Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Lynn just wrapped up the sixth and final chemo today. This one went very well - no problems with the IV, no weird side effects, timing worked out just right. She went in to the hospital on Monday morning, and was done by 6PM Wednesday night. The side effects are liable to be a problem, but just knowing that the whole process is done is going to make things a lot easier. Some of the people in the neighborhood decorated up the place for her. They put up all kinds of smiley faces, and set up balloons and streamers all over the place. It was really a big surprise for her. They were all over the front yard, in the kitchen, in the entry way, the halls - even a couple in the fridge and on the toilet! Thanks to Barb, Susan, Trish and Mary Anne, and their stalworth assistants.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Two more days, and then Lynn heads out for the sixth and final chemo session. By this time Wednesday, the whole series will be done. She got the go-ahead from Dr. Blair Friday. Her blood counts are down, but not so much that she cannot go ahead with the procedure. They also are not as bad as they were two sessions ago, which is certainly good news. She is still pretty fatigued, so that is something to be concerned about. Part of the trouble is that she is not able to sleep well at night...hope fully, once this last routine is out of the way, and when there will be no more upcoming ones on the horizon, that will be a big help in that respect.
Mac and I are off for MLK Day on Monday, so we will take Carlee to daycare, then take Lynn to the hospital. Since Dr. Blair was able to streamline the procedure somewhat, it is likely that Lynn will be out on Wednesday, instead of having to hold off until Thursday. Susan Mathew will be by on Tuesday; she is going to stay around for a few days and help out with the kids and to visit Lynn. My sick time just reset for the year, which is a good thing, since I can now spend some of that kind of time taking care of Lynn and the kids if necessary.
I'll try to be a little more timely next time there is news. Right now, the big thing is to get through this next phase and knock out the lymphoma for good.
Two more days, and then Lynn heads out for the sixth and final chemo session. By this time Wednesday, the whole series will be done. She got the go-ahead from Dr. Blair Friday. Her blood counts are down, but not so much that she cannot go ahead with the procedure. They also are not as bad as they were two sessions ago, which is certainly good news. She is still pretty fatigued, so that is something to be concerned about. Part of the trouble is that she is not able to sleep well at night...hope fully, once this last routine is out of the way, and when there will be no more upcoming ones on the horizon, that will be a big help in that respect.
Mac and I are off for MLK Day on Monday, so we will take Carlee to daycare, then take Lynn to the hospital. Since Dr. Blair was able to streamline the procedure somewhat, it is likely that Lynn will be out on Wednesday, instead of having to hold off until Thursday. Susan Mathew will be by on Tuesday; she is going to stay around for a few days and help out with the kids and to visit Lynn. My sick time just reset for the year, which is a good thing, since I can now spend some of that kind of time taking care of Lynn and the kids if necessary.
I'll try to be a little more timely next time there is news. Right now, the big thing is to get through this next phase and knock out the lymphoma for good.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Latest
December 28, 2009
Lynn will be heading in for a fifth chemotherapy session today. Things are definitely looking good. First off, the fact that she is going at all is a testament to the fact that she is improving. Dr. Blair had been worried that her blood counts were down. Her hemoglobin had been low before the fourth trip, but not so much that she could not go. However, the trend was such that it looked like they were recovering less and less each time. Well, she went in today and had her blood work done, and she is back up to where she should be, both with hemoglobin and with platelets…that means that she can press on with number five.
Dr. Blair also told us that she is doing very well as far as the lymphoma is concerned. Her lymph nodes are back to normal, with no enlargement, and the fluid level in the sack around her lungs is much smaller. Those mean that the cancer is definitely going into remission. He told us that he will do one more regimen after this one, bringing us up to a total of six, and then she will be finished. At that point, it will just be a question of recovering from the effects of the drugs.
Another piece of good news, well, sort of. It turns out that this is not directly due to the chemotherapy, and will not affect her program. A day or so after she gets each round of chemo, she is getting a shot of a drug called Neulasta. This drug stimulates the bone marrow to produce additional white blood cells. Most of the white blood cells already in the body are forced by the body’s immune system to attack the cancer cells during therapy…there aren’t a whole lot left when it is done. Neulasta brings the white cell count back up. Well, one of the symptoms of this drug is an overall achiness and pain in the body a few days after the injection. This is exactly the symptom that was affecting Lynn. There is not a whole lot to be done about it, but at least she knows what is causing the problem, and that it will go away quickly.
Dr. Blair is also changing around the timing of the chemo. He wants to try to get her to wrap things up on Wednesday, instead of Thursday, so she can get the Neulasta injection on Thursday. Otherwise, she would have to get it on Friday, which is January 1st, and their office will be closed. Not too sure how that will pan out, but if so, it will be great having her home a day early.
January 4, 2009
Sorry about the delay - as some of you may or may have known, my email account got deleted a while back, and I have had to settle for using one through g-mail. Had some trouble logging in as I was unable to get it to recognize the old account. That, and the fact that it turned into a zoo around here Christmas time.
Today, Lynn has been back from chemo for four days. While she was in the hospital, Dr. Jordan had a doppler done of her heart - sort of like a sound based radar. He was quite pleased with what he found out. Her heart function, called the EF factor, is back up to where it was before all this nonsense with heart surgery started early in 2009. She was showing about a 40%. This is not quite up to what passes for normal, but it is is certainly better than the 25% she had right before the chemo, where the cardiologist was talking about putting in a pace maker. And, once this weather clears up and we can get back outside, I am sure that we'll be getting some good cardio - who knows...she might be shopping for Ironman triathalon equipment before long!
The chemo went pretty well this time. Dr. Blair made some changes to drip rates and such, and got her done a lot faster than before. I was able to get her out Thursday morning, same as before, but she had not been able to start until 2AM Tuesday. Riverside also finally got wise and brought in a specialist for her IV. This nurse used an ultrasound to get her bearings around Lynn's arm, and then took all of five minutes to get the whole thing done. And, the IV held this time, instead of blowing out like it did 4-5 times for round four. Always great to get off to a good start.
Lynn is still having trouble recovering, at least for the first few days. We have had a spell of cold weather - one night it got down to 4-deg, and it is very hard for her to stay warm. Fortunately, one of her presents was an electric blanket. And, sometimes the kids let her use it!
Jo went home on New Years. She had been with us for over a week, and really helped out a lot. With the kids out from school, we would have really had a hard time finding someone to keep an eye on them when she was in the hospital. Before the end of the year, I had just about wiped out all of my time off, including sick leave. Now that the year has rolled over, and my sick days have reset, I'll have more time to stay with her and the kids.
Last round is set to start on January 18th - that should be it, hopefully for good. We are thinking seriously about heading out on vacation the end of March, to coincide with Mac's Spring break. That will give Lynn and me two months to build up the time off (and save for the darned thing!) and to get Lynn back up to speed. We are probably going to go to an area near Cancun called Playa del Carmen. We'll find a nice all inclusive resort, soak up some rays, put on about 10 pounds, and try to forget all about 2009!
Lynn will be heading in for a fifth chemotherapy session today. Things are definitely looking good. First off, the fact that she is going at all is a testament to the fact that she is improving. Dr. Blair had been worried that her blood counts were down. Her hemoglobin had been low before the fourth trip, but not so much that she could not go. However, the trend was such that it looked like they were recovering less and less each time. Well, she went in today and had her blood work done, and she is back up to where she should be, both with hemoglobin and with platelets…that means that she can press on with number five.
Dr. Blair also told us that she is doing very well as far as the lymphoma is concerned. Her lymph nodes are back to normal, with no enlargement, and the fluid level in the sack around her lungs is much smaller. Those mean that the cancer is definitely going into remission. He told us that he will do one more regimen after this one, bringing us up to a total of six, and then she will be finished. At that point, it will just be a question of recovering from the effects of the drugs.
Another piece of good news, well, sort of. It turns out that this is not directly due to the chemotherapy, and will not affect her program. A day or so after she gets each round of chemo, she is getting a shot of a drug called Neulasta. This drug stimulates the bone marrow to produce additional white blood cells. Most of the white blood cells already in the body are forced by the body’s immune system to attack the cancer cells during therapy…there aren’t a whole lot left when it is done. Neulasta brings the white cell count back up. Well, one of the symptoms of this drug is an overall achiness and pain in the body a few days after the injection. This is exactly the symptom that was affecting Lynn. There is not a whole lot to be done about it, but at least she knows what is causing the problem, and that it will go away quickly.
Dr. Blair is also changing around the timing of the chemo. He wants to try to get her to wrap things up on Wednesday, instead of Thursday, so she can get the Neulasta injection on Thursday. Otherwise, she would have to get it on Friday, which is January 1st, and their office will be closed. Not too sure how that will pan out, but if so, it will be great having her home a day early.
January 4, 2009
Sorry about the delay - as some of you may or may have known, my email account got deleted a while back, and I have had to settle for using one through g-mail. Had some trouble logging in as I was unable to get it to recognize the old account. That, and the fact that it turned into a zoo around here Christmas time.
Today, Lynn has been back from chemo for four days. While she was in the hospital, Dr. Jordan had a doppler done of her heart - sort of like a sound based radar. He was quite pleased with what he found out. Her heart function, called the EF factor, is back up to where it was before all this nonsense with heart surgery started early in 2009. She was showing about a 40%. This is not quite up to what passes for normal, but it is is certainly better than the 25% she had right before the chemo, where the cardiologist was talking about putting in a pace maker. And, once this weather clears up and we can get back outside, I am sure that we'll be getting some good cardio - who knows...she might be shopping for Ironman triathalon equipment before long!
The chemo went pretty well this time. Dr. Blair made some changes to drip rates and such, and got her done a lot faster than before. I was able to get her out Thursday morning, same as before, but she had not been able to start until 2AM Tuesday. Riverside also finally got wise and brought in a specialist for her IV. This nurse used an ultrasound to get her bearings around Lynn's arm, and then took all of five minutes to get the whole thing done. And, the IV held this time, instead of blowing out like it did 4-5 times for round four. Always great to get off to a good start.
Lynn is still having trouble recovering, at least for the first few days. We have had a spell of cold weather - one night it got down to 4-deg, and it is very hard for her to stay warm. Fortunately, one of her presents was an electric blanket. And, sometimes the kids let her use it!
Jo went home on New Years. She had been with us for over a week, and really helped out a lot. With the kids out from school, we would have really had a hard time finding someone to keep an eye on them when she was in the hospital. Before the end of the year, I had just about wiped out all of my time off, including sick leave. Now that the year has rolled over, and my sick days have reset, I'll have more time to stay with her and the kids.
Last round is set to start on January 18th - that should be it, hopefully for good. We are thinking seriously about heading out on vacation the end of March, to coincide with Mac's Spring break. That will give Lynn and me two months to build up the time off (and save for the darned thing!) and to get Lynn back up to speed. We are probably going to go to an area near Cancun called Playa del Carmen. We'll find a nice all inclusive resort, soak up some rays, put on about 10 pounds, and try to forget all about 2009!
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