Chemo #4

Not a lot of news. The 4th dose of Taxotere chemotherapy was last Wednesday. As before, the first couple of days after the chemo are fine and then Sat, Sun and maybe Mon after are a little less good, but still not bad. After that it is good until the next time. So Saturday was pretty good and today not bad but quite tired. Sally's blood counts are stable with hemoglobin between 9 and 10 and all the rest of the counts are normal. We haven't gone on any more outings since the last post but we should be able to do some this next couple of weeks. Dr. Conlon said that after about six cycles of chemotherapy he will likely so some scans and try and reevaluate the situation. The problem is that there is very little to follow to gauge the stage of the cancer since the scans were not helpful in the past. I'll let you all know what he decides to do, but that decision will not occur for several weeks.

Good week

As has been the pattern, this week prior to Chemo next Wednesday has been good. Sally has been a little tired, but feeling well and eating well. Today for the first time in a long time we went out and had some Tex-Mex food--being careful to order stuff that was not too spicy. Sally ate it well although it is difficult for anyone to clean up their plate at one of these places. When we got home, she decided she wanted to drive herself to the supermarket. This is the first time she has driven in about 3 months--so that is quite a milestone. I'm worried that now she will want to go shopping at her favorite stores--but I don't think she is quite ready for that yet. My next goal is to get Sally to join me at a Yoga class. I think she would do fine and she used to go. The other people at yoga ask about her all the time and miss her cheery smile. The weather has improved--It's almost spring down here (I hope). And we remain in good spirits. Thank you all for your notes and your concern and support.

A Great Day

Well today did turn out to be sunny and pretty warm (about 67) so we went to Brazos Bend State Park and we walked our usual walk which is 1.7 miles. Sally did great!! The last time we were there was over a month ago and Sally was barely able to go about 100 yards. So this is a great improvement. I will enclose a couple pictures -- one of Sally and one of a park resident. You want to keep your children and dogs on a short leash here. So I just had to let you all know that things keep looking good.

These are the halcyon days

Well after Sunday Sally has been feeling better each day. This is the pattern after the chemotherapy and we look forward to another week and a half of good days. We have had some awfully cold temperatures here in tropical Houston--got down to 17 degrees here. But now it is warming up and tomorrow may be up to around 70. Many of our plants look pretty sick. On the good side, it should have gotten rid of some of Texas' legendary bugs. If it is sunny and warm tomorrow, we are planning an outing to our favorite park to walk and look at the birds, alligators and other critters. The lab results from last Wednesday were good so we will not be going back to the Dr. until the 27th for another round of chemotherapy. It looks like we will be having chemotherapy every three weeks for another few months. It does seem to be doing a lot of good and we want to get the maximum benefit.

We have a pattern

It seems that there is a pattern with each cycle of chemotherapy. Sally feels well before, during and for the first couple of days after chemo, but on the third day she starts to feel less well in a nondescript way. So the chemo was on Wednesday last week and on Saturday she felt less hungry and maybe a little queasy. This continued on Sunday when she took some Zofran for nausea. She also has had some diarrhea with this. This morning she feels better and we expect she will continue to improve until the next chemo on Jan 27. That will make 4 cycles of the Taxotere. We will be talking with Dr. Conlon soon (probably this week at the check of her blood counts) to see if we can determine what the plan is after that. I'll let you know.

Third Chemotherapy Today

Sally had her chemotherapy today without incident. Her PICC line had come out so the nurses had to place a catheter in a peripheral vein to give the stuff. They had no problem with this. Sally seems to have had less anxiety than with the previous courses of Chemo. She had the same regimen as previously. Her blood counts are good except that her hemoglobin remains low, but not any lower than before. I think that the hemoglobin will not recover until such time as the chemotherapy is discontinued for a while. But the platelets and white blood cells are normal. Her ankle swelling is no worse and maybe a little better in the past few days. She has been watching her salt intake and has not yet taken the diuretic. Her appetite is good, particularly early in the day. If I ate as much as she does for breakfast and lunch, I would probably gain 10 pounds! So it is pretty much all good news at present and we hope that continues. Keep tuned.

It's a New Year!

I guess that no news is good news. Everything has been pretty stable for the past week. Sally continues to feel well and is gaining strength. Craig and the boys were here for a week between Christmas and New Year and Sally was able to participate in family gatherings. A couple of minor things are that the dressing over Sally's PICC line apparently irritated the skin causing a rash so the the line has now been removed and the area opened to the air. We are to make an appointment on Monday to see Dr. Conlon to be certain that it is healing ok without infection. The second thing is that Sally's ankles are swollen. This is fairly common after Taxotere. They are not too bad and don't seem to be getting worse. If they do, she has a diuretic to take to get rid of some of the excess fluid that is causing the swelling.

But all in all, things are good. The next day of chemotherapy is due for Wednesday next week. I'll let you know how things go.

To all of you, I hope you had a merry Christmas and best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year.