Treatment, Treatment and more Treatment

Friday, July 24th, I passed my blood tests, met with Dr. W (who is 7 months pregnant and I didn't know!),and had treatment. Not much going on with Dr. W. She had a Female (bummer) Resident who was fascinated with my heart beat. She listened for what seemed like forever and pressed on my neck the whole time to make sure the blood was pumping. Dr. W. reiterated what Dr. E my Cardiologist said about the heart tests. She told me he researches into chemo-damaged hearts. Guess I got the right doctor.

Treatment was uneventful. I caught up with some of my friends in the waiting room and saw Prisoner Harry (he is my first prisoner friend). Harry is doing well. My tattoo on the back of my neck (can't put it on my head anymore because my hair is growing!) was a guitar. Aruna picked it out and applied it.

After treatment, Aruna, her friend and I headed for the lake house for the weekend. My first real adventure without Scott driving me since last year December. I felt giddy with independence again!

Yesterday I started my new blood pressure pills I didn't know how I would react to them so I delayed starting them until after the weekend. Good decision. They make me tired and it is only day two!

Yesterday I also started my daily radiation treatments. Aruna came with me and got to go into the "Command Center" and watch. She said she got to see my insides (Scott still thinks my heart is part ice and asked her if she saw it) but other than that, she found it boring! Ann and Melodie, the Radiation Technicians, took lots of pictures before the actual treatment. I got more dot Tattoos and at today's treatment I asked them to number them for dot-to-dot. I still don't know how long the treatments are since today they had to take more pictures. The best part of today was Ben, one of the cutie Residents was there. He tied my hospital gown for me when I was done :)

I decided that my treatment countdown is not going to count my sessions. Instead, it is going to countdown the days until school starts! I am growing weary of a house full of teenage boys!

A Day of Tests

Tuesday the 21st I started my day at the University Hospital in the Heart and CardioVascular Center. Unlike the Cancer Clinic, the receptionist/check-in girls don't smile. Today I had my first TTE - short for Transthoracic Echocardiogram - long for Echogram. Until then, I had no idea what the test is all about. It uses high-pitched waves that are sent through a transducer. This device picks up the echos of the sound waves as they bounce off the different parts of your heart. These echos are then turned into moving pictures of your heart. They are really cool to watch as the technician does his job.

Because I scored lower on my third heart MUGA Scan than I did on the first one (which red flagged me for Congestive Heart Failure) this test was done. It checks for abnormal heart sounds (got that), shortness of breath (sometimes have that), irregular heartbeats (got that) and a bunch of other stuff such as: Scott said they wanted to make sure that I do still have a heart and that it isn't all ice. Gotta love the man :)

What my new Cardiologist Dr Ewer was looking at was my ejection fraction rate which is how much blood the heart is pumping during each heartbeat. Because the first round of chemo damages the heart, he wanted to see what my heart was doing. What I find amazing, every time I have a new test done I am asked if I have had it before. The answer is always no. Bummer. The doctors don't have a past test to compare to so they never know what changes have taken place in whatever organ they are looking at.

Anyway, I squeaked by this test as well. Normal rate is 55 and above. I scored 55! (I did much better in school on my tests than I seem to be doing on my medical tests!) Dr. E. said my heart was not under stress and I had two options: 1) start another new med, stop treatment for 3 months for the heart to recover then get a second echo gram and see him. OR 2) start the new med, continue treatment, get a second echogram in 5-6 weeks and see Dr. E in 3 months, unless I do poorly on the second echo. Tough choice - not. I'm going for it and continuing my treatment. No delays for me much less 3 months!

The new med is for high blood pressure. I don't have high blood pressure. Sometimes it is really low! I am curious about the side effects (yes more side effects). I am told I will get light headed and will have a constant dry nagging cough. Great. I will be on this med throughout the course of treatment.

My afternoon was spent at the University Health Clinic by our home, Here I had my CT scan done for my radiation treatments. The best part of this was the two really cute Residents. I had two different scans done - one breathing normally, and one holding my breath. Dr. Richardson, my Radiation Oncologist, will compare the two and come up with a plan for my treatments. After the scans, one of the cuties gave me my four new 'dot' tattoos - he was very good with the needle. Then I had a photo of the side of the breast. Scott didn't even flinch when I came home and told him, quite gleefully, that I had to bare myself in front of two cute Residents!

Friday, the 24th, I am back at the Cancer Clinic for Lab, Dr. W, and hopefully treatment.

Its time for Radiation

Thursday, July 16th, Scott and I met with the Radiation Oncologist, Dr. Richardson at the University Clinic close to our house. ( I decided I did not want to drive to the University Cancer Center every day to have radiation treatments (50 miles round trip) when the clinic is only 8 miles from our house.) Anyway, Dr. R. explained why I have to have radiation and the side effects - both short term and long term (years). (Why does this seem to be a never-ending battle?) An hour later, I signed the consent forms and off I went to scheduling and Scott went back to work.

I have a CT Scan scheduled for the afternoon of Tuesday the 21st at the University Clinic to determine the radiation treatment area . That's after I spend the morning at the University Cancer Clinic for a Echo Gram and a 'heart-to-heart' talk with the Dr. Ewer, Cardiologist. Busy day.

Provided all goes well, I have my chemo treatments starting again on Friday the 24th and Radiation starts Monday the 27th. I have 33 treatments. Monday through Friday. Good Bye August.

Back to the Glow Farm with concerned Results

Last Friday, July 10th, I was back in Nuclear Medicine for my third MUGA heart scan. As you may recall, about three vials of blood are taken out and made radioactive then put back into you. Then this big imaging machine maps out a 3-D picture of your heart - specifically your left ventricle. Very uneventful. Today, Dr. W called with the results. Seems my score was lower than the first MUGA Scan and that one was border line. Because of this, my treatment this Friday is cancelled/postponed. After all the low blood counts and liver counts, it takes my heart to postpone treatment! Oh well. Dr W. is making arrangements for me to have an echo gram and a visit with the Cardiologist as well as rescheduling my treatment for next Friday (maybe). Hopefully none of these new appointments will conflict with my current activity/social calender. OOPS! I don't have that life. It's Andrei and Aruna with the activity/social calendar! Silly me. I'm just the driver.

In the meantime, I deal with new and exciting side effects from the Taxol. My feet hurt and I can't bend my knees as I am experiencing muscle and joint pain. This is a bummer since I have to sleep flat on my back and I am a side sleeper. Sometimes I look like a duck when I walk! Kinda of funny when you think about how a duck walks! The tingling is still there and every now and again it goes nuts on my head. Scott says is it my hair follicles coming back to life since the hair on my head is starting to grow. I am experiencing headaches again but not as severe as they were when treatment started. And last but not least, the hot flashes persist. If I stay outside in the sun where I am not suppose to be, i don't notice them so much! It's a plan.

We were able to get up to the lake house for the Fourth of July holiday. We haven't been there since Memorial Day and our driveway was in full bloom! Pretty yellow flower weeds! A bunch of Round-up later and they were dying. The boys enjoyed ATV'g on the trails and getting very muddy - even Aruna went once and had a huge smile on her face!

All in all, I am having good days. Trying to get my sleep but that is hard with the kids staying up later. Andrei has weight training in the mornings for High School football so I can't really sleep in. Do you believe it?! High School all ready and Aruna starts Middle School. Where did the time go?

Thanks for keeping me in your prayers. Please don't forget to remember my friend Susan (Cancer Fight) in your prayers as well.

Separation Anxiety?

On Friday, June 25th, my day started at 5:45 am. It was 67 degrees outside. By 6:45 am Scott and I were on our way to the UW Madison Hospital for my final #12 treatment of Taxol. By 7:15 am we had arrived at the hospital, had a quick kiss good-bye and I was on my way to the Cancer Clinic. I was checked in by 7:34 am and by request, showed everyone the tattoo on the back of my head. By 8:00 am I was in the Oncology lab having my port accessed and blood taken for the usual weekly tests - white blood counts and liver. By 8:24 I was out of the lab and got comfortable in a rocking chair where I waited for the results of my blood tests and for my treatment. It was 9:10 am and Nurse Suzanne called me for treatment. I passed my blood tests - barely again - and by 10 am Nurse Suzanne had finished administrating the pre-meds before treatment. This is a 20-25 minute process. I then had to wait for 20 minutes because the Pharmacy was now backed up with chemo orders. Usual. 20 minutes is short. There was one treatment that I waited over 2 hours for Pharmacy!

By 10:17 am, the Herceptin infusion had begun. This time I was receiving a full dose of Herceptin (1-1/2 hour infusion) in addition to the final Taxol infusion. I was beginning to feel light headed and had some slight pressure between my eyes. All of this is a reaction from the pre-meds I received. At 10:30 there was a Blue Cart Emergency call in the Breast Center. Not a good thing. Usually I hear at least 3-4 emergency calls. Today I only heard the one.

At 12:06 pm the Herceptin infusion was done. I didn't have any reactions this week. If you recall, last treatment I was experiencing muscle spasms throughout my body. It is 12:30 pm and the final Taxol treatment had begun. The blood pressure cuff had been secured on my right arm. It takes my blood pressure and pulse rate every 15 minutes throughout the treatment. I put all the numbers into my iphone. Numbers I probably will never look at again, but it keeps me occupied. It's now 1:30 and the final Taxol is done. Nurse Suzanne sits and talks to me while she flushes my port and disconnects all the tubes before pulling out the needle. The chemo ward was slow today so Nurse Suzanne had more time to just talk to me. We both enjoyed the different conversations we had with each other throughout the day. I think she was one of the nicest Nurses I had.

It's 1:44 pm and the side effects have begun. Maybe I'll tell you about all the new ones in another blog.


By 2:25 pm, I am outside of the hospital waiting for Scott. He and an employee of his are on campus at a sales call. They pick me up and we are on our way to SONIC Burger for a late lunch. By 3:24 pm, almost 9 hours after leaving the house, I am home.

This is what my Fridays have been like since February. The nurses have been different, the tattoos on the back of my head have been different, but for the most part, the day is the same. I have made many friends in my weekly visits to the Cancer Center - Nurses, check-in girls, other patients and convicts and Prison Guards. I have met people who drive great distances just to be treated at the University Cancer Center. For some, other clinics and doctors have only given them a death sentence. At UW, they have found hope. I have never been shy to say Hi to anyone and ask them how they were feeling and to give them some encouragement and maybe a laugh or two. Sometimes, my new friends just needed someone to listen to them complain. That was me listening to them.


I remember Dr W. suggesting I get counseling because I will be seeing less and less of her as my treatment progresses. I remember looking at her like she was nuts, but politely said I would think about it. I've thought about it. This Friday will be the first Friday where I won't be spending it at the hospital. Will I miss Dr. W.? Will I miss the needles and tubes hanging out of my chest? No. What I will miss is the really good free cookies they have for patients and my friends.

Not to worry, I still have treatments every three weeks until next year May.