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!

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!!