Joys of Summer with Heavy Doses of Dread

It has been a good summer.  Weather has not been great but no chemo.  Still on a rest from carboplatin after having a severe reaction in June.  Making sure to find joy in every day.  Sure is tough especially with my Dad suffering with pancreatic cancer.  He has deteriorated quite a lot and my Mother is still able to provide care at home.  I don't know for how long.  She is adamant that she will keep him there as long as possible.

Dad has just finished 2 weeks of radiation.  Radiation is used to alleviate pain, it is not used for treatment in his case.  There is no treatment for him and the inevitable will occur within 6 months to a year, at best.  The family has come to accept the seriousness of the situation and we try to spend as much time together as possible.  It is a time to make my Dad as comfortable as possible and make his remaining life as pleasant as possible.  It has been very tough for my Mother as you can imagine.

Franca came for a visit in July and we had a lovely time.  During her visit we celebrated Corina's graduation from Conestoga College.  She is a Health Administrator and is working at Stratford Hospital in Patient Registration until her contract is finished.  Tough to find those permanent full time positions!  She will persevere!

Corina's Graduation Day

Graduation

Corina's Graduation Party in July

Franca making herself useful

This past summer we were able to get my Mom and Dad to Pat's cottage for a couple of great weekends.

Mom at the helm

Dad enjoying the cruise

Viewing the Sunset at Cordova Lake

Dylan is at Mohawk College and has just started his program in Applied Music.  We miss him but we hear from him via texts all the time.  I wish I could see him doing the laundry!  :)

As for me....  I have been having some pain in my abdomen which means the cancer is making itself be known.  CA 125 is up to 386 which is up from 40 a couple of months ago.  It never was gone but it was quiet in a sense.  It gave me the time to relax and enjoy the summer without dealing with chemo side effects.  But now I must begin chemo again.

I have been scheduled for the 1st infusion for Monday, September 16th  in the chemo lounge.  Should only take a couple of hours and I will do this every 4 weeks perhaps for 8 treatments.  This time around we are going with pegylated liposomal DOXOrubicin or Doxil for short.

Wish me luck.  I will post my experience with this drug.

Enjoy the weekend!

Follow up with Oncologist July 15th

Blood work is great and CA 125 is down to 40.  I am prepared to be admitted for my next chemo and Dr. tells me that my reaction to Carboplatin on June 25th was a 'severe'one.  Who knew?  I knew that I did not care for how I felt during that reaction and that my recovery after chemo was not as easy as the last time.  I had a week of headache and lethargy.  Not myself at all.

Doctor explained that reaction was not good and that more Carboplatin may cause another reaction (very probable) with risk of lowered blood pressure which is not good at all.  Could end up in ICU.  We discussed the idea of taking a break for 6 weeks and revisiting chemo with another drug.  I was all for this.  I feel good.  The CA 125 is in a better place and I feel I can monitor my body to let my doctor know if anything is amiss during this 6 week period.

So for now I am in hiatus of sorts!  Glad not to have to get chemo but a bit nervous about what is happening inside.

Update on my Dad:  We have seen a surgeon, an oncologist and a radiologist.  All are quite negative regarding his prognosis and there is little hope.  We have been in contact with a pancreatic cancer specialist in Toronto and he ordered new scans and diagnostics.  They were all sent to him late last week for second opinion regarding his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.  We are hoping for a slim chance of surgery or something.  Dad's quality of life is good and he is in good spirits.  Many people have come to see him and he enjoys the company.  We just wish he would eat a little more.  He is losing weight and can be quite weak at times.

Recurrence # 2 - Treatment #2

We are back from Europe and I will get my act together to download some pictures and post on this blog.  In the meantime there are a few pictures on my Facebook page.  And I could not resist and posted some internet pictures at the end of this posting.

The day after returning from Rome I was in the doctor's office at 11:30 am for my scheduled appointment.  Since we were away my regular appointment should have been 3 weeks after 1st treatment.  It was now 4 weeks.  Since my next treatment was imminent she found me a hospital bed and I was admitted within the hour.  (check my last post regarding the reasons for admittance)

Having done my paperwork they gave me a pass to return home as long as I was back by 10:00 pm.  The night nurse kindly was informed me my CA 125 count was at 65, down from 125.  This is good news in that it means the treatment is doing the job. 

So on Tuesday, June 25th my Carboplatin chemo started and as you will recall it is a long infusion.  My first treatment back in May went without a hitch but within the hour I started experiencing a reaction.  What a f**king drag.... Some of the symptoms were headache, red and itchy hands and red and itchy feet.  I also starting breaking out with some hives.  Usual course of action is to stop everything and give me more benedryl and steriods.  They have also starting using something called Singulair. 

Instead of finishing up by 9:00 pm it was well past 10:00 pm and the on call doctor wanted me to spend the second night.  What can you do?  Suck it up and read.  Up by 4:00 am though.....  All the steriods in my system have me wired and I found a computer in the family lounge.  What luck!

In other news we are unhappy to report that my Dad has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  Had a visit with the surgeon while we were away but my Mom and Dad came away very unhappy with his negative prognosis and his lack of empathy.  So my brother has arranged meetings with several oncologists and radiologists to get second opinions and hopefully a treatment plan.  So at this point we do not know much.  This on top of his stroke in March is not great but we all pulling together as a family.  We have much strength!

Here are some pictures from our trip that I culled from the internet.  Just wanted to give you a taste of what we saw.  Michelangelo's Pieta is breathtaking in terms of the subject matter and the beautiful work.  It is made of marble and a fun fact... Mary is represented very youthful when she was probably a woman in her 50's with her 33 year old son.  Michelangelo was 23 when he sculpted this piece for a cardinal funeral monument.  Amazing.

La Pieta, St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City

 

Coleseum in Rome

Eiffel Tower in Paris

Medieval City in Carcassonne, France

My Dad

Some of you may know that my Dad has suffered a stroke.  This happened March 10th.

Dad is out of hospital and is in a local rehabilitation centre.  Tests have shown that my Dad has suffered from a number of mini strokes in the past.  We did not know this and it only came to light after an MRI.  This explains some of his short memory loss which was thought to be early onset dementia.  This stroke has affected his thinking processes in that he has trouble putting words together to form a sentence.  He can answer questions with a short phrase but anything any longer gives him trouble.  He just can't find the right words sometimes.  There has been improvement and he is smiling and jokes occasionally.  He also knows all of us so we are pleased with this. He is now working with a speech therapist to regain his language skills.

He also does not have the use of his right arm from the elbow down including his fingers.  We are hoping that after much physiotherapy, which began immediately after the stroke, he will regain full use of his arm.  There has been some progress already.  He is walking with assistance and can maneuver himself with a wheel chair and his feet.  He is not allowed to get out of bed by himself as there is a risk to falling.

August 2012

My Mother goes to see him everyday to help out with his activities of daily living.  She makes sure he is shaved and brushes his teeth.  She also wants to ensure he is eating.  Tough to eat when one hand is not working well.  We can't rely on the nurses or personal support workers assisting with everything as they are so busy and short handed.  But my Mother is not babying him either.  She knows that in order for him to come home he has to be independent.  Baby steps .....