Day 8 - A checkup with the Oncologist.

Jenn went back to the Oncologists for a checkup. He said that her white blood cell count was down (which was to be expected) and not to go in public places for a little while until the cell count goes up. He doesn't want her to do this as she is more at risk for getting an infection with the lower white cell count. The 2 questions we had were:
Will the side effects from the treatments get worse as it goes along?
The Oncologist said no. He said what we saw this past week will probably be the way it will be during the whole treatment. Holy cow! If the only side effect we have seen so far was a little nausia, we'll take that! He said she will get more tired the further along she goes but again, that is to be expected.

How long does it take for the chemo to travel through the body?
Apprently not long. He said it should have already done its work and expelled itself however it does so.

She did have some what seemed to be like real bad heartburn last night around bed time that was bothering her and she mentioned it to him today and he gave her a pill to address that as well...

Day 6

Not much change today. Still a little tiredness but nothing much else to report. She is doing things pretty much as normal with very little side effects from the chemo (knock on wood). I may take a few days off from updating if there is nothing new to report. From everything I had heard about chemo I figured I would be on here every day reporting about the negative side effects but she really hasn't had any yet. I know they say it each person is its own case on how they are effected so hopefully it won't bother her too much next round as well.

Day 5

Another good day. No nausea, just a little tiredness from being out in the heat (Brendan had a 4:30 baseball game) but overall another good day. If we've been through the worst of the chemo , I'll take that. But I have a feeling each treatment might get a little more intense with the reactions. I'm not sure, I guess I'll have to look that up...

Day 4

Today was actually a good day. Jenn went to Sydney's program at Topeka Civic Theatre and went in to the office for a good amount of time. She also did some light yard work around the house. It seems that the medicine that she was taking for the nausea...might have been making her nausiated. Ahhh...the irony. But there were no visits to the restroom and no time sleeping today so that makes it a great day!

Day 3

Well, the day started off not so well. The chemo is starting to work on her stomach. At 6:27AM, she had her first "visit to the restroom". Most of the day was pretty good but then the trips to the restroom revisited in the evening. Again most of the night was spent asleep. Hopefully that was the worst of it (and if it is, that would be great) but this is where not knowing what is ahead gets to you. I guess we will see tomorrow...

Day 2

Not much to report today as I didn't see her too much. She slept most of the time I was home after work. She got a shot around 2:30 of Neulasta. Neulasta is defined as:

• Neulasta is a protein that stimulates production of white blood cells. White blood cells are important for protecting the body from infection.
• Neulasta is used to increase white blood cells and therefore decrease the risk of infection in patients with non-myeloid (not bone marrow) cancers while receiving cancer chemotherapy (drugs).

The nausea hasn't been that bad so far which is a good thing but the steroids she has to take (no, she is not linked in the Barry Bonds/BALCO investigation) the day before and the day of seem to give her the jitters and she was up at 3:30 this morning and could not get back to sleep. Thus, that is probably why I did not see her much today...

Study: After breast cancer, lose weight (Article)

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MSN Article - June 20th, 2006 (link)

Weight loss used to be a great cause for worry after someone was diagnosed with cancer, but researchers now say that excessive weight gain is possibly worse. Experts currently recommend that cancer survivors should control their weight and exercise regularly to improve their long-term health.
(More at link above)

Chemo - Day 1

Today we got our schedule for Chemotherapy. 6 treatments, 1 every 3 weeks. This is shorter than we were expecting which is great. She is in Group 1. Her treatments will consist of Doxorubicin, Cyclophosphamide and Docetaxel. The total treatment today took about 4 1/2 hours. They said this time should decrease next time since they had to get the right dosages set up and some blood work done first. I will try to post each night updating her condition but as I am not sure what we are in for, I hope that I can...

Her 5 dates for treatments should be:
July 11th
August 1st
August 22nd
September 12th
October 3rd

Who can safely skip chemo for breast cancer? (Article)

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CNN Article - June 13th, 2006 (link)

Claudia Lowry had a scary decision: Could she safely skip chemotherapy after surgeons removed her breast cancer?

Tens of thousands of women undergo chemo for breast cancer every year when they don't really need it, but doctors don't have an easy way to tell who can gamble on skipping the harsh drugs.

A simple gene test now promises to help women like Lowry make that nerve-wracking choice -- and a major government study is enrolling more than 10,000 patients around the country to see just how well it does the job.
(More at link above)

My wife is my best friend.

Last night was great. The Grandparents took the kids for the night for Jenn and I to have a night alone before the "festivities" begin on Tuesday. We went out for dinner at a Sports Bar, played some trivia and then went for a short walk when we got home. It was the first time in a long time we had really talked about the "old times" (all of 8 years ago). And, with Jenn getting her hair cut short for the upcoming hair loss, it was almost like it was back then. It reminded of me why I pursued her in the first place.

Chemo put off for another week.

Initially the chemo treatments were going to start on Tuesday, June 13th @ 8:45AM but with the recent surgery to remove the tissue expander, chemo has been moved back a week to give her some time to recover and get through her antibiotics. At this point...I guess what is another week...

Jenn Update - Part 4 - Surgery #3 - and some great news!

All,

When I last left you we were headed to the Oncologist to get the schedule set up for Chemotherapy. That was to happen on Wednesday. Well, on Tuesday (just an hour and a half after Update #3) we got news that the tissue expander that was put in during the first surgery (ironically done to spare a surgery at a later time) needs to come out for the Radial Oncologist to feel comfortable in doing what she needs to do with the radiation treatment. And, at this point, her health is waaaayyyy more important than any cosmetic issues. The only problem is that it is another surgery. So it was scheduled for Thursday morning. Back to Wednesday and the Oncologist. We were discussing options with him for the Chemo (schedule, dosage, entering clinical trial type stuff). He said the results of the PET scan would not affect his method of treatment but wanted to get them back. During our discussion on these issues, he got the results of the PET scan back and they were negative! This means that the cancer did not spread to any other areas of the body as they thought it might have done previously. This was great news! So, the schedule was set for Chemotherapy to begin. She will receive her first treatment this coming Tuesday (the 13^th) at 8:45AM. Depending on the order they will go with on the treatment (there are 3 different ones), it will last 1.5 to 2.5 hours. He said the main side effects she will probably see are fatigue……and hair loss (she is excited about this one). But, they said nausea shouldn’t be a problem. And, the length of time and number of doses will depend on how aggressively they decide to attack it. It could be every two weeks (more aggressive) or every three weeks (less aggressive). I am assuming we will find out the definitive answer on this Tuesday. We went to Lawrence this morning to have the expander removed and all went well. We had to be there at 8:15AM and arrived back home around 1PM. She is currently resting as she has more things done to her body (poked with needles, cut on, things put in, things taken out) in the last 3 weeks than I would care to have done in my lifetime. I will probably have another update after the first round of chemo once we know more and then hopefully it will be more quiet as it should start getting into more of a routine for the next 6 months or so. Thanks for listening, I hate sending out so many e-mails but I know some people hesitate to call or ask so this makes it really easy. Plus it is a way for me to kind of decompress from all that has been going on lately. Thanks again to everyone…

Jim

Jenn - Update #3 - Surgery #2

Hello all,

Well, we had 2 more doctor’s appointments yesterday. The first was with the Radial Oncologist to discuss the radiation therapy that will take place. It has been decided that they will go with the Chemo first. It will consist of 8 treatments, 1 every 3 weeks so roughly about 6 months. The radiation will follow that for 5-6 weeks, 5 times a week. I know some people had mentioned concerns regarding the other side and the risk it would pose for cancer as well and according to the radial oncologist, removing the other side would not help in this case as the cancer is glandular, not lobular. It was also determined at that time that a PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scan was needed so today, she gets to lie down for a few hours and have a machine map out her body and determine which areas need the radiation treatment. A good explanation of the procedure can be found here: http://www.radiologyinfo.org/content/petomography.htm. If it all comes back with what they need to see, she will not need a CT scan. The second appointment on the day was to have the Infusaport “installed”. It is basically a tube placed under the skin in the chest area that goes in to a vein so that they can put the chemo treatment in, draw blood if needed, etc. in one place instead of sticking her 5 or 6 times each time she goes in for treatment. She went under for this surgery and was finished and up and going pretty quickly. We got there around 12:30 and she was home by 4ish. More appointments were added at both places today…it’s getting hard to keep track. Tomorrow we go see the Oncologist, I am guessing to get a schedule for the chemo treatments and be on the road to getting her healthy again!

Jim