Bruce's CEA results

Well, Bruce's follow-up didn't go as well as mine. His CEA which is a cancer antigen came back elevated. It was 7.2, normal is 0-6.1. It's not up much but was 3.3 when last checked so is concerning. The nurse practicioner that saw Bruce said 'we' would just recheck it in 1 month to see how it was trending. WE didn't like that approach so discussed it with Bob, our brother-in-law, who is also an oncologist in Des Moines, IA & he felt that Bruce should have a repeat PET scan & an upper endoscopy. We had already discussed Bruce getting a Colonoscopy with the nurse practicioner who is going to refer Bruce to Dr. Joseph who did Bruce's jejunum tube placement. We talked with Dr. Percent & after some discussion (including Dr. Percent talking with Bob) Bruce had a PET  scan done on Friday. Hopefully we will get the results tomorrow. As always waiting is very hard & as always its hard to know what is going through Bruce's head. I'm doing okay now...but that's after 2 mornings of crying while doing barn chores. It's hard not to when I get to talk to Bob who is so blunt about our survival percentages based on the stage of our cancers when they were diagnosed. I just hope we know where things stand before I fly to Iowa Wednesday for one week.

My CA 125 Came Back

          It was normal...yeah!!!  It's sad though, my doctor's office never called the results to me. Sure glad I could access the results on line. Something so important you would think his nurse would have
called. Who knows, maybe they knew I could access the results or expected me to call for the results.
Or...maybe Dr. Orr has lost another nurse. He's on his third one since I started seeing him.

           Went to work last week. It was very busy & I was exhausted by the time I did 5 night shifts and I flew home.  I think in the future I will not work more than 4 shifts. I am currently scheduled for 7 & I hope to get rid of the 3 shifts on the end but if not I will do them but never again. Well, getting ready for Christmas.  Our son Tye is home for the holiday so everyone will be here. Got lots to do to get ready. Will write again after Bruce's follow up.

3 Month Check-up

                       
       It's been 3 months since my last chemo.  Bruce & I have been doing quite well. I seem to have some neuropathy but it is very very minimal and I also have short term memory problems especially if I'm not getting enough sleep. It's frustrating at times for me & Bruce.  I finally asked him not to remind me that I already said the same thing at least once before.   I can't help but worry since I have a strong history of dementia as well in my family.  I also worry every time that I have a little dizziness which most likely is due to low blood pressure but I always wonder, I worry every time I get a pain in my abdomen, have loose stools, and worsening vision. I know these all are probably nothing but....it could be something...it's sooo frustrating.

       I was to see Dr. Orr but he was called out-of-town emergently & so I saw his PA, Denyse Mahoney. She was very thorough. I should have had my blood drawn prior to my appointment but Dr. Orr seems to be going through nurses (on his 3rd since I first saw him) & it never got ordered even though I called several times & even stopped in to ask about ordering it.  Yesterday I got  my CA 125 (cancer antigen for ovarian cancer) drawn. Hopefully when that comes back the results will be normal & then I can stop worrying quite so much...but I doubt it. I will probably continue to worry some until I either relapse or 2 years have passed. Well, not much else to say about me...it could be a week before I get my results...hopefully not.

      As I said above, Bruce is doing quite well.  He sleeps in a nice reclining lawn chair in our bedroom until I come to bed or it's midnight then he moves to his recliner in the family room & sleeps there til I get up & go out to the barn then he gets up & moves to our bed for a short time. He has a wedge pillow that he uses there but will probably never be able to sleep in bed all night. He also has some problem with "dumping syndrome" but he's figuring out what he can & cannot eat or when he can & cannot drink fluids.

      His next follow-up is January 6th. If he's worrying he doesn't show it & he doesn't seem to have any problems related to chemo or radiation. His hair has grown in nicely & is a little darker than it was. My hair is also coming along...thickness & length wise but certainly has a mind of it's own.

      I guess I should also mention that I went back to work. It was good to be there & I don't think I had any memory problems while there...but got plenty of rest and it was for only 1 shift. Will not work again until January & then will be working at least 4 nights & possibly 7. Well, will write more when I get my CA 125 results.

A busy week but all good news

I did finally get my CA 125. It was normal. I don't need to see Dr. Orr again until December.  This has been a busy week. We saw our lawyer & have our living wills & durable power of attorneys done & almost have our last will & testaments done as well as our trust. We didn't like some of the wording in the trust so we will have to go back one more time. Bruce saw his oncologist, Dr. Percent & doesn't have to follow up until January. He also saw Dr. Goldin, his surgeon, and has been told no heavy lifting (nothing greater than 10 lbs) for 6 weeks & no further follow up unless he has a problem. I also finally got the results of my genetic testing to see if I had a genetic mutation that may mean I am more susceptible to ovarian, endometrial, colorectal, breast,  gastric, pancreatic, melanoma, or prostate cancer. My test results revealed no genetic mutations.  I do have routine follow up with my primary doctor, Dr. Ravid, at the end of this month.

I don't think I will probably be blogging anything more until December unless there is change in our health. I should add that I finally got the horses all shampooed & shaved. I think they are feeling much better. I did one a day except for the Valee, she got done the same day as Bob as she didn't need much of a shave...she mainly needed a shampoo & her whiskers shaved. We are also all caught up on mowing & now we just need to get the house dusted & floors scrubbed...life is almost back to normal.

Bruce is home.

Well, Bruce didn't get home as quickly as we thought. Dr. Goldin was being cautious. Thursday he started clear liquids & Friday he was started on a mechanical soft diet. A dietician also came & gave us information on what he can eat & what he shouldn't eat. Now today  he finally got to come home. It was very confusing...what the dietician told Bruce he should be eating & what he received by the hospital to eat were to different things. She told him not to eat tomatoes in any form & what did he get for supper Friday..chicken parmesan with tomato sauce over pasta. His first meal that day at noon was a hamburger. Today for lunch he had an open face hot turkey sandwich with tomato soup. Every meal went down without a problem.

Bruce's surgery is called an Ivor-Lewis Esophagectomy. You should google it & see what was actually done to Bruce. It is quite the surgery. Afterwards, he had chest xrays done & it was very difficult to tell what was going on in his chest. Also before he could eat Dr. Goldin had an upper GI done. That is where they use a special xray machine called a C-arm & it allowed us (me with the techs & radiologist) to see live xray views while Bruce was swallowing gastrografin (a liquid that shows up on xray film or in computer xray imaging). It was quite difficult to figure out what was going on but at least we could see that the fluid went done without any problems...no leaks. Bruce was then allowed to start on a clear liquid diet & then the mechanical soft diet.

This morning Dr. Goldin said Bruce could go home & he is to follow up in 1- 1 1/2 weeks. So we found out that he could leave around 9 AM & we didn't get out until 2:30 PM...but we are now home. Bruce tried sleeping in our bed but is now out in the family room with me. He is trying to sleep in his recliner. This is where I am going to stop for tonight so he can sleep except I have one more frustration to mention.

Last time I wrote I mentioned that my CA-125 wasn't done. Well, it still isn't done. I got a letter from my doctor in the mail. Apparently the lab didn't run it(I had a tech that I had never had before & she apparently didn't understand the orders & now I have to schedule an appointment & go in to have my blood drawn again so they can do the test.

A very busy week.

Today I had a routine visit with my gynecologic oncologist. I had a PET scan & lab work done on Monday. My PET scan & physical exam were normal. My lab is basically normal...I'm a little anemic but that should improve with time and the CA 125 which is the cancer antigen or tumor marker for ovarian cancer was not yet available but hopefully will be normal...should be. Dr. Orr offered me a prescription for iron pills but I have decided to pass on those for the time being. My next follow up appointment is not for 3 months, yeah. This is all a big relief even though I still don't know the actual results of the CA 125. I feel so much better knowing that the PET scan was normal. Now if Bruce can just get through a couple more days.

Bruce had his surgery to remove the cancerous area of his esophagus done last Thursday. The surgery took over 5 1/2 hours. Bruce has an incision below his right axilla (arm pit) & had 2 chest tubes in his right chest and an incision in his mid abdomen just above his belly button to his chest. He also has a nasal gastric(NG) tube that goes up his right nostril & down into his stomach. It has suture material (thread) wrapped around it & then a stitch goes through his nose so the tube will stay in place.  The tube initially was hooked up to suction to keep his stomach empty but it is now disconnected to see if it is needed any more...so far so good. He had 3 IVs (intravenous lines), one in each arm & one in his neck. The chest tubes were due to his lung being deflated during surgery as Dr. Goldin had to be able to get to the cancerous area of the esophagus and that is why Bruce had the incision under his right axilla. The chest tubes were removed yesterday. Bruce still has the NG tube in his nose but hopefully it will be removed tomorrow. The IVs in his arms have also been removed. Everyone keeps remarking how well Bruce is doing. He had a PCA pump to give himself pain medication & is off that. He is now taking the pain medicine through the IV in his neck or through his feeding tube which is below his belly button & goes into his jejunum which is part of the small bowel. Bruce didn't care for the pain medication that was being given in the IV so he is going to try going with just the crushed pain pills given through his feeding tube. Dr. Goldin used part of Bruce's stomach to replace the part of the esophagus that was removed. I  still don't quite understand how all that was done as far as the surgery but plan to ask Dr. Goldin tomorrow if I can get there early enough to catch him. Hopefully Bruce will be going home tomorrow. Well got to get to bed if I'm going to get there early enough to catch Dr. Goldin.

Pre-op day

Today started out bad. Went out to feed the horses & turn them out...and as the garage door went up I had two horses staring at me from the center of the barn. Once again I had a breakout. I apparently didn't get their stall gate fully locked last night. For some reason only Princess & Bob got out. One of them had managed to push the gate into the large fan that sits about 1 foot in front of the gate at night to blow air into their stall and then pushed the fan just far enough for them to get out.  It apparently was a squeeze through that Bruce (my 3rd miniature horse) wasn't willing to go through. I think this happened sometime after 4am as that is when the fans shut off.

The horses had managed to tip over their feed box & then punch a hole in the side of the plastic box which caused the lid  to come off spilling their feed. At some time they also popped the lid off of Valee's feed box & also helped themselves to hay. It doesn't appear that they ate much feed but did enjoy some of Valee's hay. I don't think they were out very long but just in case they got put in their muzzles & turned out without getting their usual morning feed with some chopped apple.

Today was also pre-op day.We had to be at Fawcett Memorial Hospital at 10:15 to learn what Bruce had to do before Thursday & what to expect that day. We learned that he is the first one on the schedule & that we have to be there at 5:30 in the morning...ugh. Surgery will take about 4 1/2 hours...to start at 7 or 7:30...ugh again. I wish I could be like Bruce..says he's not gonna worry about what might happen & doesn't plan on losing any sleep the next 2 nights but he did get to bed a little late tonight as he had to shower.

He's got to scrub himself down with a special antibacterial soap tonight, tomorrow morning & night as well as Thursday morning. I have to scrub his back for him. We also had to change the sheets on the bed tonight & he is to use a clean towel each time he showers. At least we don't have to change the sheets tomorrow.

I was planning on doing 3 loads of laundry today just not a load of sheets. I was planning to change them just before Bruce came home. Now I still have one load that was to be done today & will also probably do a load of towels tomorrow night. We still have papers to get completed tomorrow as we are adding my name to some financial papers that used to be just in Bruce's name. We then have to take them to the bank to get gold medallion signatures on them & get them in the mail. Hopefully we will be able to get this done. Well, got to stop now as I need to get to bed if I'm gonna get at least 7 hours of sleep.