Just a check-up

We went up to Birmingham last night for an early appointment with my oncologist this morning. It was just a follow up to see how my counts and other aspects for my blood work were. My liver and kidney functions were good and my white blood counts were fine, and everything else was at a good level. When I asked her about the ureteral stent they put in a few months ago, she said it does need to be changed every 3 months or so if it appears to be beneficial to me. I have an appointment next Wednesday with the urologist, and he will be the one to make that call, but since it appears to be helping it will more than likely need to be changed in the upcoming weeks. Other than that, she said there won't really be any need for CT scans, unless I just want one for my own reasons. So unless something comes up between now and then, I will follow up with her in 3 weeks on Wednesday, September 7.

I also met with my pain doctor this afternoon, and there is nothing new to report there either. We decided to increase my Morphine just a little at night because I've been waking up at night having to take more Oxycodone and I've had to increase the Oxy slightly during the day as well. We will try the increase in morphine for a few days and see how that works and go from there. Radiation is definitely still an option, but for now we're going to wait because it does have its' risks and don't want to involve them unless needed.

So unless something comes up, we're really just going to play it by ear and try to control the pain as much as possible. I have my good days and my bad days, which is of course expected, but we are just taking it one day at a time! Thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers and we will let everyone know how the weekend goes. We love you all!!

No change in Pain Meds for now...

I talked to my pain doctor late Wednesday afternoon, and basically we've decided to stay on the current regiment of pain meds. It seems to help keep the pain much more tolerable and under control. If it becomes less tolerable or doesn't seem to be working anymore, I'll let him know and decide then whether we can alter the meds or if we need to try something else. If it becomes bad enough, I can still look into being admitted to the hospital for pain management assessment, which is more of a last option. So for now, we're just going to wait and see how this goes. I'm scheduled for a check up with my oncologist next Friday, August 19, and then with my urologist Wednesday, August 24, to check and see how the uretal stent seems to be doing. I'll give an update first part of next week about the pain, unless something comes up. Thanks again for all your prayers!!

Pain Update

My doctor from the pain clinic called me Monday to see how my weekend went painwise. I had increased my Morphine pills as instructed (2 at bedtime, then once in the morning and once in the afternoon) and took the Oxycodone as needed for breakthrough pain. Increasing the pain meds did seem to help some over the weekend. The pain never went away, but it did seem somewhat more tolerable. After telling him all of this, he suggested increasing the Morphine once again - 2 at bedtime, 2 in the morning, and 2 in the afternoon, essentially tripling the dose. If needed, I could still take Oxy for breakthrough pain if needed. We decided to try this for a few days and see how that helped and he would check in with me again Wednesday. He said this would be better than getting admitted for pain management - that's still an option, but if we can control it enough with the pills, that's a much easier option. I did increase my pills yesterday and today and it does seem to help, although still doesnt take away the pain completely, but I really dont know that anything will. Luckily, there is no risk of metabolising the meds - this dose won't effect my liver or anything like the Lortab had a risk of.

Other than that, not much new to report. The pain doctor will check in with me tomorrow and if anything changes, I will report the latest! I know a lot of you have been diligently praying for us and we appreciate that more than we can say. We will continue to keep you updated!

Newest Update

After a long day at UAB today, unfortunately we don’t have much good news to report. We met with Carrie’s endocrinologist first thing this morning and he didn’t have too much to say. Carrie’s blood pressure seems to have finally stabilized and has been good for several weeks now. It was actually pretty low today (91/64), which is VERY low for her. But since it’s stabilized, the endocrinologist said to stop taking one of the 4 BP meds Carrie has been on to see if it still stays controlled. He also said to increase her Prednisone (steroid) to see if that gives her more energy. That was about the extent of the “good news”…

Carrie also had her CT scan this morning and met with her oncologist a few hours later for the results. And the scans show that the treatment is not working. The mass on her left adrenal gland has increased from about 4 cms to over 11 cms since the beginning of June. Combining that with the masses on the right side of her abdomen, they’re basically overcrowding her stomach/abdomen area causing her so much pain. The treatment isn’t working and her doctor actually feels like treatment is causing most of her problems, like fatigue, dizziness, and lack of energy. (Carrie was up to 11 Mitotane per day, which is a VERY high dose). Unfortunately, we’ve run out of options and her doctors want to concentrate more on making Carrie as comfortable as possible and basically giving her the best quality of life they can and taking her off treatment will hopefully do that. Her oncologist called the surgeon that did her surgery 2 years ago to ask his opinion, but after looking at her scans, he said he would absolutely not recommend surgery because she would more than likely bleed out on the OR table. Based on where the masses are and the blood vessels surrounding them, surgery is way too risky and Carrie more than likely would not survive surgery. Radiation is an option to help maintain her pain level-her doctor called the radiologist and is waiting to hear back from him. For now, we are talking about possibly admitting Carrie to the pain management unit of the hospital at UAB for 24-48 hours and basically try different pain regiments to see which one works the best. For the weekend, they told Carrie she can increase both her Morphine and Oxycodone as much as she needs, and he would check in with her Monday and see how she was doing, and if need be, put her on the waiting list for admission to the hospital.

This was obviously not the news we were hoping for today, but we’ll take things day by day for now until we figure everything out. We appreciate all of your continued thoughts and prayers and we especially need them now. The Lord has blessed us beyond belief up until now and we have faith that He will continue to guide us through this. We will keep you updated and let you know how Carrie’s feeling early next week.

Round 3 of Chemo Completed

I finished my third round of chemotherapy this past friday, July 22. My counts were good enough to receive chemo - they did, however, give me a shot to increase my white blood cells as a preventative. So I will be off from chemo this week (YAY!!!!) and will return to UAB Friday August 5 for a CT scan and an appt with my oncologist. Pending the results from the scan, I'm then scheduled to receive chemo that friday as well. Until then, I will probably be doing as little as possible, considering my energy level is pretty much zero. I am up to 11 tablets (5.5 grams) of Mitotane. They checked my Mitotane levels July 1 and I was at a 5.8, which my doctor said was the highest she's seen this quickly (the level will be checked again on August 5). I've had a lot more fatigue and dizziness the last couple of weeks, most likely attributed to the mitotane and probably the chemo. I haven't fallen, but I have to steady myself alot and it's harder for me to drive, partly because I'm on pain medication and I'm not supposed to drive while taking them. This past weekend was a little rough, concerning abdominal pain, but today seems to be better. But unless something comes up between now and August 5, we'll update everyone then and go from there! Thank you all once again for your prayers. Please continue to pray for us as we wait these last few weeks to see how these drugs are helping (hopefully).

chemo continued

I started my 3rd round of treatment this past Friday June 15. I spent the week in Tennessee with my parents, which was great, and headed to UAB on friday. My counts were good enough for me to receive treatment and everything went fine. Jason's dad drove up to meet us and after treatment I had an appt with my pain doctor. It was basically just a checkup to make sure the meds he'd prescribed were working. He gave me an RX for some refills on the oxycodone and ritalin and I'm scheduled to see him in 6 weeks unless something comes up.

I returned home to auburn friday and spent the weekend recovering from treatment. It wasn't too bad of a weekend, I was just exhausted and spent a lot of it resting and taking it easy. I felt a little nauseous a few times. It was not enough to actually make me sick, but luckily I had some nausea meds left from last year that helped. My stomach has been bothering me off and on but nothing more than usual.

As long as my counts stay up I'll receive treatment this upcoming Friday June 22 and then I'll be off until august 5th, when I also get scanned again. We will update everyone if something changes or something comes up. Thanks again for your prayers!! Love to all!!

July 1st Update and Upcoming Schedule

Carrie met with her doctor this morning and we have made some adjustments to her medicine. The Tylenol in Lortab has decreased her liver function slightly. It is nothing to be concerned about now. The doctor is switching her over to a low dosage of Oxycodone to help get her liver function back up. Carrie asked about the swelling in her feet and legs and it is a side effect of the Mitotane and will probably get worse as Carrie increases the amount of Mitotane that she is taking. (She is currently up to 8 tablets of Mitotane per day - her doctor did do blood work today to check her Mitotane level, but it takes a week to 10 days to get those labs back.) Dr. DeShazo prescribed Lasix to see if she can reduce the amount of fluid causing the swelling. This can cause her to become dehydrated, which the chemo can do anyways, so they were leery to put her on a diuretic before. But the doctor consulted with Carrie's endocrinologist and they both agreed to try the Lasix to reduce the leg swelling. She will take it as needed, just not on days that she has treatment. They will also put her on a potassium supplement, since the Lasix will naturally deplete her potassium. Carrie's counts were good. Her white count was a little low but not enough to keep her from getting treatment today. As a precaution, they gave her a shot of Neulasta after her treatment today to help boost her counts. As for her schedule for the next month, she is off next week and then will be back for treatment on the 15th and 22nd of July. She will be off the week after that and then have treatment again on the 5th of August when she will also have a CT Scan and meet with her oncologist again.

As always, thanks for all your thought and prayers. Have a wonderful 4th of July weekend!