Counts were good!

Sounds kinda weird to be excited about this, but my blood counts were good yesterday so I was able to receive treatment! I received the full treatment yesterday (Friday June 24) and I am currently scheduled for another treatment next Friday, July 1. As it looks now, I will have infusion for 2 weeks, then have a week off. This will hopefully keep my counts from falling too low and prevent me from receiving any of them. I am feeling okay, just really worn out, but I've been trying to take it easy and relax. In addition to infusion on July 1, I'm also scheduled to have a check-up with my oncologist that morning as well. I've had a lot of swelling in my legs and feet, particularly my ankles and tops of my feet, which I will ask about. I still have the uncomfortable, bloated, pressure feeling in my stomach that doesn't seem to get any better, but I'm not sure they want to do anything about that yet. Unless something happens between now and Friday, we will update everyone after the doctor's appt and infusion at the end of the week.

No More Hair :(

Well, after a years worth of hard work, Carrie has lost her hair again. The new chemotherapy regiment has finally caught up with her hair growth and it started falling out this past weekend. By yesterday, Tuesday, it was coming out in pretty good sized patches. So last night, Carrie decided she wanted to go ahead and cut it off. She asked me to do it for her... so I did. She was somewhat prepared for it so she handled it pretty well. The hardest part was that it had just gotten to the point where it was starting to get long again. But we know it will grow back just as dark and beautiful as before! And she's beautiful inside and out, with or without hair. Luckily, she saved all of her scarves and hats from last time so she's pulled those back out to rock :) Other than that, she's doing okay. She's trying to rest up for infusion Friday morning and hopefully her counts will be okay!

Counts too low... treatment postponed

After a fun week spent with my mom in Auburn, we went up to UAB today for chemotherapy only to find out my white blood count was too low so they cancelled treatment for today. They have scheduled me to come back next friday instead for the third round. Until then, they told me to make sure I wash my hands and stuff like that and stay away from anyone sick or large crowds. I've had a pretty decent week otherwise. I'm still in a fair amount of discomfort but the pain meds seem to help somewhat if I stay on top of them. The Ritalin they prescribed seems to give me a little more energy-not enough to run a marathon, but enough to be up and about more. My blood pressure is still elevated and we cant seem to keep it down so my endocrinologist is running some additional blood tests to check hormone levels and see if something else could be contributing to it. Jason comes home from Orlando today so I'm looking forward to seeing him - he always makes me feel better :) I'm not sure if the delay in treatment today will affect my chemo schedule over the next couple of weeks, but I will email my doctor first thing next week to check. Until then, we appreciate all your prayers and will continue to keep you updated.

~Carrie

Round 2 Complete and New Meds Prescribed

After another long day spent in Birmingham, we are finally home in Auburn. We had to be at UAB around 8 AM this morning so we headed to Bham last night and spent the night so we wouldn't have to get up early and drive. Carrie had infusion therapy scheduled at 8:30 this morning. After she had blood work done, her blood counts were pretty good. Her kidney function had actually increased quite a bit since last week and her doctor attributed that to the stent she had put in last week. Carrie was scheduled to meet with her oncologist at 12:40, but infusion was taking longer than expected so her doctor actually met with us while she was completing her treatment. There really wasn't any new information. As long as Carrie's counts are good next friday, she will get the 3rd round of chemo, then take the following week off. She will then start again the following week for 3 more weekly rounds (so basically she'll be getting chemo 3 out of every 4 weeks for now). They plan on doing another CT scan about 8 weeks after the last one, then depending on those results, re-evaluate the infusion schedule. Regarding the Mitotane, Carrie is to increase to 6 pills this weekend and if she tolerates that okay, increase it by another pill by next weekend. She is scheduled to meet with her oncologist in 2 weeks, on July 1st.

Carrie also met with the staff at Palliative Care about her pain management. She is still considering a fair amount of pain/discomfort in her lower abdomen and pelvic area. The pelvic pain is more than likely attributed to the stent surgery so hopefully that will subside as she continues to heal from that. The biggest concern with the abdomen pain is the fact that it interferes with her eating and appetite. She feels bloated and full all the time, which gets worse when she eats. She's been on the pain patches, which are supposed to provide continuous relief, but she's still taking supplemental pain pills pretty much around the clock. This led them to think the pain patches are really working that well for Carrie. They've decided to discontinue the patches for now and try a low dose of morphine in a pill form that she will initially take at bedtime. She can still take the other pain pills she's been taking throughout the day. In addition, they've prescribed Reglan, which is basically used to regulate the gastrointestinal system. Based on the scans, it appears that one of the tumors is pressing up against her stomach, which could be the cause for all the discomfort. The hope is that the Reglan will help her GI flow naturally and hopefully relieve some of that pressure. The doctors said if that's the case, she should notice a difference within a few days. The only other thing they addressed is her fatigue and lack of energy. Even though some of the meds Carrie is on cause drowsiness and fatigue, they've decided to try her on Ritalin. It's typically used for children with ADD, but can also serve as a stimulant in adults to make them more alert and increase energy levels, which is our hope for Carrie. Unless something happens or changes between now and than, Carrie will follow up with Palliative Care the first week of July.

I will be headed to Orland this upcoming Sunday through Friday for a conference for work so Carrie's mom will be headed to Auburn to stay with her while I'm away and accompany her to UAB next friday for round 3 of treatment. My parents will then pick Carrie up from treatment friday and drive her to Brewton, where I will meet them on my way home to spend the weekend with my parents. Unless something happens between now and then, we will let everyone know how round 3 goes next friday. Until then, thank you all for your support and prayers. We love you all!!

End of a Long Week

Carrie had her ureteral stent put in Thursday morning at UAB and everything went fine. We got to the hospital at 8AM to get her checked in and they started prepping her around 8:30. We (myself, and Carrie's parents) got to see her just before they called her back, and she was sent back to surgery just after 10AM. The urologist who did the procedure called me around 10:45 to let us know that everything went fine and that Carrie was in recovery, waking up from anesthesia. She stayed in recovery for about an hour and we were then able to go see her and help her get ready to go. She was feeling pretty good for the most part - a little sore, but mainly just wore out from the medicines and last couple of days. They gave her a prescription for an antibiotic for 3 days, as well as pain meds in case she needed them. We left the hospital around 1PM and checked into a hotel for the night. Carrie was feeling good and even had a good enough appetite to eat lunch, and luckily, didn't have any nausea. I drove back to Auburn around 4PM and Carrie's parents stayed with her in Birmingham Thursday evening.

Friday morning, Carrie started her new chemotherapy regimen. She's been through several chemos before so there really wasn't anything new. She was informed she will more than likely lose her hair, but she's already prepared for that. And who knows, maybe she won't!! They gave her some anti-nausea medicine with the chemo and luckily she hasn't been nauseous from the chemo. It lasted about 3 hours total and then she returned home to Auburn Friday afternoon. She is feeling pretty good, mainly just tired and worn out, but we think that's from a hectic last several days and the procedure Thursday. We will return to UAB next Friday, June 10, for the 2ND round of chemo, to meet with her oncologist, and also to meet with palliative care about Carrie's pain management. Thank you once again for all the prayers! We can definitely feel them working in our lives!

Here we go again...

So our one day visit to get a CT Scan and see the doctor has turned into a three day adventure. The scans only showed a small amount(1cm) of growth since her last scan. This growth has been causing Carrie some pain and discomfort for the last few weeks. The scan showed that one of the tumors is pressing on the tube that connects her kidney to her bladder on her right side. This could cause a blockage that could in turn cause kidney failure. Right now all of her tests show that her kidney is functioning fine. As a precaution they have decided to insert an urinary stint. This will relieve the pressure on the kidney. The procedure will be tomorrow(Thursday) morning at UAB at 10am. It will be an out patient procedure that shouldn't take longer than 30 minutes if everything goes well. Now on to Friday. They are going to start Carrie on another infusion chemo regimen of Taxol and carboplatin Friday morning. They are typically well tolerated but she will probably lose her hair once again. Silver lining I get to shave my head again :) Chemo treatment will be every Friday for the next 3 weeks. If she doesn't have any major side effects, treatment could change to one treatment every 3 weeks. Dr. DeShazo( our Oncologist) is contacting the radiologist to see if they can do radiation again to treat the pain that Carrie is having. For now she has been prescribed pain patches. She is scheduling an appointment to meet with Pallative Care for pain management. Even the idea of Acupuncture has been mentioned. There have been talks of surgery and we got that clarified today. Surgery is not an option as a form of treatment of the cancer. They did say that surgery is an option if all other pain treatment doesn't work but only as a last resort. As of right now, Carrie will meet with her doctor again next Friday (6/10) and hopefully the Pallative Care doctor. OH, major upside all of this will be done in Birmingham, not MD Anderson. I will update the blog tomorrow afternoon to let everyone how the procedure goes.