back on track

After a month break from chemo because of the blood clot and colon infection I am finally back on track.  I restarted chemo treatments on Tuesday. Wednesday I was high on steroids and felt like myself.  By Thursday I am starting to fade and I am starting to feel all those familiar side effects I remember from before the break.  But I need to be through ( 5 more) and start recovering and getting my life back. I am planning on returning to work for the last three weeks of school. And then spend the summer getting strength and, hopefully, lots of hair back.  

My mood has been better. I realize that is because I haven't been having treatments. Chemo is the hardest thing I have ever experienced and I expect to have some downs now that my body is being flooded with toxins again. But I think I am in a better place than I have been since all this started. Maybe I'm learning something...maybe...

Thanks for following this journey with me!

cautious

                                

Since this illness began I have been very cautious...about EVERYTHING!  I know now that bad things can happen even when you are expecting good.  So to avoid disappointment I tend to think the worst or nothing at all and if it turns out to be good news then I can be pleasantly surprised.

This week I received good news.  I went back to the diagnostic center to have a PET scan which would tell if there was any cancer on my kidney where 'something' was spotted on the CT scan I had before the blood clot crisis.  Later the same day I went to my doctor's office to get the results. I waited and waited while getting more nervous as time passed. There were still many in front of me and my impatience was growing.  Then the good things started happening. My doctor called me back ahead of other patients to a little room where the nurses take your blood pressure and weigh you.  He said he didn't want me to have to wait to hear the news he had for me. I began to cry thinking it was another crisis.  He quickly reassured me that he had good news. The 'something' on the kidney was just a hematoma from the original surgery last August.  In fact, there was NO CANCER anywhere. The chemo treatments I have had so far are working.  Also, the PET scan showed the blood clot in my lungs had already dissipated quite a bit.  Relief spread over me and the anxiety of the day disappeared. What a good feeling!  I really appreciate the doctor doing that. He says he can feel all the anguish of the waiting patients so he wanted to relieve my anguish since I had been having a rough time with the clot and the infection.  Very kind of him. 

Of course things are not perfect. I still have to finish chemo (six more treatments), I can't start chemo again until the GI infection is gone and today I am having a blood transfusion.  But there is an upward trend...yes I am still cautious and probably will be for quite awhile but trying to enjoy the good news for a change and let go of some of my constant worrying.  

And so the journey continues...

post scan musings

We came home in the snow. A soft, gentle hush of silence descending around us. If only I could achieve that same quiet peace.

I had a CT scan on Monday and had pretty much convinced myself that everything would be fine. The weekend had been a bit rough. I was weak and out of breath, which I assumed were side effects of the most recent chemo.  After the scan I returned to the oncologists office to wait for the results. Which weren't pretty. He told me I had significant blood clots in my lungs. The nurse gave me three shots of blood thinner in my stomach. We were sent to the hospital. Do not pass Go; Do not collect $200.

At the hospital there were the usual tests and visits from a variety of doctors...oncology and pulmonary. Ultrasounds and echograms. Lions and tigers and bears. Oh My!  It turns out I had something called a Saddle Embolus...which as the name suggests...saddles itself in the middle and extends into both lungs. Most people die within 30-60 minutes of having this type of clot.  I was slightly out of breath when I walked. All the experts said the clot was 'impressive' (meaning large) and seemed surprised that I was walking and talking and not needing to be on life support or even oxygen. I was finally told I happen to have a large lung capacity that could accomodate this whopper of a blood clot. The treatment is the same as for a regular pulmonary embolism...I will continue blood thinners and a filter was placed in my inferior vena cava.  It is a filter that will break up any other clots that might form in my legs and try to travel to my lungs.  My heart was examined and it seems it was not under stress due to the blood clot. More good news indeed!

After determining I was stable I was sent home with syringes, etc to continue the process of thinning my blood in order for my body to adapt to the blood clot.  It snowed heavily our first night home. By the next morning it was melting quickly when I received a phone call from my doctor letting me know one of the myriad of tests showed an gastrointestinal infection that I picked up somewhere. Or rather it picked me. More medications, more complications. More delays to chemo because of the infection.

And now the questions and fear begin. Am I reallly stable?  Can part of this clot break off still and wreak havoc in my lungs? What is the mortality rate for patients with saddle clots AND cancer AND gastrointestinal infections AND open wounds AND... Ok, now I'm just feeling sorry for myself. I am grateful for my large capacity lungs, the infection was caught early, the open wounds are slowly healing and I am still surrounded by the loving support of family and friends...