7-31-09 Some News But Not All the News

Rhonda called today to let me know that they only lack the one part of the pathology report concerning the HER2/neu. The estrogen & progesterone parts came back and they thought they would have the HER2/neu in today or early Monday morning.

So Rhonda moved our appointment with Dr. Brooks up to 2:30 Monday afternoon so he will be sure to have all the report. She also went ahead and scheduled me for the EKG at 4 p.m. so we can get that done, since it's the most important part to see how strong your heart is.

7-30-09 Walking in the Rain

It came a gully washer this morning here! At 6:30 I got up to let Sandy go teetee and he just stood at the door and looked at me, "No way am I going out there!" It was thundering & lightening. So we went back upstairs to get ready for work. Every morning I take Sandy for a 1/3 mile walk for him to get his constitutional and get some exercise. This morning the rain had slowed down to a nice sprinkle, so I got the big golf umbrella out and away we went. It was nice to be out walking in the rain. Funny how things mean a different thing to you when your life changes. Sandy was thrilled to be outside in the nice rain and he got to teetee and tootoo, so we were all fixed up. All the neighbors know us because we walk every morning and every night and I pick up the tootoo after Sandy so they appreciate that. For a while this morning I was a little girl walking her dog in the rain under a big umbrella. It don't get much better than that!

7-29-08 Nearly Some News

Again there was no news from the receptor part of the biopsy. BUT Rhonda did find out from the lab that they don't do that part of the test here in Dallas. They are mailed away from here and it takes about a week to get them back. They left here on the 23rd, so we're just now getting to the point of expecting them in.

Also Rhonda said she went through my records today and discovered that Baylor Garland didn't send over all my records when I transferred from there to Medical City Dallas. Rhonda said that they had already sent them over today. Dr. Brooks needs them to determine how much of the different chemo drugs I got last time. She specifically talked about the Adriamyacin & Herceptin. I was hoping to strike the word "Adriamyacin" out of the mix this time. That's the Kool-aid red color "RED DEVIL" that is so wicked on your body. Some people more religious than me, called it "The Blood of Jesus." I'll stick with Red Devil, thank you. That name is more fitting. But I have to say, "Thank you, Jesus, for the Red Devil" cause it sure kicked the cancer's butt!

I had that kind of sick at my stomach feeling again this morning until I ate something about 10 a.m. Don't know if it's the liver talking to me or what. I was OK after I ate, but was light-headed and squeamish until then.

On a different note---Some dear friends from our Sunday School class lost her Dad today. Doug & Dora are beautiful people and made some tough decisions about her Dad over the weekend due to his kidney failure. He died this morning and went to be with Jesus. Our thoughts are with them & their family.

FBC Rockwall & the Commercial

Kelly & Tami and their 6 girls went to church with us at our home church FBC Rockwall. FBC Rockwall is a larger congregation and we were packed Sunday at the 10:50 service. In fact the 10 of us had to trek up to the balcony to get one row where we could all sit together. During July we do not have a choir and they have been doing special music services. Sunday it was a men's quartet from our church. Aubrey wanted to know what all the chairs up there were for.

After the quartet sang and sang, it was time for preaching. But as our pastor headed up to the pulpit, a video comes on the overhead screens about this squirrel and a cell phone. It ended in mayhem with the squirrel running around. The point of the video was "Turn your cell phones off." Aubrey leans over to me and says, "Do y'all always have commercials in your church?"

Try keeping a straight face and answer that one!

7-28-09 No News Yet

I called Rhonda, the RN from MCD, on my way home from work. I told her that I wasn't trying to harrass her, but that I just needed to see if she had heard anything. No, she had checked with the lab early this morning and said she would check again when she hung up with me. She didn't call me back, so no news. Rhonda did have a great idea though. She went into Dr. Brooks' scheduler and gave me his first appointment Monday morning when he gets back from vacation. That was a great idea, as that will give David & me a chance to talk to him face-to-face and get some questions, options and outcomes explained. Surely by Monday they will have the receptor report done. Rhonda said if they didn't have it by noon tomorrow, she was calling them to let them know that I have an appointment with Dr. Brooks Monday morning.

Rhonda asked if I was feeling OK, so I told her about the ache down my middle and that my liver is tender. But I also had to confess that I might have overdone it this last weekend loving on everybody. I have felt much better today after being still and not doing anything extra.

Rhonda also told me that there are 2 different clinical trials (hereafter referred to as C/T) available. One for the Her-2/neu study and one if the cancer happens to have changed into something else. So that was good to know, too.

7-27-09 No Receptor Results Yet

Rhonda, the RN from Medical City Dallas who works with the oncologists there as the main source for clinical trials, called me this afternoon to let me know that she had called the lab this morning and later this afternoon to see if the receptor parts of the pathology report were available. They weren't so we know nothing more than we did.

I did not feel well today at all. I had this sort of heartburn, churning, achy, feeling down between my ribs and in my intestine area. And my biopsied liver was complaining, too, saying it is really sore now. David says I might possibly sort of overdid it this weekend with all the company. I totally disagree with that assessment. Tonight after supper I just vegged out in front of the TV and then took Sandy for our short 1/3 mile walk like we do every morning. Hopefully by Wednesday I'll be back at the mile walk every night. And this weekend I started having a dry cotton mouth. This morning I had to drink milk with every bite of cinnamon roll I ate just to get it down my throat because I had no saliva in my mouth. I've been guzzling water to see if that will help the situation. I'm keeping some mini candy canes close by for liquid when I get dry now.

7-26-09 A Houseful of Fun

Kelly, Tami, Kora, Aubrey, Brynna, Hailey, Lauryn & Ashlynn came to visit us this weekend from San Antonio. Tony, Elena, Nikita & Anastasia came to visit us this weekend from Kyle. Friday night Tami's parents, Bud & Marva Cagle from Odessa, surprised us with a visit. They were in Ft Worth to celebrate the 1 year old birthday of Callan, their granddaughter with parents, C.J. & Jamie, Tami's sister. So we had a houseful.

And of course, Sandy was here. He is one tired puppy dog. He played so much this weekend! He had kids to chase and play with. He had all these people in his house and it was hard sometimes to figure out what he wanted to do. But the best of all for Sandy was that Miss Ashlynn put as much food on the floor and she put in her mouth. And that was alright with Sandy. He was her personal vaccuum cleaner.

Tony & Elena have launched a photography business and brought all their equipment with them to set up in our music/sewing room. So for a good part of Saturday we took pictures of everyone. Tony has a really good camera. I say that because people will always look at your photos that are good and say, "Man, you must have a really good camera" as opposed to having a good eye and talent for photography. So for the truth, Tony is a really good photographer.

And of course, Sandy was in many of the photos. We took pictures of David, Kelly, Tony & me---but we had to do a picture with Sandy in there, too, since he is our 3rd son. It was lots of fun and many laughs. ---Oh and by the way, ELENA took this photo!!!

7-26-09 Clinical Trial

Here is the URL of the clinical trial they are looking at for me, conducted by Wyeth:

http://www.wyeth.com/ClinicalTrialListings?product=/wyeth_html/.~system~/versions/60/71/605590397160/3144A2-3003-WW(39).html&query=Breast Cancer

A Houseful of Love

Joy of joys---when I got home from work today, I had 8 grandkids, 2 sons, 2 DILs, and of course, David & Sandy. What a change in a house in one afternoon's time! They brought food with them, too. Sandy is just beside himself with all these people in his house. He was a good vaccuum cleaner after supper though! And then later Tami's parents and her oldest sister, her husband and baby girl, Callan, came over to visit. All the laughing and giggles are good medicine for the heart!

7-24-09 Clinical Trial Possibility

Coming home from work this afternoon, I got a call from Rhonda at MCD, who is working with Dr Brooks (oncologist) to get me into a clinical trial. But first I'd have to have an echo-cardiogram, a brain scan (David says that is a waste of time) and a full body CT-scan. This is to test my heart because the medicines in the trial are, just as the Herceptin was, hard on the heart. They want to see if I have cancer anywhere in my body before they let me in the trial. Anyway, we are waiting for the receptors portion of the biopsy to come in to ascertain that it is indeed the exact same cancer as before. This trial would involve Tykerb & Zoloff, a pill that you would take a regimen of for 21 days, off 7 days and then on again for the same time period. And get this: you keep your HAIR!!! The worst side effect is diarrhea. What a joke!!! Bring it on.

7-23-09 Preliminary Pathology Report

Dr Cartwright (radiologist reading my biopsy results) called and let me know that he had the preliminary results of the biopsy and "I'm afraid the results are not good." Gulp. "Your breast cancer is back in your liver." That is a huge step backwards with the HER2/neu type breast cancer. He said that Dr Brooks is checking for a clinical trial to put me in. Gulp. Gulp. Let me tell you why I gulped. When I first started the Chapter 1 chemo, I asked my oncologist if there was a clinical trial he could put me in. He told me that clinical trials were basically for people who couldn't afford the treatment OR for people who were so bad off that this was the only hope for them. When David & I walked out of Dr Gupta's office, I jokingly said that if an oncologist tells you he's looking for a clinical trial to put you in, you'd better be sizing up the coffin. Well, today that came true for me.

The official results of the biopsy will be in some time next week. Dr Brooks is on vacation next week, so it will be the next week before we start anything probably. I asked about radiation and he said that it is not an option for livers. Seems like they don't respond well to radiation. So we really don't know a whole lot more useful info than we knew yesterday, except we do have the gravity of the situation defined for us. I asked Dr Cartwright how many tumors there are in my liver and he said that there aren't 'tumors' that there are cancer cells diffused throughout my liver. That didn't sound real operable. He said that the final report will tell them exactly what the level of HER2/neu cells are and how to fight them.

I called Dr Laidley's office this afternoon and talked to her nurse, just to be sure that they knew what was going on and asked exactly what Dr Laidley's role is now since the breast cancer is now in my liver. She said that I will continue to see Dr Laidley on a routine basis, but right now Dr Brooks will be leading the action. I just didn't want to get chewed out again by this striking tall slender breast surgeon!

This is all just surreal. We're going to fight just like we did before---but now it is for keeps. Prayers are accepted 24/7.

Reach to Recovery Suspended

One of the things I am so disappointed in about this cancer return is that I just got fully certified to be a Reach to Recovery volunteer at MCD and for the American Cancer Society. I can't exactly do that now since I will be going through treatment myself.

And tonight I was to be in training for CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) that David volunteers for, so that I could be a 'Helping Heart' and could go with him on visits for that. Real bummer on both counts!

7-22-09 Liver Biopsy

We had to be at MCD at 9:30 for registering. This was fine. Liver biopsy at 11. This was only a moving target. Once I was in the 'staging' area after completing all the paper work, we were told that the biopsy would take around 45 minutes. But after that you have to stay in the hospital for 4 hours of observation to make sure there was no bleeding/issues with the liver biopsy. We got home a little before 7 p.m. tonight.


If you followed my journey through BC before, you know how much I loved my mediport. AND HOW MUCH I MISS IT NOW!!! Yesterday had already ruined my left arm & top of the hand with them trying to get an IV going & blood sample taken. Today was no different. First was the blood sample to do the same test they did yesterday. The tech tried 3 different places before getting the samples she needed. President Obama is right about these unnecessary tests in hospitals. But I digress. Then we went to staging area for surgery.The first nurse was nice but kept digging around trying to get the needle in multiple veins. Finally she asked a male nurse to try. He tried once and got a good vein. I wanted to keep him in my pocket for future stabbings.


David got to be with me until about 1 p.m. when they rolled me to surgery, which wasn't in a surgery room. It was in a CT scan room because the radioligist doing the biopsy used the CT machine to pinpoint where to take the liver sample from. They taped a piece of light gauze looking stuff with gridlines on it to my right ribs and down to my belly so he could do the biopsy by computer rather than just stabbing & guessing, which was comforting. The nurse with me during the biopsy told me that I might feel some pressure, but if I felt ANY pain to let them know. The last thing I remember was the doctor telling me his name & the nurse telling me she was giving me the sedative through the IV. I didn't know anything until about 3 p.m. when I woke up in a day surgery holding room. David claims I talked to him and asked questions after I came out of the CT room, but I don't believe him.


Now that I was awake, I could have something to eat & drink! My tummy was growling loud enough for the nurses to hear it since I hadn't eaten anything since 7 p.m. last night. I was given Sprite & graham crackers. It was heavenly. We asked for 2 more helpings of coke & crackers.


They had me on my ride side with a very uncomfortable towel rolled up against the little incision place for the biopsy. I complained about wanting to lie on my back, but it didn't get me very far. Finally the magic hour came though where they removed the towel & it felt so much better.


Where my liver wasn't noticeable yesterday (until Dr. Brooks poked on it), it is noticeable now. That little catch I had felt before is now a bigger catch! I can't even take Sandy for his walks for the next 3 days, as they don't want me to bust something open at the biopsy location.


Do we know more than we did? Nope. Hopefully Dr. Brooks will get the results by Friday and let us know what his game plan is. We are so appreciative of family & friends who are praying for us. Keep up the good work!

This will be my communication line through the treatment this time, so if you are interested in my happenings, please save my blog to your favorites & save it to "Follow" this blog:

http://vlsdrs.blogspot.com/

7-21-09 And We Start Again

I had a regular 3 month checkup with my oncologist this morning. Dr. Brooks is the one who always tells me that I am BORING. I did the blood test stuff and sat in the little exam room waiting for him. After much waiting, Dr. Brooks opens the door and asks how I am. I told him that I was great! To which he said, "Well, what's the deal with your liver counts if you're great?" That's when I heard the proverbial other shoe hit the floor. He showed me my blood test results. My ALKPHOS (translated liver) is at 502, with the normal range being 25 to 150. For the previous 4 tests it has been at 139/129/141/134, so that was a red flag to him.

He asked all the questions: Have you been around anyone with hepatitis? been sick? started new medicine? No, no, no. Then I remembered a little 'catch' I've had the last 2 weeks in my right side, so I told him about that. He examined me and poked especially up and under my right ribs. Ouch! yes, that was tender. Dr. Brooks immediately left the room and went to order a CT-scan to see what's going on inside me.

His nurse came in and put a syringe thingy in the top of my left hand and brought me two tall glasses of that barium junk to drink in the next hour. They were squeezing me in between 11 and noon. The barium settles where the cancer is and lets them see it, as was explained to me, from the top of your head downward. His nurse then walks me down to the CT-scan place.

Everything was going just fine until the CT-scan tech has to give me the COLD dye stuff through the syringe in my left hand. When he did that, I yelled because he hurt me!!! He apologized profusely and said that the line came apart on him. The top of my hand is still swelled up from that damage. Hope they don't have to do that again tomorrow. . . . I'm not supposed to have any blood drawn or anything on my right arm because of the mastectomy.

About 4 p.m. Dr. Brooks called with the results of the CT-scan and told me that it looks like the breast cancer is back, that there are multiple large tumors in my liver. To be absolutely sure that's what kind of cancer it is, we're doing a biopsy tomorrow at Medical Center. David & I have to be there at 9:30 and the biopsy is at 11. I don't know the time frame we're looking at for the results. Dr. Brooks told me that whatever it is wasn't there on April 29th when I saw him last and now it is huge, which is exactly how my breast cancer was. So it is almost 100% sure that it's the breast cancer again, that has travelled to my liver. He said that from there he will decide what treatments we need, that he will be very aggressive with the treatment.

Emotions of all kinds have ran through my head since this morning. Fear---of the known and the unknown. But also strength that I've done this once and I can do this again. Regardless of what we face, God is always there to carry us in His hands. One of my favorite quotes from my last treatment was from Sir Winston Churchill:

Success is not final, failure is not fatal.
It is the courage to continue that counts.

I pray that God will give me the courage to continue.

Alvin & the Fence & Sandy

The day finally came. Sandy saw a squirrel in the backyard and let us know it. So David readied the back door for a quick exit. Sandy was all hunkered down and hit the backporch running towards Alvin---Alvin was on the brace of our fence. Sandy jumped and hit the fence, knocking Alvin to the ground. The next thing we knew Sandy's mouth was on Alvin. I was yelling & David finally got Sandy off of the poor squirrel. Alvin scampered up the tree then. But he wasn't scampering very fast. He acted like one of his back legs was injured. He climbed up higher in the tree.

So-----we have closed the blinds in the back of the house so Sandy can't see squirrels out there. We still have them pulled up in the front yard because by the time he gets out of the house, the squirrels out there have lots more room to run than in our backyard.

Sandy is sad that he can't see out in the backyard anymore. He doesn't understand. But we don't want him to kill any Alvins, just chase them!

How NOT To Be a Good Volunteer

Tuesday I went over to Medical City to meet my R2R (Reach to Recovery) mentor. I was so proud of myself, wearing my new decorated smock with badges, round buttons, pins and my ID card. I smiled and greeted everyone I saw there. People actually look at you differently---no people actually LOOK at you with that smock on---which says a lot for the volunteers there at MCD. When my tour was finished, Sherry went back to the Cancer Resource Center there in the main foyer and I went to visit our friend, Andrea, on the 12th floor.

As I walked over to the elevators, a man LOOKED at me and I smiled at him---and he asked me where the cafeteria is. I was so proud that Sherry had just walked me past the cafeteria. So I dutifully stood there firmly planted and TOLD him with some great gestures where the cafeteria was. He thanked me and we parted ways.

I visited Andrea and went to the car. When I started the car, it dawned on me that I had failed my first opportunity as a volunteer because I didn't TAKE HIM TO THE CAFETERIA. Sure blew a hole in my balloon. The Medical City Patient Promise starts off with: "We commit to providing high-quality care, personal attention and to anticipating and meeting your individual needs." My old customer service skills have slacked since I'm sitting at a desk now. But there is tomorrow!

Elena Passed Her Citizenship Test!!!!

Our DIL from Kyle, Texas by way of Kiev, Ukraine passed her USA citizenship test today!!! Way to go, Elena! We are so proud of her. In September she will have her official swearing in ceremony in Austin, which we want to be there for. She had to answer 10 questions and write one sentence. Elena asked us some of the questions she had to study for----she probably knows more about American history than most of us do!

Reach to Recovery Training

I spent all day Saturday at training for the Reach to Recovery volunteer program for the American Cancer Society. It was very informative and well taught. Sherry Hickman, who came to visit me after my mastectomy was one of the trainers, so it was good to see her again. The basic thing they drummed into our heads, was that when you're making a hospital visit, you can only visit a patient whose doctor has approved the visit. My breast surgeon, Dr. Allison Laidley, refers ALL of her breast cancer patients to this program. But apparently all doctors are not as thorough as Dr. Laidley.



Outside of the hospital you can visit anyone who is in the process of dealing with breast cancer, with their permission of course. The whole point of this program is to provide information about breast cancer, through pamphlets that the ACS provides. It gives a lot of info to the patient and give them a 24-7 phone # and website to visit with questions. We give no medical advice, but can say facts about our personal treatment if asked.

Today I went to MCD to get oriented to the supply closet with all the breast cancer bags & brochures we give to patients there at the hospital. Great surprise-----I was given about $50 worth of parking coupons!!! And I was told that I could use those for personal reasons also and to ask for more when I need them. So that's a good thing about being a volunteer. Today there weren't any women on the floor where we all went for recovery after breast cancer surgery. My volunteer mentor seemed disappointed that I didn't get to "visit" someone. I told her that that was a good thing. . . .

Singing to an Audience of One

Our music director had the Bible study last night at church. He talked about music, singing, and doing it all to an "audience of One" with that one being God. His text was from Colossians 3:15-17. Mike told us that singing is mentioned over 422 times in the Bible----praying only 200 times. Interesting.

I've always told David that we could have the song service, give an invitation and done right, people would get saved. I think this just proved my point. God should put a new song in a Christian's heart and we should be willing to share that song with others.

Taking the Boy for a Ride

Tonight when we got home from church, David went to the back door and opened it so Sandy could come outside to take a ride around the neighborhood. He rides in his back seat (covered with an old polyester quilt) with both windows down all the way and goes from side to side looking at the sights. We had started out letting him have the windows down only about 4 inches, but then he learned how to lower the window himself! He doesn't try to get out, he's just content to feel the wind in his hair. David started this "taking Sandy for a ride" after David had been to buy groceries. Now Sandy expects it regularly. Neighbors know what we're doing and laugh at us. Too fun!

Andrea's Update

Our good friend, Andrea, got excellent news Friday night about 10:30!!! The extraction that her doctor did Thursday afternoon from her hip bone, came back CLEAN so the chemo knocked the leukemia out! We are all so happy for her & Mack. She's still in the hospital until she is better able to be over the effects of the chemo. And now she has a SIDE EFFECT: a red skin rash all over her body. They were giving her some steroids for that. Fun, fun. She is a real trooper and is such a blessing to visit with. I always leave her room feeling uplifted by her. Please keep her on your prayer list for continued recover from the chemo & the leukemia.

July 4th at Dickens 2nd Year

We were going to my parent's house this year for the July 4th celebration. We had such a great time last year, so we were going again and Kelly & Tami & the girls were coming up, too. But Daddy & Mama called last Saturday just to apprise us of the fact that they had a mutant cat down at my brother's house that has shared ringworms with multiple persons in the families that have been there. Daddy wanted us to know before we all came home. . . . the vote was easy unfortunately and we all regreted having to decline the invitation this year. We didn't want Sandy coming home with ringworms and Kelly & Tami didn't want 6 girls with long hair coming home with the present either. We missed not being there this weekend!

Happy 9th Anniversary!

Tony & Elena have been married 9 years as of July 1st! It doesn't seem like it has been that long, but they do have an 8 year old and a 5 year old. Here they are after the wedding upstairs in the Anne Hathaway cottage in Odessa, Texas. The wedding was outside in the courtyard and then we had cake and punch inside. Tami's mom, Marva Cagle, was a real friend and planned and helped out with the wedding and reception. Elena thought that they would just go downtown to the court and get married there in front of a judge. So it was a real blessing to get to give her a wedding like we did.