Some great news

Yesterday started out with getting rid of my chemo pack that was attached to me......woohoo, that alone was exciting.....I'm FREE. I didn't have to worry about when I would get up and go somewhere that I would get reminded that I had a pack that I had to take with me. I looked at my port in my chest and it looks like a bruise. I'm not sure if that's because it is a bruise or that my skin is so pale that you can actually see the color of the port under my skin. The port is purple. Kinda weird.

Next, I had my appointment with my oncologist and Rob and my mom accompanied me so that they could ask questions if they wanted to and to hear what she had to say. We talked about taking some digestive enzymes to help me out with digestion. Digestion is a little harder without my gallbladder and missing apparently a very large portion of my pancreas. Dr. Huang showed us a comparison of CT scans of my pancreas before and after surgery and it's almost half of what I started out with. But everything seems to be working well and it's a good thing I'm not so into sweets these days, might be a little rough on my little pancreas.

Then, Dr. Huang told me that there was one good thing that she saw on my last CT scan when I was in the hospital and it was the margin of the mass inside me and that the margin was shrinking. IT'S SHRINKING!!!! I about busted out of my skin, did a little a dance (I'm dancing, I'm dancing). All I can say as I sit here softly crying is that these are tears of joy and thank-you thank-you for all your prayers because they are working!!!! We will make it through this, without a doubt. I have no doubt!

Now for some more cool news is that I have the entire month of November off from Chemo. I asked Dr. Huang if we can do a PET scan (this scan messures the growth of cells by lighting up the glucose they use to divide and create new cells) and we'll be doing the scan but I have to be finished up with radiation first or it messes up the results of the scan. So I finish radiation on Nov. 6th and then we're going to do the scan the 23rd or 24th of Nov. Then I have a meeting with the Dr. on my birthday (the 30th) and then I start Gemzar chemo again on Dec. 1st.

I was wrong as to how the new sessions of chemo are going to progress, but I get it now. So I still have 9 sessions of Gemzar to go. So it's 3 weeks in Dec. and one week off then another 3 weeks and one week off and then the final 3 sessions. So if my body can tolerate it all and I don't have to skip any weeks I'll be done with chemo on Feb. 9th, 2010. The Dr. did say that this is going to be a little harder on my system and we'll be looking very closely at my lab results, which right now btw ARE AWESOME!!!! So if my counts are too low then we would skip that week and then try again the next week.

I have been so very fortunate to have so little issues compared to what could have happened that this will be the real test of how my body can handle this.

I'm proof that positive thoughts and all your prayers are working so please please don't stop, I love you all so very much and can't say thank-you enough. We are so very blessed to have such awesome family and friends and we wouldn't be in such a great place without all of you.

Until next time,
Kate

Just a little update

Things are going well, my energy is pretty good on most days and all my levels are very good. The only thing that is a little low is my platelets, but they are still ok. Most days I'm up in the a.m. and just get through waking up, taking meds and vitamins and getting ready to get picked up to go to radiation can be quite the chore. As of my last check up with the nurse I'm weighing in at 255 now and I'm pretty sure that's what I weighed when I met Rob in 1999. Amazing huh. It feels awesome even though everything isn't quite bouncing back like I thought it all would. Guess the weight came off too fast. Regardless it makes me happy.

I don't really have any secrets as to how the weight has come off, but I do tend to survive on cheese quesadillas. There's enough cheese in there to make the two sides stick together so pretty low on calories. But they are one of the things that doesn't bother my system and I don't have to take anything. It's kind of an on going joke with mom and I since she thinks I should eat things that have more nutrician in them. Moms.........lol But seriously, it really has to do with portion control and I just have a much smaller stomach, so it decides when I'm done even though I would love to eat more, I just can't. Old habits try to sneak in, but I do my best to stop them.

On Tuesday the 27th I was going to be done with radiation and chemo together but I found out yesterday that I have to do so more radiation, an additional week and a half. I guess it's good to do it now, just to keep the process going, but I was really looking forward to it being done. But if the Dr. thinks that I need more who am I to complain.

So that's the latest update. I don't start chemo again until Nov.17th and that's the Gemzar again and possibly another chemo agent. I'll be talking with my oncologist on the 27th to see what the plans are and also get her to give me a PET scan. I would really like to know what's going on in my body rather than all this speculation about whether or not the cancer is back and where it is. Just need to know.

Thank-you, thank-you to everyone for all your prayers and wonderful positive thoughts, we wouldn't be able to get through all of this without all of you.

Until next time,
Kate

How things are going....

Surprisingly enough, things are going very well. I've just started my 3rd week of chemo and radiation and I haven't had too many side effects happen. My abdomen is a little sore where the radiation goes, but no outward signs of burns or anything like that. My blood counts are awesome, just like a "normal" person, which all in all is awesome to say the least. Going to radiation everyday is getting a little annoying, but what can ya do, it's not going to last forever.

Carrying around my chemo everywhere with me is kind of drag, occasionally I forget that it's there and try to walk off without it. I get a friendly reminder that I'm attached to the machine and it drags me back. The 27th is my day of freedom from the chemo/radiation and then I'm supposed to have 4 weeks off before we start with the Gemzar again, but that may be up in the air. My oncologist may want to add another chemo agent to add to the Gemzar and I'll know more about that when I see her on the 27th.

All in all things are going well.

Thank-you everyone for you help and support I don't know what I would do without all of you!!!
Love you all,
Kate

Wigs!!!

So what be the fun of having no hair if I didn't have any wigs. We have only named one, if you have any suggestions for the other 2 let's hear 'em. The very top one has a name and that's Lola. Not sure why, but it seems to fit. Lol. I must say that my head is not bumpy at all and it's a pretty good shape........lol And let's talk low maintenance shall we??? Not that I fussed a lot about myself before, but this put a new spin on low maintenance.

Hair Day!!!!

Ok, so here's the long awaited pictures of "The shaving of my head"!!! It was actually very relaxing, very different experience, but one that so needed to be done. Rob did an excellent job and he'll be in charge of the up keep. Right now with the chemo that I'm on, it's not attacking my hair follicles like the Gemzar did so I actually have some hair growth. Enjoy the pictures!!!