Monday, November 2, 2009
You know, the name of this blog is "Lynn's Memorable Spring" - well, I'd guess that no one could imagine that we would be looking at the first part of November at this point. Quite a trip from early spring to late Autumn. The leaves that were just busting out on the trees when this thing started are now being raked up by my 8 year-old...and we're still not done.
Things are going pretty well, however, bearing in mind that we are talking stage four lymphoma. The confusion Lynn got from the first round was definitely not repeated in round 2...no doubt that the oncologist figured out what to do to handle that issue. Although that cuts way back on funny stories we can tell about her, the overall situation has definitely improved. And, Lynn is feeling quite good. Her recovery from the heart surgery had been pretty much on hold until a few months ago. Now, since the lymphoma cells are getting blasted by the chemotherapy and do not have the chance to mess with her, she is seeing some real recovery. No, not quite ready for three games of sand volley-ball, but definitely getting better...well, maybe ready for the BEERS involved in three games of volleyball, now that I think about it. Dr. Blair wants to check out how she is doing in a few weeks. He wants her to have a cat scan to see if the lymphoma is being reduced as much as it appears. I do not know for sure, but I suspect that, the better the cat scan turns out, the better chance she has of having fewer rounds of chemo. The original goal was to have 8 rounds. That puts her wrapping things up March 1st to March 4th. If they can cut it back to 6, we'll be done around January.
We have been getting all kinds of help from our friends and neighbors. Just about every other day, we get someone swinging by and dropping off a meal for us. From our experiences, we can tell two things: 1. we have a lot of really wonderful, caring friends, and 2. we have a lot of wonderful caring friends that REALLY know how to cook. The downside of this is the added expense that will now be incurred as I gorge myself on all the great food, and then have to start shopping at the "Big and Tall" Mens clothing store to get new pants. (Yes, maybe there is a stock tip there!) Seriously, it is really great to have this kind of help. There is a lot of inherent, underlying stress involved in the whole lymphoma situation. And, often times, not having to plan out and prepare something as simple as a meal really takes the pressure off, and makes things so much easier at the end of the day. Frankly, if it wasn't for all the great food we have been getting, I swear that I would have been feeding the kids a steady diet of Ramen Noodles and Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee by now. Now, that would probably not be an issue for THEM, but I would have felt terribly guilty.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
October 29, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009We've had quite a bit happen the last week. Lynn went in for round 2 of her chemotherapy on Monday. Up to that point, things were going pretty well, and there wasn't much exciting happening. Her appetite came back when her taste buds recovered, and she gained back some of the weight that she had lost earlier. Normally, losing weight is a good thing, but in this case, she had lost so much that it was somewhat alarming. Gaining it back was definitely something her doctors wanted to see. Her breathing is also much better. The coughing has almost completely disappeared, and she has much more endurance than this time a month ago.
I also was able to make a splash. After getting tired of Lynn having all the attention, I sulked a bit, and gave it some thought, then decided to go out and get a haircut...a really short one. Basically, I had all my hair cut off. Basically, I have had five o'clock shadow longer than my hair. I did not tell Lynn about this, so it was a big surprise. Carlee and Mac were also surprised. Heck, I was surprised every time I went past a mirror!
On Monday, she got in early for the chemo. They got started right away, which was something we wanted to see. Her goal was to get done in time for trick or treat on Thursday. Based on experiences from the last round, Dr. Blair had her receive a number of doses of Methyl Blue, six in all, throughout the chemo. That chemical, you may recall, binds with the byproduct of the Ifex that caused all the confusion and weird behavior she experienced last time. He also tweaked the dosages of her other chemo ingredients. The bottom line was, it all went extremely well. The Ifex did not mess with her at all, and everything else went off exactly as planned. In fact, Dr. Blair was able to increase the dosage on one of the drugs, since she was able to handle it, meaning that it will be more effective killing off the lymphoma cells. Bottom line was she got done ahead of schedule, and wrapped things up on Wednesdayevening. It was late enough in the day that she was unable to go home that night, but she got home Thursday morning, well ahead of trick or treating at 6PM.
One thing that was of some concern was that she has appeared to gain some of her weight because of fluid gain. Her heart doctor, Dr. Jordan, was pretty irritated that Lynn had not told him that she had gained as much weight as she did during the course of her recovery time, after the conclusion of the first chemo, and the beginning of the second round. To be fair, he had established a target number for Lynn, and she had not exceeded that value, so Lynn did think that she had to call. However, it was very close to that threshold, so Dr. Jordan had wanted to know anyway. He has adjusted her Lasik as a result, increasing it two-fold, and has instructed her to take it twice a day. That will mean that she will have to camp out a lot more around the bathroom after she takes each dose!
One other news item - Sharon Allen cut her hair for her when she was in the hospital. It has been falling out at a very quick rate now, so there was not much left to cut. In a couple of days, it will probably be all gone, and she will look just like me.
The next step will be a number of doctor visits, and we will be looking towards round 3 of the chemo. That is coming up in mid November. Another round will be in early December, followed by one during the week between Christmas and New Years. Lynn was able to take her laptop to the hospital and could actually get some work done. This is actually a good thing for her - there is only so much TV you can watch before you go crazy, and she likes to keep busy.
I also was able to make a splash. After getting tired of Lynn having all the attention, I sulked a bit, and gave it some thought, then decided to go out and get a haircut...a really short one. Basically, I had all my hair cut off. Basically, I have had five o'clock shadow longer than my hair. I did not tell Lynn about this, so it was a big surprise. Carlee and Mac were also surprised. Heck, I was surprised every time I went past a mirror!
On Monday, she got in early for the chemo. They got started right away, which was something we wanted to see. Her goal was to get done in time for trick or treat on Thursday. Based on experiences from the last round, Dr. Blair had her receive a number of doses of Methyl Blue, six in all, throughout the chemo. That chemical, you may recall, binds with the byproduct of the Ifex that caused all the confusion and weird behavior she experienced last time. He also tweaked the dosages of her other chemo ingredients. The bottom line was, it all went extremely well. The Ifex did not mess with her at all, and everything else went off exactly as planned. In fact, Dr. Blair was able to increase the dosage on one of the drugs, since she was able to handle it, meaning that it will be more effective killing off the lymphoma cells. Bottom line was she got done ahead of schedule, and wrapped things up on Wednesdayevening. It was late enough in the day that she was unable to go home that night, but she got home Thursday morning, well ahead of trick or treating at 6PM.
One thing that was of some concern was that she has appeared to gain some of her weight because of fluid gain. Her heart doctor, Dr. Jordan, was pretty irritated that Lynn had not told him that she had gained as much weight as she did during the course of her recovery time, after the conclusion of the first chemo, and the beginning of the second round. To be fair, he had established a target number for Lynn, and she had not exceeded that value, so Lynn did think that she had to call. However, it was very close to that threshold, so Dr. Jordan had wanted to know anyway. He has adjusted her Lasik as a result, increasing it two-fold, and has instructed her to take it twice a day. That will mean that she will have to camp out a lot more around the bathroom after she takes each dose!
One other news item - Sharon Allen cut her hair for her when she was in the hospital. It has been falling out at a very quick rate now, so there was not much left to cut. In a couple of days, it will probably be all gone, and she will look just like me.
The next step will be a number of doctor visits, and we will be looking towards round 3 of the chemo. That is coming up in mid November. Another round will be in early December, followed by one during the week between Christmas and New Years. Lynn was able to take her laptop to the hospital and could actually get some work done. This is actually a good thing for her - there is only so much TV you can watch before you go crazy, and she likes to keep busy.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
October 20, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Things are settling down around here. Carlee, of course, had experienced the H1N1 virus, and we were worried that she was going to spread it to the rest of us. Of course, Lynn is the one we worry about the most, so we were on pins and needles for a few days. Carlee got over the flu amazingly fast - she was up and around almost immediately. In fact, she even went to school today. Plus, no one in our house got a case either. I am amazed that I did not pick it up, but somehow we all dodged a bullet. From what I could tell, the way the disease spreads most readily through sneezing. Fortunately, that was one of the symptoms that Carlee didn't have. She had the sore throat, the temperature, and the coughing. Of course, she also did not have the loss of appetite either, but that goes without saying. Anyway, we are past the time that we would have been infected, so now we can start looking at the next step in the process - second round of chemotherapy.
That's starts again on Monday, October 26th. We want to get to the hospital as soon as possible that day. The sooner they start the chemo, the sooner they can get done, and the sooner she can go home on Thursday. For now, she will have the entire sequence while hospitalized. There was some talk about trying to do some of it out-patient, but her doctors want to monitor things closely this time, especially since she had such a dramatic response to the Ifex the last time around. They want to try to tweak the dosage, and get her protein levels up, so that she will be able to answer questions with something other than "Duh" next time.
Lynn's also eating better, and her stamina is better than it was before the chemo, She has been working steadily, and even complained that she did not have enough to do. Not back to pre-heart surgery levels, but definitely the first sign of improvement we have seen in months.
Everyone else is hanging in there too. Carlee, like I said, is all better (grumpy today, but that's probably due to the fact that she was feeling a bit of cabin fever.) Mac went to his first Cub Scout Pack meeting last night, and had a blast. He got to be a volunteer for a magic show, and was able to get his Bobcat badge. He is already starting on getting Bear squared away. Many thanks to everyone that has been asking about Lynn and who have helped out. It's good to hear that she has so many friends out there looking out for her and for us.
Things are settling down around here. Carlee, of course, had experienced the H1N1 virus, and we were worried that she was going to spread it to the rest of us. Of course, Lynn is the one we worry about the most, so we were on pins and needles for a few days. Carlee got over the flu amazingly fast - she was up and around almost immediately. In fact, she even went to school today. Plus, no one in our house got a case either. I am amazed that I did not pick it up, but somehow we all dodged a bullet. From what I could tell, the way the disease spreads most readily through sneezing. Fortunately, that was one of the symptoms that Carlee didn't have. She had the sore throat, the temperature, and the coughing. Of course, she also did not have the loss of appetite either, but that goes without saying. Anyway, we are past the time that we would have been infected, so now we can start looking at the next step in the process - second round of chemotherapy.
That's starts again on Monday, October 26th. We want to get to the hospital as soon as possible that day. The sooner they start the chemo, the sooner they can get done, and the sooner she can go home on Thursday. For now, she will have the entire sequence while hospitalized. There was some talk about trying to do some of it out-patient, but her doctors want to monitor things closely this time, especially since she had such a dramatic response to the Ifex the last time around. They want to try to tweak the dosage, and get her protein levels up, so that she will be able to answer questions with something other than "Duh" next time.
Lynn's also eating better, and her stamina is better than it was before the chemo, She has been working steadily, and even complained that she did not have enough to do. Not back to pre-heart surgery levels, but definitely the first sign of improvement we have seen in months.
Everyone else is hanging in there too. Carlee, like I said, is all better (grumpy today, but that's probably due to the fact that she was feeling a bit of cabin fever.) Mac went to his first Cub Scout Pack meeting last night, and had a blast. He got to be a volunteer for a magic show, and was able to get his Bobcat badge. He is already starting on getting Bear squared away. Many thanks to everyone that has been asking about Lynn and who have helped out. It's good to hear that she has so many friends out there looking out for her and for us.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
October 17, 2009
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Now to get everyone up to speed. We got Lynn home last Friday evening. From the time she got home, she steadily improved. I'd have to say that she was pretty much back to normal by Sunday. She was still taking the Lasik, so she was getting up during the night, but the length of time she spent sleeping got longer and longer as the week went on. We even managed to make it to church on Sunday, which lent an air of normalcy to our otherwise abnormal lives! Gary and Sharon dropped by during the day and helped out with getting the kids to school, some housework, and made some meals. I was also confident enough to take Mac to his first Cub Scout meeting on Monday night.
In general, she has been getting better and better. The persistent cough that she had that kept her up at night is now completely gone. Her endurance has also improved...before, she had to take the stairs to the second floor in two phases, resting at the landing. Well, not now. She makes it in one single trip. Her attitude is much better too - generally very positive, which is really important when it comes to overcoming cancer. We know for sure that she is going to lose her hair, so she decided to get it trimmed up now, before it all falls out. When Heidi trimmed it, it really looked good. She said that she might want to stay with that style when the whole cancer thing has run its course, and her hair comes back. This whole hair loss situation has been a lot less traumatic than last time - after all, we have already been down this road before!
Well, things were going swimmingly up until last night, that is, Friday night. It was then that Carlee developed a high fever, and could not gt back to sleep. I ran out and got some children's Tylenol, along with a thermometer (all ours were AWOL or non-working), and checked her out. It was at 102.9. However, the Tylenol managed to knock it down. Next morning, when the Tylenol ran out, the temperature started climbing again. Lynn arranged to line up an appointment at the pediatrician to see what the problem was. Susan and Amy dropped by, and Susan went with her to the doctor's.
I guess that 2009 still has some surprises in store for us, despite the fact that we thought we had seen it all. Turns out, Carlee has H1N1...yes, swine flu. And Lynn, with her severely depleted immune system, had been exposed to her continually since she got it.
On the plus side, Carlee does not seem to have a terrible case of the flu. She has the high temperature, and she has the sore throat, but the body aches, nausea, runny nose, sneezing and so on do not appear to be a problem. Also, I am here at home and can take care of her today and tomorrow, the days she is most likely to be the most ill. On the negative side, there is a really good chance that Lynn will develop a case of the flu. There is really nothing we can do about it. She had been in line to get one of the first vials of the vaccine, but if she has it already, there isn't much she can do about it. I just hope that it doesn't affect the next phase of the chemo. H1N1 runs in a 7 day cycle, and I cannot imagine that her doctors will allow her to start part 2 if she is still suffering from the flu.
If things turn out OK, the next phase of chemo will begin on Monday, October 26th. Her oncologist has set up a four day hospital stay for her for that phase. He also is working on handling the Ifex issue, and it looks like it will not be as severe next time.
Now to get everyone up to speed. We got Lynn home last Friday evening. From the time she got home, she steadily improved. I'd have to say that she was pretty much back to normal by Sunday. She was still taking the Lasik, so she was getting up during the night, but the length of time she spent sleeping got longer and longer as the week went on. We even managed to make it to church on Sunday, which lent an air of normalcy to our otherwise abnormal lives! Gary and Sharon dropped by during the day and helped out with getting the kids to school, some housework, and made some meals. I was also confident enough to take Mac to his first Cub Scout meeting on Monday night.
In general, she has been getting better and better. The persistent cough that she had that kept her up at night is now completely gone. Her endurance has also improved...before, she had to take the stairs to the second floor in two phases, resting at the landing. Well, not now. She makes it in one single trip. Her attitude is much better too - generally very positive, which is really important when it comes to overcoming cancer. We know for sure that she is going to lose her hair, so she decided to get it trimmed up now, before it all falls out. When Heidi trimmed it, it really looked good. She said that she might want to stay with that style when the whole cancer thing has run its course, and her hair comes back. This whole hair loss situation has been a lot less traumatic than last time - after all, we have already been down this road before!
Well, things were going swimmingly up until last night, that is, Friday night. It was then that Carlee developed a high fever, and could not gt back to sleep. I ran out and got some children's Tylenol, along with a thermometer (all ours were AWOL or non-working), and checked her out. It was at 102.9. However, the Tylenol managed to knock it down. Next morning, when the Tylenol ran out, the temperature started climbing again. Lynn arranged to line up an appointment at the pediatrician to see what the problem was. Susan and Amy dropped by, and Susan went with her to the doctor's.
I guess that 2009 still has some surprises in store for us, despite the fact that we thought we had seen it all. Turns out, Carlee has H1N1...yes, swine flu. And Lynn, with her severely depleted immune system, had been exposed to her continually since she got it.
On the plus side, Carlee does not seem to have a terrible case of the flu. She has the high temperature, and she has the sore throat, but the body aches, nausea, runny nose, sneezing and so on do not appear to be a problem. Also, I am here at home and can take care of her today and tomorrow, the days she is most likely to be the most ill. On the negative side, there is a really good chance that Lynn will develop a case of the flu. There is really nothing we can do about it. She had been in line to get one of the first vials of the vaccine, but if she has it already, there isn't much she can do about it. I just hope that it doesn't affect the next phase of the chemo. H1N1 runs in a 7 day cycle, and I cannot imagine that her doctors will allow her to start part 2 if she is still suffering from the flu.
If things turn out OK, the next phase of chemo will begin on Monday, October 26th. Her oncologist has set up a four day hospital stay for her for that phase. He also is working on handling the Ifex issue, and it looks like it will not be as severe next time.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Sunday, October 11th, 2009
Sunday Morning
Looks like another big gap - sorry all. It has been quite busy around here. The last time I wrote down something in the blog, Lynn was about half way through the chemo, and things were going well. As far as the impact on the heart is concerned, that is still the case. So far, the RICE combination has not done anything to her heart. All her vitals are good. Unfortunately, she had a side effect that was the result of the "I" in RICE. Basically, she suffered from a condition called "Neuro-toxicity". It sounds pretty bad, and it is while it lasts, but it does not cause permanent damage. Basically, as the "I" chemical breaks down (the chemotherapy chemical is called "Ifosmaide" or "Ifex"), it creates a toxic substance. If there is not enough protein in the body, specifically albumin, which binds to the chemical and allows the body to flush it out, it works its way into the nervous system. The toxic substance, chloral hydrate, incidentally, was used as a sedative years ago during surgery or as a pain blocker. The result is confusion, disorientation, and, in some cases dizziness. It has the effect of alcohol on the body. In Lynn's case, the effect was profound....I'd have to say that it was pretty much as if she had consumed about a fifth of tequila.
Yes, you can say that it hit her very hard. As the Ifex dosage continued, she got more and more confused. Eventually, she was able to tell the doctors what her name was, but that was just about it. They pointed to me, and asked her who I was, and she just gave a goofy smile. I guess it could have been worse - she could have spit at me. Sometimes, a patient's motor skills also get affected. Fortunately, that was not the case here. However, she was extremely confused and disoriented mentally. One problem associated with this was that her heart doctor, Dr. Jordan, prescribed Lasix late in the day. Lasix is a powerful fluid reduction chemical, and it makes her body flush out lots and lots of fluid...in the form of urine. That meant that she had to go to the bathroom just about every 15 minutes. And, since she really had no idea on where she was or where the bathroom was, it was quite a challenge getting her lined up properly. I got there around 2:30 PM on Wednesday, and my time from then until midnight was pretty much taken up with steering her towards the right door (she made a couple of bee-lines for the hall), making sure that she didn't bolt up and dash for the bathroom without taking her IV stand with her, or just basically giving her the proper navigational assistance needed to find the right part of the room. To her credit, she did great until right around 11PM. At that point, she made it to the bathroom, but mistook the trash can for the toilet. Not good, and here is why. As the chemotherapy chemicals work their way out of the body, they exit via, well, the urine. These chemicals are considered to be toxic substances for 48 hours after the last chemotherapy infusion...that means that the URINE is considered to be a toxic substance. Therefore, if there is a "spill", there are all kinds of strict rules in place governing how they will be cleaned up. As soon as Lynn had her difficulties, four nurses and nurse's aids descended on her room. They immediately donned haz mat style gowns, and got to work cleaning up the spill as if it was the worst nerve agent known to man. I decided, at that point, to go out and see what the night life was like near Riverside. No, actually, I stayed in the room, but retreated to the other side...no sense in getting in the way as the people who get PAID to handle this stuff went to work!
One other interesting observation - at one point, Lynn had just gone to the bathroom. However, when she was done, she made no move towards heading back to bed. She just stood in the middle of the bathroom. I said "Lynn, time to go back to bed!". She said, "I know." And, she, again, just stood there, staring at me. I waited a minute, and said, "Lynn, time to go back to sleep". She said "I KNOW!". And, yet again, stood there staring at me. Well, we went through this cycle a couple of times...she acknowledging that, indeed, it WAS time to go to bed, but that the motor activity required to make this happen was not, at that point, not an option. Finally, I grabbed her arm and said, "C'mon! Let's get to bed!" She shook herself loose and said "Get your hands off me! I KNOW!" I gather that something about the physical contact broke the spell. She gave me a look like I had just eaten the last chocolate chip cookie in the house, snarled once, and got back in bed
Around 12:00 AM, staff at the hospital told me that the worst was over, that, with the Lasix out of her system, she would probably sleep the rest of the night. I got her to go to the bathroom one last time, and then headed home. I went to work the next morning really early, then called the nurse's station. Turns out that things did NOT go as smoothly as I thought after I left...she had continued to sit up on the side of her bed, refusing to lay down. I scurried over that morning and stayed with her. She settled down some, and we managed to get her to rest. Susan, along with Gary and Sharon also came by and visited for a bit, which also helped out a lot. As the day went on, Lynn got better and better. Finally, around 4 PM, Dr. Blair told her that she could go home that night. It was a day later than we wanted, but we jumped on it. After we got done with all the details. we ended up being able to get her home by around 6:30 PM. She was still a little groggy and all, but was much better than 24 hours before.
Lynn slept OK that night, but was still restless...same story the next night. Even though she is home, she still has to deal with the periodic times she has to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Of course, it is much better than the hospital...after all, I do not try to clean the floor at 3AM with a motorized, and very loud, floor sweeper, like they do at Riverside. However, she is still prone to getting up, at least till the Lasix is done. All in all, things are much better. Of course, we still have the prospect of having to deal with the next round of Ifex, which is scary. On the positive side, Dr. Blair has said that he will take steps to keep her albumin levels up before she gets the next hit of Ifex, and he might back off on the level of the Ifex a bit. However, we'll still want to keep it as high as possible - even though the Ifex is hard to deal with from a side effect basis, it really does a number on the nasty Lymphoma cells. The harder we can nail those guys, the better chance she has of recovering.
Looks like another big gap - sorry all. It has been quite busy around here. The last time I wrote down something in the blog, Lynn was about half way through the chemo, and things were going well. As far as the impact on the heart is concerned, that is still the case. So far, the RICE combination has not done anything to her heart. All her vitals are good. Unfortunately, she had a side effect that was the result of the "I" in RICE. Basically, she suffered from a condition called "Neuro-toxicity". It sounds pretty bad, and it is while it lasts, but it does not cause permanent damage. Basically, as the "I" chemical breaks down (the chemotherapy chemical is called "Ifosmaide" or "Ifex"), it creates a toxic substance. If there is not enough protein in the body, specifically albumin, which binds to the chemical and allows the body to flush it out, it works its way into the nervous system. The toxic substance, chloral hydrate, incidentally, was used as a sedative years ago during surgery or as a pain blocker. The result is confusion, disorientation, and, in some cases dizziness. It has the effect of alcohol on the body. In Lynn's case, the effect was profound....I'd have to say that it was pretty much as if she had consumed about a fifth of tequila.
Yes, you can say that it hit her very hard. As the Ifex dosage continued, she got more and more confused. Eventually, she was able to tell the doctors what her name was, but that was just about it. They pointed to me, and asked her who I was, and she just gave a goofy smile. I guess it could have been worse - she could have spit at me. Sometimes, a patient's motor skills also get affected. Fortunately, that was not the case here. However, she was extremely confused and disoriented mentally. One problem associated with this was that her heart doctor, Dr. Jordan, prescribed Lasix late in the day. Lasix is a powerful fluid reduction chemical, and it makes her body flush out lots and lots of fluid...in the form of urine. That meant that she had to go to the bathroom just about every 15 minutes. And, since she really had no idea on where she was or where the bathroom was, it was quite a challenge getting her lined up properly. I got there around 2:30 PM on Wednesday, and my time from then until midnight was pretty much taken up with steering her towards the right door (she made a couple of bee-lines for the hall), making sure that she didn't bolt up and dash for the bathroom without taking her IV stand with her, or just basically giving her the proper navigational assistance needed to find the right part of the room. To her credit, she did great until right around 11PM. At that point, she made it to the bathroom, but mistook the trash can for the toilet. Not good, and here is why. As the chemotherapy chemicals work their way out of the body, they exit via, well, the urine. These chemicals are considered to be toxic substances for 48 hours after the last chemotherapy infusion...that means that the URINE is considered to be a toxic substance. Therefore, if there is a "spill", there are all kinds of strict rules in place governing how they will be cleaned up. As soon as Lynn had her difficulties, four nurses and nurse's aids descended on her room. They immediately donned haz mat style gowns, and got to work cleaning up the spill as if it was the worst nerve agent known to man. I decided, at that point, to go out and see what the night life was like near Riverside. No, actually, I stayed in the room, but retreated to the other side...no sense in getting in the way as the people who get PAID to handle this stuff went to work!
One other interesting observation - at one point, Lynn had just gone to the bathroom. However, when she was done, she made no move towards heading back to bed. She just stood in the middle of the bathroom. I said "Lynn, time to go back to bed!". She said, "I know." And, she, again, just stood there, staring at me. I waited a minute, and said, "Lynn, time to go back to sleep". She said "I KNOW!". And, yet again, stood there staring at me. Well, we went through this cycle a couple of times...she acknowledging that, indeed, it WAS time to go to bed, but that the motor activity required to make this happen was not, at that point, not an option. Finally, I grabbed her arm and said, "C'mon! Let's get to bed!" She shook herself loose and said "Get your hands off me! I KNOW!" I gather that something about the physical contact broke the spell. She gave me a look like I had just eaten the last chocolate chip cookie in the house, snarled once, and got back in bed
Around 12:00 AM, staff at the hospital told me that the worst was over, that, with the Lasix out of her system, she would probably sleep the rest of the night. I got her to go to the bathroom one last time, and then headed home. I went to work the next morning really early, then called the nurse's station. Turns out that things did NOT go as smoothly as I thought after I left...she had continued to sit up on the side of her bed, refusing to lay down. I scurried over that morning and stayed with her. She settled down some, and we managed to get her to rest. Susan, along with Gary and Sharon also came by and visited for a bit, which also helped out a lot. As the day went on, Lynn got better and better. Finally, around 4 PM, Dr. Blair told her that she could go home that night. It was a day later than we wanted, but we jumped on it. After we got done with all the details. we ended up being able to get her home by around 6:30 PM. She was still a little groggy and all, but was much better than 24 hours before.
Lynn slept OK that night, but was still restless...same story the next night. Even though she is home, she still has to deal with the periodic times she has to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Of course, it is much better than the hospital...after all, I do not try to clean the floor at 3AM with a motorized, and very loud, floor sweeper, like they do at Riverside. However, she is still prone to getting up, at least till the Lasix is done. All in all, things are much better. Of course, we still have the prospect of having to deal with the next round of Ifex, which is scary. On the positive side, Dr. Blair has said that he will take steps to keep her albumin levels up before she gets the next hit of Ifex, and he might back off on the level of the Ifex a bit. However, we'll still want to keep it as high as possible - even though the Ifex is hard to deal with from a side effect basis, it really does a number on the nasty Lymphoma cells. The harder we can nail those guys, the better chance she has of recovering.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
October 7, 2009
Wednesday, October 7
Looks like I am procrastinating again! Sorry about the delay. Lots has been happening.
Lynn got admitted to the hospital on Monday. A room was available pretty early on, so she was there shortly after noon. Gary and Sharon took her in. She got settled in, and then the staff got started with prepping her for the first batch of chemotherapy. This one is for Ritoxin, I believe. From what I can tell, this was one that could have an effect on her heart more than the rest, so as soon as she got the drip started, the nurses monitored her vitals every 15 minutes. She was NOT on a heart monitor, however. The reason, I guess, was that the blood pressure was the biggest concern, and it could be easily checked by the staff.
Both of Lynn's doctors also came in. I got to meet her cardiac specialist, Dr. Jordan. He is a really nice guy, and has an excellent reputation. In two cases, Lynn heard from other people that he was the best in the area, so we are really glad to have him. He also has two things going for him. First, he is a Buckeyes fan...nuff said there. And, second, I am WAY cuter than he is...that means that Lynn won't get one of these dopey "Grey's Anatomy" or "Young and the Restless" things going, where she falls in love with her doctor, and jets off with him to Tortuga or the Bahamas or something.
Dr. Blair, her oncologist from the 8 years ago and who is now involved in the Lynn's sequel, also showed up. This was in spite of the fact that he had arranged for another person working his practice to come in earlier. It looks like he wanted to see how things were going for himself, which was really nice of him. He also told Lynn that she was not allowed to be sick during the first series of chemo that night...the Packers were playing the Vikings, and he did not want to be disturbed.
Getting the IV in was very difficult...the nurse could not get it right, and the tech that came in later had to try twice. To give you an idea on how screwed up her veins are, the technician said that it had been 8 months since she had to do that twice, and she puts in a LOT of IVs. Just to clarify things...that is due to the fact that her blood pressure is low, and due to the fact that earlier chemo damages veins in that way. It does NOT mean that she has been a habitual heroin user!
Well, that was around dinner time...when 7PM rolled around, they started the drip. It was going to take 4 hours...by the time 11PM rolled around, nothing noteworthy had happened - very good news indeed. That meant that her heart was handling at least the first round of the chemo like a champion.
Lynn did not get a great deal of sleep that night, though. For one thing, the staff still wanted to keep an eye on her vitals, so they were waking her up every hour or so. Then, they also wanted blood at 4:30AM (Guess they are like vampires...have to get the work done before the sun comes up!) And, she had an awful case of cold sweating all night long. That is a sign of the cancer, supposedly, but it was much more severe than usual for her, and we have got to think that the chemo had something to do with it.
Next day, things got rolling again with another couple of shots of chemo. Different ones, of course, but she got one early in the day, then another one around noon that was scheduled to last 22 hours. Again, nothing bad happened...also, exactly what we wanted to hear. It all went like clockwork. She had no side effects, other than fatigue, and that was because she could not get any sleep for all the interruptions.
Today, AGAIN, no major problems. Dr. Blair, her oncologist, has established a schedule for the chemo regimen, and she is right on target. Her heart does not appear to be having any difficulty handling the drugs, and we hope it stays that way. Two more IVs today...one went in around noon. That is a major one. She will have a 24 hour drip on that one. If that is the case, she will have had everything by early afternoon, and we can take her home.
All in all, and keeping in mind the overall situation, things are going about as good as possible. No bad side effects, no undue pain, good attitude...hope this is the way things stay. Things are definitely going ot get harder...we both remember that each round of chemo takes more and more out of you, and gets a person more and more tired. But, just seeing how well this one went, with no major side effects, is really cause for optimism. The stronger dose she can take without her heart being affected, the better it will do against the cancer cells, and the better chance she has of knocking the buggers out and getting cured.
Looks like I am procrastinating again! Sorry about the delay. Lots has been happening.
Lynn got admitted to the hospital on Monday. A room was available pretty early on, so she was there shortly after noon. Gary and Sharon took her in. She got settled in, and then the staff got started with prepping her for the first batch of chemotherapy. This one is for Ritoxin, I believe. From what I can tell, this was one that could have an effect on her heart more than the rest, so as soon as she got the drip started, the nurses monitored her vitals every 15 minutes. She was NOT on a heart monitor, however. The reason, I guess, was that the blood pressure was the biggest concern, and it could be easily checked by the staff.
Both of Lynn's doctors also came in. I got to meet her cardiac specialist, Dr. Jordan. He is a really nice guy, and has an excellent reputation. In two cases, Lynn heard from other people that he was the best in the area, so we are really glad to have him. He also has two things going for him. First, he is a Buckeyes fan...nuff said there. And, second, I am WAY cuter than he is...that means that Lynn won't get one of these dopey "Grey's Anatomy" or "Young and the Restless" things going, where she falls in love with her doctor, and jets off with him to Tortuga or the Bahamas or something.
Dr. Blair, her oncologist from the 8 years ago and who is now involved in the Lynn's sequel, also showed up. This was in spite of the fact that he had arranged for another person working his practice to come in earlier. It looks like he wanted to see how things were going for himself, which was really nice of him. He also told Lynn that she was not allowed to be sick during the first series of chemo that night...the Packers were playing the Vikings, and he did not want to be disturbed.
Getting the IV in was very difficult...the nurse could not get it right, and the tech that came in later had to try twice. To give you an idea on how screwed up her veins are, the technician said that it had been 8 months since she had to do that twice, and she puts in a LOT of IVs. Just to clarify things...that is due to the fact that her blood pressure is low, and due to the fact that earlier chemo damages veins in that way. It does NOT mean that she has been a habitual heroin user!
Well, that was around dinner time...when 7PM rolled around, they started the drip. It was going to take 4 hours...by the time 11PM rolled around, nothing noteworthy had happened - very good news indeed. That meant that her heart was handling at least the first round of the chemo like a champion.
Lynn did not get a great deal of sleep that night, though. For one thing, the staff still wanted to keep an eye on her vitals, so they were waking her up every hour or so. Then, they also wanted blood at 4:30AM (Guess they are like vampires...have to get the work done before the sun comes up!) And, she had an awful case of cold sweating all night long. That is a sign of the cancer, supposedly, but it was much more severe than usual for her, and we have got to think that the chemo had something to do with it.
Next day, things got rolling again with another couple of shots of chemo. Different ones, of course, but she got one early in the day, then another one around noon that was scheduled to last 22 hours. Again, nothing bad happened...also, exactly what we wanted to hear. It all went like clockwork. She had no side effects, other than fatigue, and that was because she could not get any sleep for all the interruptions.
Today, AGAIN, no major problems. Dr. Blair, her oncologist, has established a schedule for the chemo regimen, and she is right on target. Her heart does not appear to be having any difficulty handling the drugs, and we hope it stays that way. Two more IVs today...one went in around noon. That is a major one. She will have a 24 hour drip on that one. If that is the case, she will have had everything by early afternoon, and we can take her home.
All in all, and keeping in mind the overall situation, things are going about as good as possible. No bad side effects, no undue pain, good attitude...hope this is the way things stay. Things are definitely going ot get harder...we both remember that each round of chemo takes more and more out of you, and gets a person more and more tired. But, just seeing how well this one went, with no major side effects, is really cause for optimism. The stronger dose she can take without her heart being affected, the better it will do against the cancer cells, and the better chance she has of knocking the buggers out and getting cured.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Saturday, October 3, 2009
October 3, 2009
As anyone can see by the date, I have, again, been missing log entries. Lots has happened in the last two weeks, most of it bad. Procrastination has always been a problem for me, and it is even worse when you have to write about things you'd rather not talk about.
Lynn got out of the hospital last week. The Lasik worked well, and they were able to get the swelling in her ankles under control, once it was administered intravenously. She got a new doctor (sorry, can't recall his name) for her heart condition, and she really likes him. He was very positive about trying to get the heart failure situation resolved, and had some ideas on how they could get her heart healing again. The main problem, he thought, was that she went off one of the meds too soon, and she need to go on it again. It had taken her blood pressure way down, and that was why she went off it.
One thing that was also done was a cat scan while she was there to check out the condition of the heart and to see what else might be going on. Unfortunately, they did not like what they saw...it looked like the lymphoma might be making a come back. At first, the idea was to take a biopsy of some of the lymph nodes, and see what came back. However, instead, they drained fluid that was building up around her lungs, about a pint, and then set up a pet scan for last Monday. The pet scan involves injecting radioactive dye into the blood stream, and then doing a cat scan. Cancer cells react differently and show up on the scan.
Since the pet scan was going to be done out-patient, Lynn got to go home early. And, the pet scan was done Monday, the 28th. Her oncologist set up a follow-up for the following Thursday, October 1st. Well, Dr. Blair had bad news for us. Her lymphoma is definitely back. Large B cell type II. It is similar to the one she had when she had cancer when she was carrying Mac, but not exactly the same. And, it is far more progressed than before. She was stage I when she had it when she was pregnant. This time, it is stage 4.
Last time she was treated with a chemotherapy mixture called "CHOP". This time, that is not an option. CHOP is too hard on the heart. This time, they will use one called "RICE" - it is easier on the heart and is still very effective. Unfortunately, there will still be a very delicate balancing act between what strength of mixture will kill the cancer, and what will adversely affect her heart. She must be int he hospital this time for at least the first batch of chemotherapy. She heads in sometime on Monday, and will be at least until Thursday. More later - Gary and Sharon are here along with Kelly.
As anyone can see by the date, I have, again, been missing log entries. Lots has happened in the last two weeks, most of it bad. Procrastination has always been a problem for me, and it is even worse when you have to write about things you'd rather not talk about.
Lynn got out of the hospital last week. The Lasik worked well, and they were able to get the swelling in her ankles under control, once it was administered intravenously. She got a new doctor (sorry, can't recall his name) for her heart condition, and she really likes him. He was very positive about trying to get the heart failure situation resolved, and had some ideas on how they could get her heart healing again. The main problem, he thought, was that she went off one of the meds too soon, and she need to go on it again. It had taken her blood pressure way down, and that was why she went off it.
One thing that was also done was a cat scan while she was there to check out the condition of the heart and to see what else might be going on. Unfortunately, they did not like what they saw...it looked like the lymphoma might be making a come back. At first, the idea was to take a biopsy of some of the lymph nodes, and see what came back. However, instead, they drained fluid that was building up around her lungs, about a pint, and then set up a pet scan for last Monday. The pet scan involves injecting radioactive dye into the blood stream, and then doing a cat scan. Cancer cells react differently and show up on the scan.
Since the pet scan was going to be done out-patient, Lynn got to go home early. And, the pet scan was done Monday, the 28th. Her oncologist set up a follow-up for the following Thursday, October 1st. Well, Dr. Blair had bad news for us. Her lymphoma is definitely back. Large B cell type II. It is similar to the one she had when she had cancer when she was carrying Mac, but not exactly the same. And, it is far more progressed than before. She was stage I when she had it when she was pregnant. This time, it is stage 4.
Last time she was treated with a chemotherapy mixture called "CHOP". This time, that is not an option. CHOP is too hard on the heart. This time, they will use one called "RICE" - it is easier on the heart and is still very effective. Unfortunately, there will still be a very delicate balancing act between what strength of mixture will kill the cancer, and what will adversely affect her heart. She must be int he hospital this time for at least the first batch of chemotherapy. She heads in sometime on Monday, and will be at least until Thursday. More later - Gary and Sharon are here along with Kelly.
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