Sunday - Best Day This Cycle

Today seemed like a turning point in this 3 week cycle. Marge felt much better. She was able to attend church, and even drove the car some. (This was a big change from how she felt even last night, which is a real blessing.)

Chris was able to get a day off, attend church with us, and share lunch. That made the day extra special, since he usually works on Sundays..

Tomorrow is her weekly blood test to check on blood counts, and clotting time. (Hard to believe that today was the 12th day of the 21 day cycle...)

We pray you had a good Sunday with Church and family as we did....
Jim

Friday -- No Slave-driver Today

Today has been a good day for Marge. Her pain from the bone marrow shot seems to be abating, which is great news.. The head ache and extreme back ache were no fun...

We have been very leisurely today which has been a good change. (We did walk a couple of laps in front of the house at 8am. I then put away my slave-driver whip, for the rest of the day.)

Thanks for the prayers and their answers,
Jim

Last Night Father's Day

Well.. we celebrated Father's Day last night. Steam grill cleaner anyone? We had a great meal of grilled chicken, grilled veggies and Ice Cream prepared by our very own in-house chef, and then watched Million Dollar Baby. We were very surprised by the depth of the movie... not a bad effort by Dirty Harry. It seems Eastwood has made some good movies in the last few years. We enjoyed Gran Turino.

Today Marge walked at the Rec Center for the first time since her chemo. She did well, but was tired by the time we quit. (The center is well air conditioned, which made it a good alternative to the 92degree heat outside..)

The effects of nausea and upset stomach have lasted longer than during the previous treatment, which has been discouraging for M. Thanks for continued prayers,
Jim

Wed - The Fifth Day (kind-of)

Marge is gradually feeling better. We are on the fifth day of the 3 week cycle, which was the turning point during the previous treatment. (We'll see how it plays out with this set of drugs.) It is a little hard to calculate, since Marge's treatment ended Saturday at 4:30am.

Thanks for all the great cards and gifts. Our email and snail mail boxes have been sources of encourgement..

(Tonight we are have a Father's day grill-out.... Last Sunday wasn't a good day. Grilled chicken, grilled vegetables, and Ben & Jerry's New York Fudge Chuck..... ahhh)
Jim

(Marge is on the phone with her advisor, Pauley, close by.)

Monday - The Bone Marrow Shot & our 41st Anniversary

Today Marge had blood work done, and had her bone marrow shot. If her white blood cell count is too low she will be very suceptible to infection. They won't administer the chemo till they are back within acceptable levels. (This was a problem about a third of the way through the last treatment. From that point on they give her the shot a day or two after the chemo treatmnent.)

The shot has the side effect of making your bones ache. What a great way to spend our 41st wedding anniversary. (We decided we would wait a week to celebrate, and pretend that next Monday is June 21st, 1969.)

Always grateful for prayers,
Jim

Sunday Night

Today was a much better day. Marge is still feeling the impacts of chemo... but is doing much better.

Tomorrow we have an appointment for blood work, and to get her bone marrow shot. Without the shot her blood count won't be high enough to take her next treatment (in 3 weeks).

This next couple of days will be the hardest of the cycle, if our last set of chemo is any guide. This is a different set of drugs, so we are not sure what each day will bring.

Each round of the chemo is more impacting. Marge can hardly wait... she says its like being on a sawmill conveyer belt, moving down the line towards the blade. (Not a great image.)
Jim

We Are Home (10am Sat)

We are home.

We ran into a snag this morning. Marge had a reaction to one of the drugs. We think maybe the anti-nausea drug was the cause. About 4:00am her heart started racing and she began hallucinating.

We delayed leaving till we could see Marge’s Doctor’s assistant, who was on call for the weekend. They did some blood work. All the vitals and blood work were OK so we decided to get Marge home, and let her sleep it off. (The best guess on the cause was a drug they administered for nausea. It was within limits for dosage, but was more than she needed by the third day. They will use less next time.)

Thanks for your prayers and thoughtfulness.
Jim

Wed, First Day - Long

The day started with admission to the hospital at 9:00am. We had to wait for a room in oncology, so didn't get to the room until 10:30.

The chemo then had to be ordered, and after much waiting Marge starting getting her first cancer drug Taxol at 11:30. The second drug, IFEX, was started at 4:00pm. This is given at the same time with another drug to neutralize its bleeding side effects. This last set of drugs take a total of 12 hours, which means they will conclude at 4:00am tomorrow morning.

Marge's next two days of treatment will only consist of the IFEX regime, which is administered 24 hours later. Hence Thursday and Friday's treatment will be from 4:00pm to 4:00am...... Boy am I glad Marge is in the hospital for this one (only way it could be administered..)

Thanks for your prayers and encouragement,
Jim
(I know this note is a bit of a ramble... Sorry about that.)

Frequent Flyer Cards at Admission

Back home by 3:00pm.. It was a longer day than I thought. We arrived at 9:30, but Marge's procedure wasn't scheduled till 12:15. The Doctor finished by 1:45. It took him a couple of tries to get the tube inserted in the vein. She was dehydrated, which made the vein harder to find. (I'm sure she will feel the after effects later..)

But it is now done. (We feel like we should have some kind of Frequent Flyer card that is punished when we go to Surgery Admission.)

Marge is home and resting. We'll be back at 9:00 am tomorrow to start the chemo. The first day treatment will be with the drug Taxol, which we used the last time. The other two days will be the drug Ifex which a relative of Mustard gas.

Thanks for all your prayers..
Jim

Tomorrow is the Port.. (Tues)

Tomorrow Marge gets her port. It is a minor procedure, much like a pacemaker. It is placed under the skin and then the incision is glued back together.

She checks into the Hospital at 9:30am. As I recall the procedure takes under an hour. She wouldn’t be out completely, but won’t remember much. Hopefully we will be home by 1:00PM or so.

What Marge does remember from the last port procedure was that afterwards it felt like her collarbone was broken. A good memory is not always at good thing….. We’ll take it easy the rest of Tuesday.

Wed-Friday will be the long days of chemo in the hospital. The whole regime takes 12 hours each day. One of the drugs is Ifosfamide, a nitrogen mustard (related to mustard gas of WWI/II fame.) That’s a little scary…

Again thanks for you prayers.

Jim

Results of Meeting with Dr.

Marge had an appointment with the Doctor this morning. The blood work was all within normal ranges (no anemia). He removed the staples, and discussed treatment options.

Marge opted for do the most aggressive type of chemo first and then evaluate. The first part of the treatment involves two sessions, three weeks apart. After that he will evaluate with a PET Scan for responsiveness before continuing. There was another set of drugs that could have been administered but they have a lower chance of working, and had some onerous side effects; loss of skin on hands and feet… The treatment Marge opted for has some chance of beating the disease, so she is going for it.

Next week Marge will have her port placed on Tuesday, and then will be in the hospital Wed-Friday for chemo. The procedure starts at 8:00 AM and lasts until 10:00pm. Marge could go home if she wanted overnight, but that didn’t seem to be very feasible. Later we can always chose to head home for the night, should we desire. We’ll play it by ear… (as the musicians say)

Thanks for your prayers for the meeting with the Doctor. We feel confident this is the next step we should take.

Jim

Clouds

A couple of days ago we had a cloud formation that looked like a sand painting....

Thanks for the Thoughtfulness

Thanks so much for all the cards, letters, emails, books and flowers. Marge has really enjoyed each of them...

The last two days have been good healing days. We walked both days, and Marge took some naps. She is losing a lot of the fluid they pumped into her at the hospital. They were worried about the kidney, so they gave her lots of intravenous fluids. (She is glad to be getting back to normal. Hard to believe it has only been 9 days since the surgery...)

Resting Up from Monday

Yesterday was a busy day... Marge accompanied me to the Fitness center, and walked for 15 minutes. (The center in well air conditioned, and she walked till she was tired.)

By the time we stopped by Walgreens and made it home she was worn out.

Today she stayed home while I had a couple of meetings. She has lounged in by overstuffed chair and relaxed. (We might try a short walk at the Fitness Center, and then "bring it on home". Depending on how she feels.)

Our only "big deal" this week is a Dr appoinment Fri at 9:45.. ( Thanks for the prayers, ahead of time..)
Jim

Phil's On his way...

Phil left today for New Orleans. He had planned to leave earlier, but waited until Marge was home safely.

We pray him God-speed as he pursues his music in a music city. -- The van has seen many moves, including our weekly treks from Edwardsville to Ozark over the course of 10 months. And Phil's many trips between Edwardsville and Chicago, and Chicago to Ozark... Now it is finding its way to the Big Easy..

Marge is home. - Sunday

The Doctor came early…7:15 (I beat him, barely.) He released Marge. His comment was, “let’s get you out of here before you get sick”.

We were home by 9:00am. I was able to attend church, and Marge slept most of the time I was gone. Her next appointment is this Friday, to remove the staples. She will need a couple of weeks or so to get stronger, and then she will talk about the next steps with the Doctor.

We had a victory supper tonight: for Marge’s safe return home, Chris’s good week at work, and Phil’s new adventure in New Orleans starting on Monday.

Thanks for all your prayers. We’ll spend next week eating well, sleeping a lot and walking.
Jim

Home on Sunday

Saturday AM. The Doctor beat me to the room. At 7:30am he was already with M. I made it for half the conversation.

He took her off the IV and let her have solid food. She will be able to go home tomorrow. We are just waiting on Lasix to take effect, and the results of some blood work from last night. (M had a 101 degree temperature last night. They ran tests to make sure she hasn't picked up a bug, before we go home.)

The next couple of weeks will be focused on getting healthy, then we'll contemplate next steps……

Thanks for all your prayers,
Jim

Marge and the Clear Diet

Yesterday was a slow one for Marge. They determined early in the morning that she has anemic and needed more blood. The afternoon from 11:45 till 6:30 was consumed with infusing 2 units of blood. We didn't get much else done. She didn't feel like eating, and didn't walk much.

Today has been much better. She lost some of her IV lines, and has graduated from a clear diet (broth and jello) to a liquid diet (soup, pudding, ...).

Thanks for all the prayers. We seemed to have turned the corner today. Now the question is: WHEN CAN WE GO HOME.. (We know there will be some time required to get her to solid food, and to sort on which anticoagulant she will be using... Still we can dream of home.)
Jim

Marge's Surgery

It's been a long day.

Marge's surgery lasted 2 hours. It was an hour less than was allotted, which was caused me unease as we met with the Doctor.

Our Doctor found the mass was as expected, more of the same cancer. There had been quite of bit of bleeding. The bleeding explained Marge's loss of consciousness last Wednesday. The cancer had not penetrated organs, but lay around the colon, small intestine, and bladder. At the end of this surgery he felt several cancer cells still lurked around and behind organs he couldn't reach. (This was a change from the two earlier procedures when he felt the cancer was contained.)

His guidance was we need to start Chemo as soon as Marge is strong enough. He is worried about how quickly the cancer grew, unchecked in the last 3 months. (Her last surgery was 16 Feb.)

Also complicating the treatment is the bleeding she experienced, cause by the blood thinners she was taking. The thinners were to prevent clots from forming, which can be a by-product of cancer. (Marge had a clot on her lung in Feb.)

All-in-all we are dancing a delicate dance between chemo vs. cancer growth and bleeding from thinner vs. blood clots.

We are thankful we have a great cancer Doctor, and a Great Physician.

Thanks for the continued prayer... I will keep you posted.
Jim
11:20pm