Time seems to pass quickly when you constantly go to the doctor

Bruce finished radiation on Tuesday, July 22^nd…so his last chemo was July 17^th. He is eating better & gaining a little weight. I on the other hand have almost gained back all the weight I lost (which was 20 lbs.)  I was hoping I wouldn’t gain any weight back but I seem to crave salty food & have had no problems with vomiting.  I did require a blood transfusion on July 29^th as my red blood cell counts have steadily dropped. Bruce has an appointment to see Dr. Percent on July 30^th.  We hope that at that appointment we will find out the name of the surgeon Bruce will be seeing and actually get set up with an appointment to see the surgeon.

It’s now August 26^th; Bruce has now seen Dr. Goldin, who will be the surgeon. He has seen a 3rd Gastroenterologist, Dr. Joseph, whom he initially saw on June 24^th & who placed a jejunostomy tube (J-tube) on June 27^th (which so far Bruce has not needed to use). Bruce is to have another esophageal ultrasound as well as a repeat PET scan on August 28th before having the surgery.  He will also be seeing Dr. Hotchkiss, a cardiologist on Sep. 5^th.  Bruce had a cryoablation done in about 2010 for Atrial Fibrillation & needs to be medically cleared by a cardiologist before surgery. The surgery will take around 4 ½ hours.

Where we are at in our treatments at this time

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything. Today (Monday, July 14, 2014) was the start of Cycle 4 for me. Bruce’s EUS revealed involvement of at least two lymph nodes & the tumor extends into his stomach. He has been receiving chemotherapy & radiation. I get chemo every Monday & he gets his every Thursday…that way one of us is usually feeling well enough to do the driving. Bruce gets radiation every day during the week. Their machine was down for two days so he had to make up one of the treatments on Saturday. They had more trouble today so he was there for over 1 hours waiting but finally got his radiation. He is almost done with his radiation & chemo. He is doing a countdown & has 5 radiation & 1 chemo treatment left as long as the radiation treatments don’t get postponed for any reason. He is also receiving Taxol & Carboplatin but different doses.

I just had the first treatment for Cycle 4 today that means 2 more chemos in this cycle(2 more weeks) then 2 more cycles (6 more weeks). So I am now in the second half of my treatment. If Bruce’s radiation continues as scheduled he will be done next week…then he is to have 7 weeks rest/healing. He also is to have a PET scan when done. He will be referred to a surgeon for removal of the diseased area of his esophagus with part of his stomach to become part of his esophagus. His surgery will hopefully take place the week I have my last chemotherapy (or sooner). We thought the surgery would have to be done in Tampa but it may actually be able to be done locally. We’ll find out when we see Dr. Percent in 2 weeks.

If all goes as planned I may be able to go back to work in October. I could work now if it was possible but kind of hard to have chemo on Monday, fly to Iowa, and work 5 nights (12 hour shifts) then fly home for more chemo. I also seem to be getting weaker with each chemo…doesn’t help that my blood counts are low. There are days where I can barely get the barn chores done as I get very short of breath with any exertion.  I don’t think I will even consider working until Bruce’s surgery is done. I guess that’s why everyone needs to have emergency savings accounts and I’m glad we have ours…just didn’t want to end up spending it this way.

Bruce has cancer, too

We have a new problem which is why this writing is called “Our Battles with Cancer”. Bruce, my husband, had been having a little trouble swallowing at times that started back in November but didn't get to be a real problem until December. He finally went to a Gastroenterologist.He wouldn"t go until I was taken care of.  He had an EGD (esophagogastroduodenoscopy) & a tumor was found. He has Adenocarcinoma of the distal esophagus. We have seen Dr. Percent who will be his medical oncologist. We also have met Dr. Perkins who will be his radiation oncologist & he has had a PET scan but this is Friday May 30^th & we won’t know until Monday whether the cancer has spread. While I’m starting the 2^nd cycle of chemo on Monday Bruce will be meeting with Dr. Amontree another gastroenterologist who will be doing an Esophageal Ultrasound (EUS) on Bruce to further define the extent of his disease. I have felt really good this week. I even drove for the first time since starting chemotherapy.

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to go with Bruce. My sister Vicki will be driving me & my daughter-in-law Anita (married to Brannon my youngest son) will be going with Bruce. We have decided that Bruce probably won’t be getting the EUS Monday but just in case Anita is going. We are lucky we have family that is able & willing to help us out…even with barn chores. It is hard to ask for help but we do when we have to.

Start of week 2 of chemo

It’s been a long week. I have felt totally drained at times & perfectly normal at other times. I am not sleeping well & I have had to take Lorazapam to help with restless legs. I think that helps me sleep when I take it. Have not needed to take any narcotics to talk of…occasionally when the Naproxen doesn’t help with pain then I will so I can sleep. Well, its 9 AM & time to take my anti-nausea medication as this is Monday treatment number 2 of cycle 1.

Chemotherapy

Chemo was unreal. The actual chemo drugs as far as I could tell didn’t cause any problems but the meds Benadryl & Dexamethazone that I was given to prevent nausea & vomiting sure had an effect on me. My head was swimming or I should say it felt like my brain was water swishing around in my head. I had the creepy crawlies all over & couldn’t sit still. I was allowed to walk until the chemo drugs were started then I had to stay near my chair in case I had a reaction to the chemo. This was the start of the first cycle & there are 3 treatments per cycle. Every Monday I will go to the Cancer Clinic for 2-5 hours depending on where I am in a cycle. I will have a total of 6 cycles…18 treatments. The first week I receive Carboplatin (Parapltin) & Paclitaxel (Taxol). On weeks 2 & 3 I just receive Taxol.

NIght before 1st chemo

I thought that I would be starting chemotherapy by the end of the week but instead I got a mediport placed. Tye, my oldest son, came home for a long weekend & since it was also Mother’s Day weekend I was actually glad I didn’t start the chemo but now I am ready. Tomorrow is 5/13/2014. I am scheduled to receive chemo at 08:00. It is a little scary…I was told vomiting is not allowed. I have picked up prescriptions for 5 different medications for nausea. The expense for these meds was over $500. My insurance picked up half of the cost. How does one prepare for potential nausea? I was told I will probably feel really lousy. Its 03:07 & I haven’t been to sleep. Tye will be heading home in about 40 minutes. Once he is on his way to the airport with Brannon (my younger son), maybe I will be able to sleep a little but I’m not too hopeful.

Dr. Orr & Surgery

Waiting is so hard. Another weekend goes by. I hear from Dr. Ravid on Tuesday. It’s 10 AM & he says that I should receive a call from Dr. Orr’s office to schedule an appointment. I waited until 2 PM then I called Dr. Orr’s office only to be told that I missed my appointment time. I had been scheduled for 1:30… apparently Debbie had tried calling & I didn’t answer…I was apparently on the telephone with Dr. Ravid & didn’t realize that she had called & left a message. She said she would check with Dr. Orr to see when I could be rescheduled. She called back & scheduled me for Friday. I couldn’t believe that I was going to have to wait 4 days. I got so upset that I called Dr. Ravid’s office & he called me back. He was able to get me an appointment for the following morning. What a relief. I saw Dr. Orr, on 4/29/2014 (Bruce’s birthday & our 42^nd anniversary…what a way to celebrate), met Cami his nurse & now chemo nurse and was set up for possible surgery on 5/1/2014. I was scheduled to have a laparoscopy & possibly a laparotomy…it would depend on how much tumor was found. If there was a lot then I would just have the scope, followed by chemotherapy & debulking surgery later. If there wasn’t much tumor then I would havea laparotomy followed with chemotherapy. The laparoscopy is where the surgeon makes four small incisions &uses a lighted scope to look around as well as do different procedures. A laparotomy is where he makes an actual incision in the abdomen to remove the uterus, ovaries, fallopian tube & any tumors. I remember waking up & feeling my abdomen…I didn’t have a large incision so I thought that meant there was too much tumor to debulk, not good, but instead Dr. Orr actually was able to remove most of the tumors laparoscopically. I have both ovarian cancer & Adenocarcinoma of the uterus. Having a hysterectomy (removal of uterus)/oophorectomy (removal of ovaries)/salpingectomy (removal of fallopian tubes) has essentially cured the Adenocarcinoma of the uterus but not the Ovarian which is a pT3c (which means I have stage 3 Ovarian Cancer). I had the pleural effusion on the lt. side drained (fluid in left lung removed by needle aspiration). It did not contain any malignant cells. I was discharged home on 5/ 3/2014.