The Next Three Weeks Begins--Treatment Two of Four.........

5/26/13--Sunday--Day 225--Starting It Over Again.......

Wednesday afternoon we headed to Mesa to start the second chemo session of phase two.  After this three-week routine, that puts only two more treatments and six more weeks before chemo is all done!  We headed over Wednesday because I had my checkup with Dr. Matt, my ovarian gynecology oncology surgeon.  I will see him every three months now through January of 2014 and then every four months through 2014 and a bunch more but less often after that over the next five years.  This time he ran my first tumor markers.  Tumor markers are a blood test that help in tracing if certain types of tumors may be growing back.  They are not a sure thing, but they can help in early diagnosis over time.  Anything under 36 is good, and mine was at 19 for ovarian tumors so that was something to celebrate.  I'm not sure why they are not doing breast tumor markers yet, but I assume they will wait until after the chemo is over at this point.

After the doctor's visit, we spent a great evening taking Preston to dinner at Texas Roadhouse and then to see the movie, Star Trek.  Dinner tasted fabulous.  My taste started returning on Monday, and by Tuesday I had Greg take me to Casa where I could actually taste everything for the first time in almost three weeks.  So since I assumed I would only have two days of tasting, I enjoyed eating at two of my favorite places.

After enjoying a night with Preston, we headed for chemo number two first thing on Thursday morning.  Though Dr. Cianfrocca usually sees patients each time during this phase of chemo, we knew she would be out of town for this one.  We set an appointment for the previous Monday in case I was having lots of trouble and needed to see her, but planned on canceling from the beginning, which we did.  Fortunately for me, Heather was in labs for the morning and, like always, she accessed my port first time.  And then I got double lucky because she headed to the infusion floor and was stationed right next to Cheryl for the day so I was able to visit with both of them.  I've missed seeing them weekly.  I told them staying in Safford that first Thursday since January I found myself almost lost with what to do.  I've grown close to both Heather and Cheryl and appreciate what a great job they both do professionally, but more importantly, I appreciate them as people.  We have shared personal stories about our lives, their children and family, and I feel like we've become friends.  There is a trust and reassurance that they care about me as a person, and that makes going to see both of them so much better.

Before we started, I explained to Cheryl my funny, scary, and strange experiences and side effects from the last three weeks.  I could tell by the look on her face that she knew all of this before I even told her my stories, and when I asked her, she admitted she knew this would be part of my new regiment before  I left last time.  Of course she did.  What she says, and sometimes what she doesn't say, is what makes her so wonderful.

While we were waiting for my labs to come back, the acupuncture doctor came by.  This is a new, free service MD Anderson has started offering for patients.  I've seen him talking to others before about nausea, but since I haven't had much nausea, I've haven't really paid too much attention.  When he started talking to me, I found out he had treatments for neuropathy, (numb feet) so that might be worth a shot.  Cheryl was a little concerned over the swelling of my feet and hands, and, to have the acupuncture treatments, you have to have an okay from your physician, so Cheryl called Mary, a PA whom I hadn't met.  Mary didn't want me to have the acupuncture this time because of the swelling and decided to give me Lasix, something that was supposed to make me go potty a lot and drain some of the fluid so we did that instead.  Mary eventually came up to the infusion floor and met with me personally, which was really nice.  She was supper sweet and is was nice to get to know her story.  After see the swelling, she said acupuncture would be okay, but we decided to maybe try it next time. While sitting there, I also talked with a patient in the next cubby who said he had numb feet while on the 5-FU.  That was a little encouraging because that means this is not just left over from the Taxol and may still not be permanent.  We'll see how it goes during this next three weeks.

Treatment was long again.  There are just so many medicines now.  We didn't leave until late afternoon and this time I had to drive a vehicle home because Preston had driven the Prius to Mesa from the lake to have some work done on it.  We knew from the first treatment I felt pretty good, better than with the Taxol, so we knew I would be fine getting home.  I guess all the steroids help those first three days.  I made it home without incident, and though I did potty a little more, it wasn't red this time.

I went to work on Friday, and though I was a little tired, all went well.  Friday afternoon, we headed to Albuquerque for the weekend.  Our good friend Suzie had some surgery on Tuesday and we wanted to go to support her.  She was so absolutely wonderful helping me during my surgeries.  It was the least I could do.  Plus, there was a ballooning competition this weekend and I had hoped to have enough energy to ride along on Steven Adams' chase crew.  I knew the three days of steroids would give me some energy.  Preston and Yuri really wanted to come since they weren't able to make the October balloon fiesta so they met us there.  And Greg went ballooning with us every morning this time so between him, Preston, and Yuri, I brought stand-ins to represent Arizona on the chase crew.  Saturday morning I did pretty good helping on the smaller tasks.  This morning was a little more of a struggle, but after taking a good long nap today, I feel much better this afternoon.  Tomorrow morning we have one more flight and then we'll have some breakfast and take a leisurely ride home.

So far this round of chemo the major side effect has been seeing my taste fade quickly.  Yesterday morning I could taste a sip of Greg's chocolate milk but by this morning I couldn't.  Protein still seems to get through as we had smoked brisket last night with an amazing Rudy's barbecue sause that I could clearly taste.  And we had steaks for lunch today which had some taste still.  I can still taste my strawberries and fluff, so that's good.  Cheryl did tell me MD Anderson actually has a service by one of their chefs who will help do taste-testing to see what tastes gets through.  Being out of town, I doubt we would ever use it, but it is definitely another nice way they try to help.  She also said each time it could be different tastes that get through, so that could be odd.  So far it seems to be about the same.  I can't taste sugar or sweets at all, which isn't a bad thing, so it seems to be following the same pattern.

So, this will be round two of four, which is encouraging and I am definitely prepared this go round, so I'm hoping the stress and anxiety will be much less.  Thank you to all of the readers of this blog, my family, friends, and co-workers who helped me and supported me through these last three scary weeks.  It was definitely the worst part of this since the surgeries.  I appreciate the comments made on the blog, the text messages, and the emails.  You all have no idea just how important that support has been to get me through this.  Your comments have been so encouraging!  I don't know what I would do if this was just Greg and I trying to support each other all alone.  We both get down sometimes and your support to both of us has been awesome and more appreciated than you could possibly know.  So hang in there with us as we undergo these next three weeks Starting It All Over Again.......