Reallly Good News!!

We just got back from seeing Dr. Conlon. First, the CT scan did not show any tumor in the liver (he was worried that it might) or in other abdominal organs. The chest is clear. The pelvis is clear. The CT did confirm multiple metastases to bone--as before. The blood counts are all normal and the hemoglobin is 10.6. There are some mild abnormalities of liver function that have been present previously, but not terribly elevated.

So, his conclusion is that she has had a significant response to the Taxotere over 6 cycles of chemotherapy, and that it is now time to stop it and watch. She will remain on the Aromasin (the hormonal therapy). He wants to see Sally in one month.

We had not quite expected this and we are both excited by the news. We are, of course, hoping that there will be a durable remission and the the tumor in the bone will be held in check with the Aromasin. Sally is ecstatic as you can imagine.

We will be going to Lorrie's for Easter dinner and celebration.

Feeling pretty good

Sally had a successful trip to the Texas Hill country to look at antiques with Lorrie and Judy. They left about 9:00 am and got back around 6:00 pm all exhausted and happy. I'm so glad this worked out well for everyone. We have had a great few days with Judy who is leaving today. Interestingly, Judy had the same intestinal illness that we both had and has just recovered from it. We think she must have gotten it from Sally over the phone--one of those phone viruses I guess.

Today Sally has the CT scan that was cancelled last week when she was ill. Tomorrow we go to Dr. Conlon's office. I hope the scan results will be available then. We will discuss with Dr. C. the upcoming chemotherapy session (scheduled now for next Wed).

Both are feeling better

The stomach virus or whatever it was is nearly gone. Both of us are feeling better--Sally has lagged me by about a day in the onset and recovery. Sally is planning to go to a big antique show in the Texas hill country on Tuesday with Lorrie and our good friend, Judy Bedford, who is flying down from Denver to visit us. This is a significant outing and we are thinking that she will be just fine.

Still slow to recover from last chemo

Sally was starting to feel and eat a little better, but because she felt things were not going as we expected, we went to see Dr. Conlon on Monday. He wants to get some scans and is thinking that the liver is enlarged. The scan was scheduled for today, but both of us have come down with some sort of intestinal malady--mostly nausea and pain with a little fever. Mine started yesterday morning and Sally started to feel the same way last night. So we have cancelled the scan for now. In addition, Sally's ankle swelling is getting worse. Lasix did nothing for her. Apparently this is likely a problem due to her chemotherapy.

I wish I could be more upbeat, but we both feel so lousy right now that it's hard. I'm feeling a little better this morning and I hope that Sally will start to recover from this intestinal virus soon. For now we are hunkering down.

Pretty tired since Saturday

After Sally had that burst of activity last Thursday and Friday, she has been pretty tired and her appetite isn't so good. She may have overdone it some when she felt so good. We're hoping that this is temporary and that she will feel better soon. One thing the chemo does is take away much of her taste for food, so everything tastes like hay, she says. This and a sore mouth from the chemo doesn't help the appetite. The next chemo is the Wednesday after Easter, so we are all planning on a good holiday.

The day after Chemo

Today was a fairly typical day after the chemo. Sally still has a buzz on from the steroids that she was given yesterday to combat any nausea so she woke up ready to go out to the garden and get some spring color in. She skipped yoga today so that she could get going and work with our landscape gardner, Ken, of whom we are very fond. She went to some nurseries and worked all day without much rest. She still is going at this hour (5:30), but will stop soon. I hope she didn't overdo it, but she gets so much enjoyment out of it that it seems worth it.

I posted a picture of the crab boil a couple of days ago without Lorrie in it, but I have spent some time and now have pasted Lorrie in it so I will post it again--not great but not too bad for a fake picture.

Just finished Chemo #6

Sally is now home from the chemo today. The good news is that her hemoglobin is now 10.8 g/dl. This is clearly up from the values previously and is more encouraging news. Dr. Conlon wants to re-evaluate -- he mentioned scans but it's not clear to me what good they will be since they didn't show anything before. Anyway, we will see what he has in mind soon. For now, the next chemo is in 4 weeks.