

Hi everyone--

Well, it looks like I'm going to need to have a little more surgery. I have some fluid around my heart that needs to be drained, and I will have the surgery at my favorite hospital (San Ramon)with my wonderful surgeon, Dr. Dharan--I don't plan to step foot in the ValleyCare jail for a while. I will go in on Thursday, 8/14 and be there (probably) until Saturday, 8/16. The good thing is that he seems sure this will take away my shortness of breath and then maybe I can start exercising again!! Yeah! They feel strongly that the fluid will not come back, either, so I'm very happy with that. Please keep me in your prayers for a successful surgery and quick recovery, because we go back to work the next week and I do not plan to miss a day! Thank you so much for your friendship & support!

Good news vocally!

Well, I just got back from the ENT & speech pathologist. I will tell you I have never gagged so many times in a row in my life--how embarrassing. But then it did feel like he was sticking a small curling iron down my throat and then asking me to sing that way!! Both docs were wonderful. It was very cool to see my vocal cords on the TV screen and to see that they are in very healthy condition, coming together very straight and flush. The only thing they could think of that could have done this to my voice is my chemo drug, but then they're not really sure about that. They were quite sure that it will heal itself over time, but that I will have to just wait it out. I'm ok with that as long as I know there is no permanent damage. I thank God for all your love & supportive prayers!

Hi everyone--
Any of you that have talked with me since I got out of the hospital in May have noticed my voice. It has been "out of commission" since I had my bronchoscopy in the hospital. Tomorrow I'll be seeing an ENT in San Francisco that specializes in singers to hopefully figure out what is wrong. I am just hoping there was no permanent damage and that it can be fixed or healed soon, so I'm a little anxious about the appointment. Please keep me in your thoughts & prayers.
As far as my other health issues are concerned, I finished round 9 of chemo and will start round 10 on Thursday. I'll have another PET scan at the end of this round to make sure things are working, and we'll go from there. Thank you so much for all your support & prayers!

OK, so I talked with the doc today, and I'm really not discouraged at all. Since I've been off chemo for two months (due to being in the hospital, etc.) and had not gone into full remission when I stopped treatment, he fully expected there to be growth. He's not worried, and neither am I. I will restart Gemzar tomorrow at 1:30. We both expect to turn this thing around, now that I'll be back on the treatment plan. The great news is, there was no spreading of the cancer to any other organs. Hallelujah! Thank you for your love, support, thoughts & prayers--and please keep them going because they are what keep ME going. I'll keep you updated with any changes.

Well, the doc's office finally called with not great news. The spots are growing again & I will need to get right back to my chemo regimen. At this point I have no details. My doc was in with other patients and didn't want me to have to wait any longer, so he had the receptionist call and read me the report. Well not like I understand all the medical terms, but the bottom line was that the spots are growing again. I will meet with the doc at 2:00 tomorrow to ask questions. At that point I will update and let you know what the plan is. Please keep me in your prayers that we will come up with the right plan. I'm hopeful that just getting back on chemo should turn things around in the right direction. He did feel the only reason there was growth was because of the 2 month gap from chemo. Thanks so much, everyone.

no news

Well, since many of you have been asking about my PET scan, I thought I'd quickly update the blog. Initially they gave me some not-so-great news of growth, but just like last time, they realized the comparison was wrong and so I am still waiting for the real report. They hope to have the report by Monday. Please pray for patience and good news... Thank you all so much!!