Monday, 8-Dec-2008
Kris saw the physical therapist who gave her the go ahead to be done with Physical Therapy since Kris has met all of the goals Dale (the Therapist) had for her. Kris asked about the level of Edema and whether or not she'd benefit from more therapy to address that. Dale agreed and thus Kris will go in for more sessions.
She also saw Dr. Kuisle who hemmed, hawed and generally thought her progress is just fine.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Friday, December 5, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: MugaScan
Thursday, 4-Dec-2008
Kris had a mugascan today. Uneventful. She's doing these every so often at Dr. Moran's request (her oncologist). It's a type of heart scan which will show if the chemotherapy drugs are having an adverse effect on her heart. So far everything has been good!
Kris had a mugascan today. Uneventful. She's doing these every so often at Dr. Moran's request (her oncologist). It's a type of heart scan which will show if the chemotherapy drugs are having an adverse effect on her heart. So far everything has been good!
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: Drain away!
Tuesday, 25-Nov-2008
Kris saw Dr. Kuisle and had that final drain removed... yeah! Wound still weeps a little but, at least she doesn't have to deal with the drain and it should heal up quickly enough.
Spirits are up and all seems to be going well. What might be Kris' last physical Therapy is set for the 8th of December. Herceptin (Chemo-light) on the 9th. Then we have another followup with Dr. Kuisle on the 12th.
Kris saw Dr. Kuisle and had that final drain removed... yeah! Wound still weeps a little but, at least she doesn't have to deal with the drain and it should heal up quickly enough.
Spirits are up and all seems to be going well. What might be Kris' last physical Therapy is set for the 8th of December. Herceptin (Chemo-light) on the 9th. Then we have another followup with Dr. Kuisle on the 12th.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: Physical Therapy
Ok, lots of catching up to do:
Tuesday, 18-Nov-2008
Met with Dr. Kuisle. He was pleased with the lack of edema in the reconstructed breast. We noted that Kris had been squeezing it as directed and Dale had done lymph-edema work on it Monday. With that, he decided to leave the drain where it was, and said he'd remove it as a Thanksgiving day present.
We also went for our infusion of Herceptin and saw Dr. Moran. He confirmed that it's ok for Kris to have her flu shot, in fact he wants her to have it. He also increased her dosage of Warfarin as her 'I and R' got a tidge low at 1.2. He also took a look at her scars and reconstruction and generally gave his approval. I think I can quote him as saying 'that's the best looking 2 foot scar I've seen!' Which will give you a reference as to the size of Kris abdominal scar! She talked with him about returning to work and Dr. Moran is of the opinion that going back now would be pushing it. In no small part this is due to the simple fact that work at IBM is not something that can be done in 40 hour weeks. :)
Kris talked with her manager during the infusion and relayed with Dr. Moran had said. They decided that going to work this year might well be pushing things too hard. We'll still play it by ear since the question of going back part time is still on the table but, I think she has settled on starting work First of Jan.
Monday, 17-Nov-2008
Physical Therapy with Dale went smoothly. She did what she calls 'lymph-edema' work because Kris has a decent amount of fluid on the reconstructed breast. This work was trying to get the local tissue to use the lymphatic channels to remove fluid... specifically, the old channels that the new breast won't be used to yet... since the tissue came from her stomach area. Dale is actually quite impressed with Kris' progress with physical therapy and gave her some new stretches to perform... which are fun to watch. :)
Friday, 14-Nov-2008
Ok, details are fuzzy from here back but, she saw Dale and things went well with physical therapy.
Met with Dr. Kuisly afterwards and he removed all of the stitches, pulled out Kris drain a bit, then restitched the drain. He squeezed out what fluid he could, and instructed Kris to continue squeezing it as she can stand.
On a personal note, the site of the edema is quite hard which is disconcerting because the tumor she had two years ago was hard. All of the Dr.s agree that it's just edema but, I can't help but be concerned. :/
Tuesday, 18-Nov-2008
Met with Dr. Kuisle. He was pleased with the lack of edema in the reconstructed breast. We noted that Kris had been squeezing it as directed and Dale had done lymph-edema work on it Monday. With that, he decided to leave the drain where it was, and said he'd remove it as a Thanksgiving day present.
We also went for our infusion of Herceptin and saw Dr. Moran. He confirmed that it's ok for Kris to have her flu shot, in fact he wants her to have it. He also increased her dosage of Warfarin as her 'I and R' got a tidge low at 1.2. He also took a look at her scars and reconstruction and generally gave his approval. I think I can quote him as saying 'that's the best looking 2 foot scar I've seen!' Which will give you a reference as to the size of Kris abdominal scar! She talked with him about returning to work and Dr. Moran is of the opinion that going back now would be pushing it. In no small part this is due to the simple fact that work at IBM is not something that can be done in 40 hour weeks. :)
Kris talked with her manager during the infusion and relayed with Dr. Moran had said. They decided that going to work this year might well be pushing things too hard. We'll still play it by ear since the question of going back part time is still on the table but, I think she has settled on starting work First of Jan.
Monday, 17-Nov-2008
Physical Therapy with Dale went smoothly. She did what she calls 'lymph-edema' work because Kris has a decent amount of fluid on the reconstructed breast. This work was trying to get the local tissue to use the lymphatic channels to remove fluid... specifically, the old channels that the new breast won't be used to yet... since the tissue came from her stomach area. Dale is actually quite impressed with Kris' progress with physical therapy and gave her some new stretches to perform... which are fun to watch. :)
Friday, 14-Nov-2008
Ok, details are fuzzy from here back but, she saw Dale and things went well with physical therapy.
Met with Dr. Kuisly afterwards and he removed all of the stitches, pulled out Kris drain a bit, then restitched the drain. He squeezed out what fluid he could, and instructed Kris to continue squeezing it as she can stand.
On a personal note, the site of the edema is quite hard which is disconcerting because the tumor she had two years ago was hard. All of the Dr.s agree that it's just edema but, I can't help but be concerned. :/
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: Physical Therapy and followup
Wednesday, 5-Nov-2008
Physical therapy with Dale. Actually, this first round was really just meet and greet with evaluation. She set some ground rules and sent us off with some tape that she wanted Kris to test out on her arm. The tape is to help scar tissue to heal so that it leaves little or no mark. The test run was due to the fact that Kris is quite sensitive to tape products on her skin. Fortunately, she reacted very well to the tape, which was mildly surprising.
After the appointment with Dale, we saw Dr. Kuisle following up on the installation of the small drain. Things are looking good. He asked for us to come back Monday, at which time we expect him to remove all of the stitches save the drain and stitches for it. He will back the drain out a bit at that time.
Friday, 7-Nov-2008
Met with Dale again and went through some gentle physical therapy, more like massage than anything else. She taped up the scar from the Tram flap (Kris belly basically) and gave us information on Lymph edema. This last is a concern since Kris has lost most of the Lymph nodes for her left arm. Which means that some of it's drainage has been removed.
Physical therapy with Dale. Actually, this first round was really just meet and greet with evaluation. She set some ground rules and sent us off with some tape that she wanted Kris to test out on her arm. The tape is to help scar tissue to heal so that it leaves little or no mark. The test run was due to the fact that Kris is quite sensitive to tape products on her skin. Fortunately, she reacted very well to the tape, which was mildly surprising.
After the appointment with Dale, we saw Dr. Kuisle following up on the installation of the small drain. Things are looking good. He asked for us to come back Monday, at which time we expect him to remove all of the stitches save the drain and stitches for it. He will back the drain out a bit at that time.
Friday, 7-Nov-2008
Met with Dale again and went through some gentle physical therapy, more like massage than anything else. She taped up the scar from the Tram flap (Kris belly basically) and gave us information on Lymph edema. This last is a concern since Kris has lost most of the Lymph nodes for her left arm. Which means that some of it's drainage has been removed.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: Post Surgery
I forgot to mention something because I wasn't able to attend one of Kris' appointments with Dr. Moran. The gist of the message I've already said earlier but, I wanted to report what Dr. Moran had to say about the Tissue removed. He said that they could hardly find any cancer in the tissue removed which is very good news!
Monday, 10-Nov-2008
Met with Dr. Kuisle to check on Kris' recovery since having the dead tissue removed. The wound has been seeping a little and he noted more fluid than he likes, so, he removed two stitches and installed a drain. He said they would gradually pull out the drain and remove it as they went. This way the cavity will collapse and heal around the end of the drain. He also prescribed another round of Anti-Biotics. Downside is Kris needs a lot of gauze to soak up the fluid. The wound actually looks good other than this.
Kris also called to get enrolled on my insurance while she's on long term disability. It was another example of the definition of 'bureaucratic nightmare' but, she's on my insurance now and things should be good to go... ok, things will be good to go but, she only gets on my insurance Wednesday the 4th! Nothing like increasing the stress for folks who are trying to heal! :/
Despite all of this, Kris' spirits are up and we are moving along. She will begin Physical Therapy Wednesday the 4th and hopes to be back to work by end of November. Me? I'm just being selfish and enjoying the fact that when I get home, she's able to greet me. :)
Monday, 10-Nov-2008
Met with Dr. Kuisle to check on Kris' recovery since having the dead tissue removed. The wound has been seeping a little and he noted more fluid than he likes, so, he removed two stitches and installed a drain. He said they would gradually pull out the drain and remove it as they went. This way the cavity will collapse and heal around the end of the drain. He also prescribed another round of Anti-Biotics. Downside is Kris needs a lot of gauze to soak up the fluid. The wound actually looks good other than this.
Kris also called to get enrolled on my insurance while she's on long term disability. It was another example of the definition of 'bureaucratic nightmare' but, she's on my insurance now and things should be good to go... ok, things will be good to go but, she only gets on my insurance Wednesday the 4th! Nothing like increasing the stress for folks who are trying to heal! :/
Despite all of this, Kris' spirits are up and we are moving along. She will begin Physical Therapy Wednesday the 4th and hopes to be back to work by end of November. Me? I'm just being selfish and enjoying the fact that when I get home, she's able to greet me. :)
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: Post Surgery Recovery
Monday, 27-Oct-2008
Saw Dr. Kuisle. He looked at Kris' wound and said that he needed to excise the bad tissue. It's also looking a bit red and angry, so, we are concerned about infection. He gave us a prescription for antibiotics and made an appointment for Wednesday at 4pm to do the procedure, outpatient.
Wednesday, 29-Oct-2008
Took Kris in. They gave her a local and did the procedure. He didn't find anything that he was surprised by. Told us to go home and take it easy. Her binding is now optional. She starts Physical therapy next week.
On the drive home, she was in a good deal of pain... she's weaned herself down to a fairly low dose of pain killers. We decided to take one as soon as she got in the car as the local was wearing off and the pain was increasing. She took both of her pain medications reasonably quickly (which is still a very low dose but it's the max dose she's been taking).
When we got her home and settled down, everything seemed fine.
Kris' spirits are generaly up though she was kind of down when we realized that some of the tissue from the reconstruction wasn't going to make it.
Oh, and what ever you do, don't watch the show Living Proof! Maybe I'm just too close to the subject, but, in the 16 years that I've known Kris, she's never seen me cry... not sure that's a good thing but... that movie (it's about the fight to develop Herceptin) made me cry like an open faucet! Was a terrible sight I'm sure... fortunately, Kris was in the other room... though, I freely admitted to my failings to her. :) Seriously, it's a great movie and I was rather surprised at the fight that had to be taken to get the drug to go through! Not that it was a fight of a technical nature, all of the tests seem to indicate the drug had promise, strong promise, from the outset... it was a political fight and that made me feel rather disgusted at our system!
Saw Dr. Kuisle. He looked at Kris' wound and said that he needed to excise the bad tissue. It's also looking a bit red and angry, so, we are concerned about infection. He gave us a prescription for antibiotics and made an appointment for Wednesday at 4pm to do the procedure, outpatient.
Wednesday, 29-Oct-2008
Took Kris in. They gave her a local and did the procedure. He didn't find anything that he was surprised by. Told us to go home and take it easy. Her binding is now optional. She starts Physical therapy next week.
On the drive home, she was in a good deal of pain... she's weaned herself down to a fairly low dose of pain killers. We decided to take one as soon as she got in the car as the local was wearing off and the pain was increasing. She took both of her pain medications reasonably quickly (which is still a very low dose but it's the max dose she's been taking).
When we got her home and settled down, everything seemed fine.
Kris' spirits are generaly up though she was kind of down when we realized that some of the tissue from the reconstruction wasn't going to make it.
Oh, and what ever you do, don't watch the show Living Proof! Maybe I'm just too close to the subject, but, in the 16 years that I've known Kris, she's never seen me cry... not sure that's a good thing but... that movie (it's about the fight to develop Herceptin) made me cry like an open faucet! Was a terrible sight I'm sure... fortunately, Kris was in the other room... though, I freely admitted to my failings to her. :) Seriously, it's a great movie and I was rather surprised at the fight that had to be taken to get the drug to go through! Not that it was a fight of a technical nature, all of the tests seem to indicate the drug had promise, strong promise, from the outset... it was a political fight and that made me feel rather disgusted at our system!
Monday, October 27, 2008
Friday, 24-Oct-2008
Went to see Dr. Kuisle. We had several questions for him and asked him to refill Kris pain medication prescriptions.
Kris has a dark spot on the reconstructed breast... downright black. It pretty much follows the line of the scar for about an inch and a half and has not seemed to fade like the rest of the bruising in the area. Dr. Kuisle looked at it and said that it might be that the tissue there is not getting enough blood. However, the overall breast looked to be doing fine. His expectation is that he might have to remove some dead tissue and that he thinks the tissue is just topical/skin, but, that we should watch it closely and just wait for now.
Kris mentioned pain up under her left arm where the surgery has occurred. Dr. Kuisles thought is that it's just that area finally waking up. Again, watch closely but generally don't worry about it.
We asked if and when she could stop using the binding around her waist. He admitted that at this point, the binding was really just a matter of comfort and specifically giving some extra back support while she healed. Essentially, it's optional at this point. Kris' back is sore enough that she's going with it for now, but, we are exploring alternatives.
Saturday, 25-Oct-2008
Went to Nordstroms to explore support clothes. The Spanx brand is nice, but, unfortunately, Kris wasn't really comfortable in any of them. Either they ride too high, or they ride too low. There are two basic styles, one which is like a very tall pantie that reaches up to the rib cage, and for Kris a wee bit higher. Kris has a fairly short trunk and long legs. She's not comfortable with something tight up around the area of the breast reconstruction so that's out... she tried folding the top down, but, that's too tight. Finally, it seems that they build these garments assuming you have a large... um... fundament (rump!) and she doesn't like that part being saggy (the cloth!). So, she tried the other style which go down about halfway on the thigh, and up above the belly button. She doesn't like the way they go down her legs, so, a miss there too!
We did find out that you can get custom made bras or prosthetics. Insurance covers two prosthetics a year. We'll visit again when we are ready for more comfortable bras.
I went to bed that afternoon (I'm on graveyards) and Kris woke me up as she'd noticed the wound for the reconstructed breast was weeping brown or reddish fluid. It's not seeping with any real flow, it's more a presence of fluid. We called the Dr. and his advice was to not panic, and to make an appointment to see him Monday.
Sunday, 26-Oct-2008
I convinced Kris to put some Neosporin on the breast wound. Figured it can't hurt and it should help keep the wound from getting infected. Later in the day, Kris noticed that the wound was... goopy! We are concerned but, there is no evidence of infection and we are going to see the Dr. this morning.
Went to see Dr. Kuisle. We had several questions for him and asked him to refill Kris pain medication prescriptions.
Kris has a dark spot on the reconstructed breast... downright black. It pretty much follows the line of the scar for about an inch and a half and has not seemed to fade like the rest of the bruising in the area. Dr. Kuisle looked at it and said that it might be that the tissue there is not getting enough blood. However, the overall breast looked to be doing fine. His expectation is that he might have to remove some dead tissue and that he thinks the tissue is just topical/skin, but, that we should watch it closely and just wait for now.
Kris mentioned pain up under her left arm where the surgery has occurred. Dr. Kuisles thought is that it's just that area finally waking up. Again, watch closely but generally don't worry about it.
We asked if and when she could stop using the binding around her waist. He admitted that at this point, the binding was really just a matter of comfort and specifically giving some extra back support while she healed. Essentially, it's optional at this point. Kris' back is sore enough that she's going with it for now, but, we are exploring alternatives.
Saturday, 25-Oct-2008
Went to Nordstroms to explore support clothes. The Spanx brand is nice, but, unfortunately, Kris wasn't really comfortable in any of them. Either they ride too high, or they ride too low. There are two basic styles, one which is like a very tall pantie that reaches up to the rib cage, and for Kris a wee bit higher. Kris has a fairly short trunk and long legs. She's not comfortable with something tight up around the area of the breast reconstruction so that's out... she tried folding the top down, but, that's too tight. Finally, it seems that they build these garments assuming you have a large... um... fundament (rump!) and she doesn't like that part being saggy (the cloth!). So, she tried the other style which go down about halfway on the thigh, and up above the belly button. She doesn't like the way they go down her legs, so, a miss there too!
We did find out that you can get custom made bras or prosthetics. Insurance covers two prosthetics a year. We'll visit again when we are ready for more comfortable bras.
I went to bed that afternoon (I'm on graveyards) and Kris woke me up as she'd noticed the wound for the reconstructed breast was weeping brown or reddish fluid. It's not seeping with any real flow, it's more a presence of fluid. We called the Dr. and his advice was to not panic, and to make an appointment to see him Monday.
Sunday, 26-Oct-2008
I convinced Kris to put some Neosporin on the breast wound. Figured it can't hurt and it should help keep the wound from getting infected. Later in the day, Kris noticed that the wound was... goopy! We are concerned but, there is no evidence of infection and we are going to see the Dr. this morning.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: Post Surgery
Monday, 20-Oct-2008
The Good:
Went to Dr. Kuisle's office and had the last drain tube removed. Everything looks to be proceeding nicely. I just wish I'd remembered to ask about when Kris can start going without the binding, but, that can wait for Fridays appointment with Dr. Kuisle.
The Bad:
We noticed Sheba has one of her fangs pointing straight out! Poor thing apparently rammed her head into something and broke off at least one tooth. Dropped her off at the Vet. She'll be fine, if a bit toofless.
The Ugly:
In the realm of 'inquiring minds want to know' this is how Long Term Disability works:
Fill out about a pound of paperwork.
Apply for LTD from Social Security.
Separate from IBM(!)
Choose your insurance plan through the agency handling LTD (MetLife in our case)(!)
Wait a month for your first LTD check (it pays in arrears)
When done with whatever put you in LTD, come back to work.
Now, the primary concern we had was that Kris had already met, and by far exceeded, her out of pocket expense for the year. Changing insurance plans would eliminate that advantage... or so we worried. When talking to the councilor for MetLife, he advocated that Kris go on my insurance on November 1st (she's covered through the end of October on her own plan). He didn't say it in so many words, but, the implication was that if she'd gone to her own insurance plan under the LTD program, she'd once again have to suffer out of pocket costs. Note that while on LTD, she's at two thirds pay, so, this would not be a trivial set back. I don't know how folks who are on their own with the company manage... well, I have my guesses and they aren't pretty.
Add to this the fact that there is a lot of paperwork for separating from the company for the 6 weeks that Kris should be on LTD, and the subsequent paperwork to get back on board with IBM afterwords and it just seems totally inefficient... not to mention something less than you thought you were opting for when you signed up for your health benefits! I for one didn't realize that this was the way that Long Term Disability is handled.
Don't get me wrong, I don't have issue with severing from the company, at least, it's my sense that there is some legal precedence behind doing it this way... I have issue with changing insurance plans mid stride which seems highly likely to increase the medical costs for someone least likely to be in a position to absorb it. It just seems like it's an uncaring way to go about doing things. A way that is guaranteed to increase the stress on someone trying to heal... which is not conducive to rapid recovery at the very least.
The Good:
Went to Dr. Kuisle's office and had the last drain tube removed. Everything looks to be proceeding nicely. I just wish I'd remembered to ask about when Kris can start going without the binding, but, that can wait for Fridays appointment with Dr. Kuisle.
The Bad:
We noticed Sheba has one of her fangs pointing straight out! Poor thing apparently rammed her head into something and broke off at least one tooth. Dropped her off at the Vet. She'll be fine, if a bit toofless.
The Ugly:
In the realm of 'inquiring minds want to know' this is how Long Term Disability works:
Fill out about a pound of paperwork.
Apply for LTD from Social Security.
Separate from IBM(!)
Choose your insurance plan through the agency handling LTD (MetLife in our case)(!)
Wait a month for your first LTD check (it pays in arrears)
When done with whatever put you in LTD, come back to work.
Now, the primary concern we had was that Kris had already met, and by far exceeded, her out of pocket expense for the year. Changing insurance plans would eliminate that advantage... or so we worried. When talking to the councilor for MetLife, he advocated that Kris go on my insurance on November 1st (she's covered through the end of October on her own plan). He didn't say it in so many words, but, the implication was that if she'd gone to her own insurance plan under the LTD program, she'd once again have to suffer out of pocket costs. Note that while on LTD, she's at two thirds pay, so, this would not be a trivial set back. I don't know how folks who are on their own with the company manage... well, I have my guesses and they aren't pretty.
Add to this the fact that there is a lot of paperwork for separating from the company for the 6 weeks that Kris should be on LTD, and the subsequent paperwork to get back on board with IBM afterwords and it just seems totally inefficient... not to mention something less than you thought you were opting for when you signed up for your health benefits! I for one didn't realize that this was the way that Long Term Disability is handled.
Don't get me wrong, I don't have issue with severing from the company, at least, it's my sense that there is some legal precedence behind doing it this way... I have issue with changing insurance plans mid stride which seems highly likely to increase the medical costs for someone least likely to be in a position to absorb it. It just seems like it's an uncaring way to go about doing things. A way that is guaranteed to increase the stress on someone trying to heal... which is not conducive to rapid recovery at the very least.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: Recovery from Surgery
Sorry for not posting more often, it's been busy.
Sunday 12-Oct-2008
Kris is still in the hospital recovering. She's not sleeping very well as they are keeping her full of fluids, which require trips to the restroom, which takes a bit of a production, and increases her pain. So, she was on a cycle of taking her drugs, sleeping for a bit, waking up, going to the bathroom, getting in bed, taking drugs. Roughly a one hour cycle. Despite this, when we visited her, she was in good spirits though she'd doze in an out on occasion while we were there.
We watched the second season of 'How I Met Your Mother' to pass the time.
Monday, 13-Oct-2008
On the way to the hospital, I checked and the third season of 'How I Met Your Mother' was out, so, I got it.
Slept better, but, same basic cycle. Kris is more mobile than she was which I take as a good sign. Dr. Kuisle said that she's not going home yet. Worst part is trying to get her on stable pain medications as there seem to be too many plans and no one knows which one anyone is supposed to be following!
Tuesday, 14-Oct-2008
During the night the nurse noticed that her IV had slipped out of her vein so Kris had a goodly bit of edema and really wasn't getting her pain medications. They accessed her port and her pain medications were administered that way... oddly, she slept a lot better this way!
When I got there, she was off of the PCA (Patient Controlled something, means she hits a button, and pain meds go into her). We started watching HIMYM and Dr. Kuisly showed up to give us our walking papers and a clear cut plan on how to use the pain medications. He also had us set an appointment to see him in his office Wednesday.
Leaving and getting home were fairly uneventful. We were going to just sleep downstairs in the lazy-boy chair but, Kris decided she wanted to sleep upstairs.
Wednesday, 15-Oct-2008
Dr. Kuisle changed her bandages and they removed approximately half of her staples. The nurse suggested wearing a soft cotton shirt under the binding they have wrapped about her abdomen to help make things more comfortable. They also removed one of the 4 drains (two in the breast area, two in the abdomen) and I'm to empty and measure them twice a day. We are also allowed to shower now, but, we have to put bacitracin (neosporin to you and me) around the drain sites after bathing. The nurse gave us supplies, including a soft, sports like, bra that should be more comfortable.
The Dr. gave us the news about the biopsy of the tissue removed from Kris left breast. There were indeed traces of the cancer, some signs of it in the lymphatic system, but, no signs that the lymphatic system itself was infected (GOOD NEWS!), better, the margins are clear (the margins are the areas at the edge of where the tissue was removed) which means that they removed everything they know about!
Thursday, 16-Oct-2008
Everything is pretty much uneventful. Kris is both more and less comfortable... which is part of the healing process, imho. Basically, things that were not bothering her before, are bothering her now. Which I take to mean that her surgery sites are 'waking up' so she is able to feel more and in some cases she's feeling things that aren't the same and are thus less comfortable. :)
More to come...
Sunday 12-Oct-2008
Kris is still in the hospital recovering. She's not sleeping very well as they are keeping her full of fluids, which require trips to the restroom, which takes a bit of a production, and increases her pain. So, she was on a cycle of taking her drugs, sleeping for a bit, waking up, going to the bathroom, getting in bed, taking drugs. Roughly a one hour cycle. Despite this, when we visited her, she was in good spirits though she'd doze in an out on occasion while we were there.
We watched the second season of 'How I Met Your Mother' to pass the time.
Monday, 13-Oct-2008
On the way to the hospital, I checked and the third season of 'How I Met Your Mother' was out, so, I got it.
Slept better, but, same basic cycle. Kris is more mobile than she was which I take as a good sign. Dr. Kuisle said that she's not going home yet. Worst part is trying to get her on stable pain medications as there seem to be too many plans and no one knows which one anyone is supposed to be following!
Tuesday, 14-Oct-2008
During the night the nurse noticed that her IV had slipped out of her vein so Kris had a goodly bit of edema and really wasn't getting her pain medications. They accessed her port and her pain medications were administered that way... oddly, she slept a lot better this way!
When I got there, she was off of the PCA (Patient Controlled something, means she hits a button, and pain meds go into her). We started watching HIMYM and Dr. Kuisly showed up to give us our walking papers and a clear cut plan on how to use the pain medications. He also had us set an appointment to see him in his office Wednesday.
Leaving and getting home were fairly uneventful. We were going to just sleep downstairs in the lazy-boy chair but, Kris decided she wanted to sleep upstairs.
Wednesday, 15-Oct-2008
Dr. Kuisle changed her bandages and they removed approximately half of her staples. The nurse suggested wearing a soft cotton shirt under the binding they have wrapped about her abdomen to help make things more comfortable. They also removed one of the 4 drains (two in the breast area, two in the abdomen) and I'm to empty and measure them twice a day. We are also allowed to shower now, but, we have to put bacitracin (neosporin to you and me) around the drain sites after bathing. The nurse gave us supplies, including a soft, sports like, bra that should be more comfortable.
The Dr. gave us the news about the biopsy of the tissue removed from Kris left breast. There were indeed traces of the cancer, some signs of it in the lymphatic system, but, no signs that the lymphatic system itself was infected (GOOD NEWS!), better, the margins are clear (the margins are the areas at the edge of where the tissue was removed) which means that they removed everything they know about!
Thursday, 16-Oct-2008
Everything is pretty much uneventful. Kris is both more and less comfortable... which is part of the healing process, imho. Basically, things that were not bothering her before, are bothering her now. Which I take to mean that her surgery sites are 'waking up' so she is able to feel more and in some cases she's feeling things that aren't the same and are thus less comfortable. :)
More to come...
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: Surgery and Post Surgery
Friday, 10-Oct-2008, Surgery, and Saturday 11-Oct-2008 Recovery
1030 we saw Dr. Kuisle who drew a bunch of lines on Kris and explained what they illustrated. Long and short is that they showed where the tissue was to be removed, and where it was to be relocated from. What I found interesting is that they take tissue from either the right side of the tram flap or the left side. Put another way, they take tissue from the left of the belly button, or right of the belly button and use it. What they don't use is discarded! I'd imagined using the tissue from the whole belly region for the reconstruction.
1130 We arrived at the hospital and checked in. Went through the usual rigmarole of getting dressed in the latest, and most stylish, but, drafty, hospital attire for the event. Waited around... the nurse contacted the anaesthesiologist to determine if they would use her port (which Kris prefers) and got the go ahead. She had a little trouble doing so, called in another nurse who had no problems doing so. At about 1245 (surgery planned for 1300) Dr. Jones showed up asking when we were heading to surgery. The nurse said we haven't seen Dr. Lane (the anaesthesiologist) yet.
Dr. Lane was called for and arrived and gave us the run down on the drugs he'd be using. I asked him about how long the surgery would take. He said Dr. Jones would take about an hour, they would call when he was done. Dr. Kuisle would take about 3 more hours. I did some quick math and asked if I should expect her out somewhere between 1630 and 1730. He said that with such a wide margin, he could agree. Kris was then wheeled out for surgery, a tidge late... I was left in the waiting room with instructions, from Kris, to get food (I'd been fasting with her to show her support... it's hard to fast when folks are eating around you!).
I headed to the cafeteria, which I found with some searching, and had... lunch. I then headed back to the surgery waiting room where I... waited.
... and waited...
1400 ... and waited....
... and about 1600 (4pm for folks who don't know the 24 hour clock) I got a call saying that Dr. Kuisle was almost done! Um... where was Dr. Jones call?
... waiting...
At about 1730 Dr. Kuisle showed up and let me know that everything went about as smoothly as you could ask for. I mentioned Dr. Jones lack of call and he was embarrassed for Dr. Jones having not brought me up to speed. He said that I'd get a call when she was back in pre/post operations and left.
1800 ... waiting...
1900 ... waiting...
2030 ... waiting... and I decide I'm far too patient and call the operations area to ask about Kris. They said they'd be wheeling her to room 377 in about 5 minutes! Nice call to be with her when she was recovering! So, I headed to room 377 and was headed off by the nurses on the 3rd floor. They said to have a room in the waiting area and they'd gather me when she arrived.... waiting...
2100 (or there abouts) the nurses said she was heading down the hall... I went and caught up with her and started calling folks after I'd spoken with her. By 2130 (9:30 to those who don't know the 24 hour clock) we were pretty much done and I was about wasted from the day.
Kris seemed in good spirits, if a bit groggy. She was talking with me and the nurses, in some pain, but, generally in good spirits and all is well.
While I was gone, about 2330, she gave herself some pain medications and got nauseous... not a comforting thought when work has been done on your abdomen! Apparently, she was waking up about every 15 minutes, hitting the button to administer pain killers, and spending about 5 minutes fending off nausea! Finally at about 0300 (3 am), they gave her a shot of something to fend off nausea and she was able to get some sleep between administering boosts of pain medications (delaudin). So, she didn't sleep very well, but, she did rest.
I got in to see her about 1100 and she seemed fine though, a bit drugged (go figure!). Dr. Kuisle showed up about 1130 and checked on things. She should have been up and walking early in the morning! He talked about transitioning her to Darvocet and said that things looked good and went on his way. At 1350 I went off to pick up Mary at the Airport and got back about 1700. During the drive we called Kris and found that she's got a fever and fluid in her lungs. However, I spoke with her and she said that according to the nurses it was nothing unusual.
When we arrived we learned that with surgery, at least surgery of this type, a low grade fever is fairly normal. We also learned that with this kind of surgery, you have to exercise the lungs as fluid will tend to gather in the bottom of the lung which can lead to pneumonia! They have Kris doing deep breathing exercises every hour to stave this off. She was talkative, between bouts of fading out due to the pain killers, and animated while we were there visiting with her. All in all things look pretty good. Just at 2100 (9 pm) the nurses gave her a walk up and down the hall and it was time for us to head home... and Kris to go to sleep.
More to come!
1030 we saw Dr. Kuisle who drew a bunch of lines on Kris and explained what they illustrated. Long and short is that they showed where the tissue was to be removed, and where it was to be relocated from. What I found interesting is that they take tissue from either the right side of the tram flap or the left side. Put another way, they take tissue from the left of the belly button, or right of the belly button and use it. What they don't use is discarded! I'd imagined using the tissue from the whole belly region for the reconstruction.
1130 We arrived at the hospital and checked in. Went through the usual rigmarole of getting dressed in the latest, and most stylish, but, drafty, hospital attire for the event. Waited around... the nurse contacted the anaesthesiologist to determine if they would use her port (which Kris prefers) and got the go ahead. She had a little trouble doing so, called in another nurse who had no problems doing so. At about 1245 (surgery planned for 1300) Dr. Jones showed up asking when we were heading to surgery. The nurse said we haven't seen Dr. Lane (the anaesthesiologist) yet.
Dr. Lane was called for and arrived and gave us the run down on the drugs he'd be using. I asked him about how long the surgery would take. He said Dr. Jones would take about an hour, they would call when he was done. Dr. Kuisle would take about 3 more hours. I did some quick math and asked if I should expect her out somewhere between 1630 and 1730. He said that with such a wide margin, he could agree. Kris was then wheeled out for surgery, a tidge late... I was left in the waiting room with instructions, from Kris, to get food (I'd been fasting with her to show her support... it's hard to fast when folks are eating around you!).
I headed to the cafeteria, which I found with some searching, and had... lunch. I then headed back to the surgery waiting room where I... waited.
... and waited...
1400 ... and waited....
... and about 1600 (4pm for folks who don't know the 24 hour clock) I got a call saying that Dr. Kuisle was almost done! Um... where was Dr. Jones call?
... waiting...
At about 1730 Dr. Kuisle showed up and let me know that everything went about as smoothly as you could ask for. I mentioned Dr. Jones lack of call and he was embarrassed for Dr. Jones having not brought me up to speed. He said that I'd get a call when she was back in pre/post operations and left.
1800 ... waiting...
1900 ... waiting...
2030 ... waiting... and I decide I'm far too patient and call the operations area to ask about Kris. They said they'd be wheeling her to room 377 in about 5 minutes! Nice call to be with her when she was recovering! So, I headed to room 377 and was headed off by the nurses on the 3rd floor. They said to have a room in the waiting area and they'd gather me when she arrived.... waiting...
2100 (or there abouts) the nurses said she was heading down the hall... I went and caught up with her and started calling folks after I'd spoken with her. By 2130 (9:30 to those who don't know the 24 hour clock) we were pretty much done and I was about wasted from the day.
Kris seemed in good spirits, if a bit groggy. She was talking with me and the nurses, in some pain, but, generally in good spirits and all is well.
While I was gone, about 2330, she gave herself some pain medications and got nauseous... not a comforting thought when work has been done on your abdomen! Apparently, she was waking up about every 15 minutes, hitting the button to administer pain killers, and spending about 5 minutes fending off nausea! Finally at about 0300 (3 am), they gave her a shot of something to fend off nausea and she was able to get some sleep between administering boosts of pain medications (delaudin). So, she didn't sleep very well, but, she did rest.
I got in to see her about 1100 and she seemed fine though, a bit drugged (go figure!). Dr. Kuisle showed up about 1130 and checked on things. She should have been up and walking early in the morning! He talked about transitioning her to Darvocet and said that things looked good and went on his way. At 1350 I went off to pick up Mary at the Airport and got back about 1700. During the drive we called Kris and found that she's got a fever and fluid in her lungs. However, I spoke with her and she said that according to the nurses it was nothing unusual.
When we arrived we learned that with surgery, at least surgery of this type, a low grade fever is fairly normal. We also learned that with this kind of surgery, you have to exercise the lungs as fluid will tend to gather in the bottom of the lung which can lead to pneumonia! They have Kris doing deep breathing exercises every hour to stave this off. She was talkative, between bouts of fading out due to the pain killers, and animated while we were there visiting with her. All in all things look pretty good. Just at 2100 (9 pm) the nurses gave her a walk up and down the hall and it was time for us to head home... and Kris to go to sleep.
More to come!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: Presurgery meeting with the plastic surgeon
Monday 6-Oct-2008
Met with Dr. Kuisle. He's pleased with Kris recovery from the preoperative procedure but, said that based on her pain, she's going to need some kind of narcotic after the surgery. We discussed which medications had caused problems in the past (Vicodin, Oxycontin, etc) and which had seemed to work well (Demerol, Morphine, aspirin)... based on that, he's going to try Delaudin (I think that's how they are spelled). I know that drug packs my head to bursting with cotton! We'll see how Kris fairs.
Spirits are as up as they can be given that she's in pain. Granted, she's not taking very little pain medications at this point and generally she's ok... but, she walks/stands with a minor stoop to relieve tension on her lower stomach area and if she makes a sudden move, she gets pain there. Also, if she stretches that area (leans back), it burns. Normally this would have me worried, but, they are going to work on that area again Friday, so, there's no real sense in doing physical therapy for 3 days.
Friday the original plan was for us to go to Dr. Kuisle's office at 0730 before the surgery at Boulder Community Hospital in Boulder Colorado... yes, there's a reason I'm being so specific... but, Dr. Kuisle pointed out that we are not doing a sentinel node biopsy so we don't have the normal 2 to 4 hour prep the day of the surgery and our procedure is scheduled for 1pm... which is a big 'ugh' given that you know they will require fasting before the procedure! Dr. Kuisle sent us to the hospital to check with them for preoperative blood tests and for the time they really want us there.
So, we went by the hospital and found that normally they call and make an appointment for pre-procedure testing and evaluation 2 weeks out! Not sure why we didn't get any such calls. Made an appointment for 1330 (1:30 pm) on Wednesday which will include blood tests and asking us what medications Kris is on, what to do the day of, shaking of hands, nodding of heads, all followed by lunch! Ie: not a lot which is really useful, but, it's required. We also found out that she needs to be at the hospital by 1130.
Went back to Dr. Kuisles office and he said to be there at 1030... he needs to draw a diagram on Kris for the surgeons (Dr. Jones and himself) to follow.
Ok, why was I specific about the hospital above? To let y'all know that that's where she'll be come Friday. She'll stay there three or four days, which means we'll leave Sunday or Monday. I asked to have her put on the directory so if you want to call and chat, you can call the hospital and get forwarded to her room. Normally I wouldn't do that, but, with her being there for several days, it seemed to make sense.
Recovery will be a pain... at least, judging by the recovery from the pre-operative procedure to prepare for the Tram Flap! However, I almost expect it to be a bit easier since I expect Kris will be on pain medications when she starts the physical therapy... which means that I'm hoping she'll be stretching those muscles out while he pain is well under control... which will make it easier... at least, that's my hope. The worst part about things right now is hearing Kris gasp, or seeing her writhe, in pain and not being able to do anything but... well, stand by. It's really frustrating to me, at times like these and only times like these, that Kris can't stand to be stoned... this aversion is so strong that she won't do pain medications and will suffer instead. Don't get me wrong, she definitely tries to find a happy middle ground where she's not in pain nor too stoned. However, there are times when I think it'd be nice if she'd just relax, float a little and, as several nurses have said, 'get on top of the pain' so that it's not an issue. The real irony here is that Kris thinks she's a wimp... introduce me to a wimp who would rather have pain that be stoned... I don't think there is such an animal! Fact is, Kris is quite tough! She just doesn't want to admit to it. :)
Thanks to all of you for: Afghans, cards, wonderful big soup mugs with flowers in them, calls, Afghans, emails with well wishes, stupendous notes of support, care packages and general well wishes... we're still hanging in there and things are looking good!
Met with Dr. Kuisle. He's pleased with Kris recovery from the preoperative procedure but, said that based on her pain, she's going to need some kind of narcotic after the surgery. We discussed which medications had caused problems in the past (Vicodin, Oxycontin, etc) and which had seemed to work well (Demerol, Morphine, aspirin)... based on that, he's going to try Delaudin (I think that's how they are spelled). I know that drug packs my head to bursting with cotton! We'll see how Kris fairs.
Spirits are as up as they can be given that she's in pain. Granted, she's not taking very little pain medications at this point and generally she's ok... but, she walks/stands with a minor stoop to relieve tension on her lower stomach area and if she makes a sudden move, she gets pain there. Also, if she stretches that area (leans back), it burns. Normally this would have me worried, but, they are going to work on that area again Friday, so, there's no real sense in doing physical therapy for 3 days.
Friday the original plan was for us to go to Dr. Kuisle's office at 0730 before the surgery at Boulder Community Hospital in Boulder Colorado... yes, there's a reason I'm being so specific... but, Dr. Kuisle pointed out that we are not doing a sentinel node biopsy so we don't have the normal 2 to 4 hour prep the day of the surgery and our procedure is scheduled for 1pm... which is a big 'ugh' given that you know they will require fasting before the procedure! Dr. Kuisle sent us to the hospital to check with them for preoperative blood tests and for the time they really want us there.
So, we went by the hospital and found that normally they call and make an appointment for pre-procedure testing and evaluation 2 weeks out! Not sure why we didn't get any such calls. Made an appointment for 1330 (1:30 pm) on Wednesday which will include blood tests and asking us what medications Kris is on, what to do the day of, shaking of hands, nodding of heads, all followed by lunch! Ie: not a lot which is really useful, but, it's required. We also found out that she needs to be at the hospital by 1130.
Went back to Dr. Kuisles office and he said to be there at 1030... he needs to draw a diagram on Kris for the surgeons (Dr. Jones and himself) to follow.
Ok, why was I specific about the hospital above? To let y'all know that that's where she'll be come Friday. She'll stay there three or four days, which means we'll leave Sunday or Monday. I asked to have her put on the directory so if you want to call and chat, you can call the hospital and get forwarded to her room. Normally I wouldn't do that, but, with her being there for several days, it seemed to make sense.
Recovery will be a pain... at least, judging by the recovery from the pre-operative procedure to prepare for the Tram Flap! However, I almost expect it to be a bit easier since I expect Kris will be on pain medications when she starts the physical therapy... which means that I'm hoping she'll be stretching those muscles out while he pain is well under control... which will make it easier... at least, that's my hope. The worst part about things right now is hearing Kris gasp, or seeing her writhe, in pain and not being able to do anything but... well, stand by. It's really frustrating to me, at times like these and only times like these, that Kris can't stand to be stoned... this aversion is so strong that she won't do pain medications and will suffer instead. Don't get me wrong, she definitely tries to find a happy middle ground where she's not in pain nor too stoned. However, there are times when I think it'd be nice if she'd just relax, float a little and, as several nurses have said, 'get on top of the pain' so that it's not an issue. The real irony here is that Kris thinks she's a wimp... introduce me to a wimp who would rather have pain that be stoned... I don't think there is such an animal! Fact is, Kris is quite tough! She just doesn't want to admit to it. :)
Thanks to all of you for: Afghans, cards, wonderful big soup mugs with flowers in them, calls, Afghans, emails with well wishes, stupendous notes of support, care packages and general well wishes... we're still hanging in there and things are looking good!
Friday, October 3, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps; Tram Flap Prep
Wednesday 1-Oct-2008
Took Kris in to the Avista Surgery center (which is attached to the plastic surgeons office) for the Tram Flap preparation at 0930. The nurse read me the riot act when she realized that I was planning on going back to work that night and just about got to where she was going to write a note. I called in and Barry was very supportive. They gave us a pair of stockings Kris has to wear for 48 hours. They are support stockings designed to increase blood pressure by keeping pressure on your legs and as you may well imagine, are quite tight! They also said that after the procedure she is to keep ice on the wounds for 48 hours solid! She is to walk every other hour to help prevent blood clots. They asked after her pain medications and we revealed we have some Darvocet left over from the last surgery and plan on using that... half pills. Kris is a light weight. :)
Kris and the nurse ordered me off for breakfast so that I'd be up to watching her for the rest of the day when the procedure was done. The procedure went like clockwork. Dr. Kuisle seemed quite pleased with the results. At about 2 pm we were sent home with a couple of ice bags and instructions on their care and maintenance. I was told to watch her closely until the anaesthetics wore off... so, I did.
We got home, settled in front of the tube and both of us fell asleep for about a half hour. Kris got up (which woke me up) and trundled about, she seemed stable enough so I just listened and kept 'resting' as much as I could until she was ready to go downstairs and watch some shows we had recorded. Sometime after 9 pm I got up and ordered Kris to bed. :)
Thursday 2-Oct-2008
Kris is doing well enough. She's up and about but, in more pain than she might wish for. She's decided to take a half a Darvocet every 2 and a half to 3 hours. I advocated for every 2 hours to get on top of the pain. Coincidentally a nurse called about this time and agreed with me. Just for the sake of information, her prescription calls for up to 2 pills every 4 hours. If she were on that schedule, she'd take a half a pill every hour... so, she's really undercutting her prescription! Oh, she's also eating real food, which is good. Nausea right now would be a bad thing since her abdominal muscles are tender due to the surgery.
Friday 3-Oct-2008
Things were doing fine until she tried to juggle her ice bag and a bottle of water while navigating the stairs and one foot slip. She didn't fall, but, catching herself she used her stomach muscles and.. well, it hurt. Now, she's looking forward to her pain medications every 2 hours and I blame the near fall. She's also off the ice now (and happy for it) and has taken her first shower. The wound looks pretty good. I don't think there will be much, if any, scarring. Dr. Kuisle seems to have done a bang up job. The shower was a bit scary in that she got light headed and looked about to pass out. I was quite concerned and sent her off to bed. She was asking why it was and I pointed out that she'd just taken off the stockings from the Inquisition and her Blood Pressure had probably plummeted in response. This was about 2 pm and she laid their for a while and was feeling much better when I trundled off to work.
Took Kris in to the Avista Surgery center (which is attached to the plastic surgeons office) for the Tram Flap preparation at 0930. The nurse read me the riot act when she realized that I was planning on going back to work that night and just about got to where she was going to write a note. I called in and Barry was very supportive. They gave us a pair of stockings Kris has to wear for 48 hours. They are support stockings designed to increase blood pressure by keeping pressure on your legs and as you may well imagine, are quite tight! They also said that after the procedure she is to keep ice on the wounds for 48 hours solid! She is to walk every other hour to help prevent blood clots. They asked after her pain medications and we revealed we have some Darvocet left over from the last surgery and plan on using that... half pills. Kris is a light weight. :)
Kris and the nurse ordered me off for breakfast so that I'd be up to watching her for the rest of the day when the procedure was done. The procedure went like clockwork. Dr. Kuisle seemed quite pleased with the results. At about 2 pm we were sent home with a couple of ice bags and instructions on their care and maintenance. I was told to watch her closely until the anaesthetics wore off... so, I did.
We got home, settled in front of the tube and both of us fell asleep for about a half hour. Kris got up (which woke me up) and trundled about, she seemed stable enough so I just listened and kept 'resting' as much as I could until she was ready to go downstairs and watch some shows we had recorded. Sometime after 9 pm I got up and ordered Kris to bed. :)
Thursday 2-Oct-2008
Kris is doing well enough. She's up and about but, in more pain than she might wish for. She's decided to take a half a Darvocet every 2 and a half to 3 hours. I advocated for every 2 hours to get on top of the pain. Coincidentally a nurse called about this time and agreed with me. Just for the sake of information, her prescription calls for up to 2 pills every 4 hours. If she were on that schedule, she'd take a half a pill every hour... so, she's really undercutting her prescription! Oh, she's also eating real food, which is good. Nausea right now would be a bad thing since her abdominal muscles are tender due to the surgery.
Friday 3-Oct-2008
Things were doing fine until she tried to juggle her ice bag and a bottle of water while navigating the stairs and one foot slip. She didn't fall, but, catching herself she used her stomach muscles and.. well, it hurt. Now, she's looking forward to her pain medications every 2 hours and I blame the near fall. She's also off the ice now (and happy for it) and has taken her first shower. The wound looks pretty good. I don't think there will be much, if any, scarring. Dr. Kuisle seems to have done a bang up job. The shower was a bit scary in that she got light headed and looked about to pass out. I was quite concerned and sent her off to bed. She was asking why it was and I pointed out that she'd just taken off the stockings from the Inquisition and her Blood Pressure had probably plummeted in response. This was about 2 pm and she laid their for a while and was feeling much better when I trundled off to work.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: Presurgery Week 1
Wednesday 24-Sep-2008
I know, I'm posting this quite late and I apologise for that.
We saw Dr. Kuisle's assistant to confirm what will happen for the surgery. First we will need to have an outpatient procedure the 1st of October. This procedure restricts the blood flow in the area of her stomach. That way, the surgeon knows which blood vessels will be feeding the tissue used for the tram flap reconstruction of the breast. Then on the 10th, we have the surgery. Mostly, we confirmed that she does not need to worry about stopping her Warfarin (blood thinners) for the outpatient procedure on the 1st. For the surgery on the 10th, she'll need to stop them a day or two prior. On the 6th of October, we'll have a followup to make sure that the procedure they did on the 1st worked the way it's supposed to.
Oh, I don't think I mentioned that Kris has opted to leave the port in since she'll be getting Herceptin treatments until Next April. It may seem strange, but, the port is in the overall more comfortable then the normal IV stick in the hand or arm... or so Kris maintains. :)
Edit: Correcting the dates. Originally I said the procedure is on the 6th, it's on the 1st. The followup is the 6th... I was remembering having to ask what hours I work on the 6th and thought that meant the procedure was then... :/
I know, I'm posting this quite late and I apologise for that.
We saw Dr. Kuisle's assistant to confirm what will happen for the surgery. First we will need to have an outpatient procedure the 1st of October. This procedure restricts the blood flow in the area of her stomach. That way, the surgeon knows which blood vessels will be feeding the tissue used for the tram flap reconstruction of the breast. Then on the 10th, we have the surgery. Mostly, we confirmed that she does not need to worry about stopping her Warfarin (blood thinners) for the outpatient procedure on the 1st. For the surgery on the 10th, she'll need to stop them a day or two prior. On the 6th of October, we'll have a followup to make sure that the procedure they did on the 1st worked the way it's supposed to.
Oh, I don't think I mentioned that Kris has opted to leave the port in since she'll be getting Herceptin treatments until Next April. It may seem strange, but, the port is in the overall more comfortable then the normal IV stick in the hand or arm... or so Kris maintains. :)
Edit: Correcting the dates. Originally I said the procedure is on the 6th, it's on the 1st. The followup is the 6th... I was remembering having to ask what hours I work on the 6th and thought that meant the procedure was then... :/
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: countdown to surgery
Monday, 22-Sep-2008
Minor correction; I stated before that Kris' long term disability had gone through, it has not. Social Security has signed off on long term disability, which, again, was a shock to have happen so quickly. I think we are done with the LTD paperwork for the insurance company and are just waiting for word of approval.
Met with Dr. Jones, the surgeon. He did his usual hemming and hawing over her port wound which looks markedly better but, is not yet healed. It's enough better that we've gone without a bandage once! However, the wound was timid and immediately grabbed a bandage to hide behind the next day.
He confirmed that we are working towards the 10th of October for the date of the surgery. Well, in reality, he admitted that he does what his staff tells him to do and if we were working with them, then who was he to say otherwise for the date? He then went on to say that after the surgery, Kris would stay in the hospital for three or four days. Once that was done, we would bring her home and then it's bed rest for several days after that. My expectation has been set to set aside the following week to help Kris function... so, I've laid in an order of extra lace and servants. Oh and I plan on baking lots of bread and making soup. :)
Tomorrow (Wednesday) we go see the Plastic surgeon who will have a better timeline estimate.
Minor correction; I stated before that Kris' long term disability had gone through, it has not. Social Security has signed off on long term disability, which, again, was a shock to have happen so quickly. I think we are done with the LTD paperwork for the insurance company and are just waiting for word of approval.
Met with Dr. Jones, the surgeon. He did his usual hemming and hawing over her port wound which looks markedly better but, is not yet healed. It's enough better that we've gone without a bandage once! However, the wound was timid and immediately grabbed a bandage to hide behind the next day.
He confirmed that we are working towards the 10th of October for the date of the surgery. Well, in reality, he admitted that he does what his staff tells him to do and if we were working with them, then who was he to say otherwise for the date? He then went on to say that after the surgery, Kris would stay in the hospital for three or four days. Once that was done, we would bring her home and then it's bed rest for several days after that. My expectation has been set to set aside the following week to help Kris function... so, I've laid in an order of extra lace and servants. Oh and I plan on baking lots of bread and making soup. :)
Tomorrow (Wednesday) we go see the Plastic surgeon who will have a better timeline estimate.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: Correction to LTD
Friday, 19-Sep-2008
Kris corrected me in that she did get Social Security disability but has not yet been confirmed for our insurances version of Long Term Disability. Yesterday I faxed in yet another set of forms for our insurance LTD.
Kris corrected me in that she did get Social Security disability but has not yet been confirmed for our insurances version of Long Term Disability. Yesterday I faxed in yet another set of forms for our insurance LTD.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Kris Dave and the Lumps: Details missed
Wednesday, 17-Sep-2008
Got a reply that raised questions I had not addressed:
Kris' long term disability went through so, we are covered. Not only that but, she was approved for Social Security disability which is odd given that we were told flat out it takes a year to go through!
Chemotherapy... we thought we were done, and in a way we are, in a way we are not. Today, Kris goes in for an infusion of Herceptin. Apparently the plan was to do a year of Herceptin all along. The good news is that as these drugs go, Herceptin is 'gentle' so her hair and nails will grow back and she shouldn't have any side effects to speak of. Dr. Moran apologized because as he was telling us this he realized that he'd lead us to believe we were done with Chemotherapy. The reason is that he doesn't think of Herceptin as Chemotherapy whereas he does think of Taxotere and Xeloda (etc) as Chemotherapy. Largely this is due to the side effects of the other drug therapies and lack of side effects from Herceptin.
Kris is as well as can be expected given the news about Nikki.
General apologies for not posting for a while. It's been hectic for me of late and I will endeavor to do a better job of keeping the posts up to date.
Got a reply that raised questions I had not addressed:
Kris' long term disability went through so, we are covered. Not only that but, she was approved for Social Security disability which is odd given that we were told flat out it takes a year to go through!
Chemotherapy... we thought we were done, and in a way we are, in a way we are not. Today, Kris goes in for an infusion of Herceptin. Apparently the plan was to do a year of Herceptin all along. The good news is that as these drugs go, Herceptin is 'gentle' so her hair and nails will grow back and she shouldn't have any side effects to speak of. Dr. Moran apologized because as he was telling us this he realized that he'd lead us to believe we were done with Chemotherapy. The reason is that he doesn't think of Herceptin as Chemotherapy whereas he does think of Taxotere and Xeloda (etc) as Chemotherapy. Largely this is due to the side effects of the other drug therapies and lack of side effects from Herceptin.
Kris is as well as can be expected given the news about Nikki.
General apologies for not posting for a while. It's been hectic for me of late and I will endeavor to do a better job of keeping the posts up to date.
Kris Dave and the Lumps: Final Analysis, pre surgery
Tuesday, 16-Sep-2008
Met with Dr. Moran who had the results of the Cancer Conference. Dr. Antel had done a lot more digging and presented his information. The general consensus of the Dr.s attending was that we should not do radiation therapy in this case. The Pet and MRI scans showed good results but there was some indication of a presence of... something, which could still be cancer. We'll know more when the tissue is biopsied post surgery.
Based on this we're in the process of confirming the 10th of October as the date for the mastectomy and reconstructive surgery. We meet with the surgeons in the very near future to solidify these plans. To recap; the reconstruction is a tram flap surgery which means they will take tissue from Kris stomach to reconstruct her breast with. This also means we need to see Dr. Kuisle (the plastic surgeon) about a week in advance for an outpatient procedure which will restrict the blood flow to the tram flap tissue to a predetermined set of vessels. This is to make sure he can use those vessels during the reconstruction procedure.
According to Dr. Moran, Kris will likely go into surgery Friday the 10th, which will be 3 or 4 hours. She'll stay in the hospital likely until Sunday the 12th. I expect her to be on bed rest for a day or three after that, so, she might be ambulatory Wednesday. We'll know more after we talk with the surgeons.
Somewhat side news is that we've got some very bad news about our cats. Our youngest, Nikki who is exactly one year old, has been diagnosed with FIP (Feline Infectious Peritonitis). This disease is highly contagious and insidious in that there is no way to prevent it, nor detect it until it's full blown and it's always fatal. We will be putting Nikki down this morning and will have to watch the rest of our cats for the rest of their lives to see if they are infected. As time goes by and they are not symptomatic, the risk that they have the disease decreases. However, we can never know that they don't have it as the disease can lay dormant for years before expressing itself. Since our cats are strictly indoors and have never been socialized with other cats, the only likely source for infection is the cattery we purchased Nikki from. It's possible to have the disease transferred at a Vet, but, since Vets are aware of how devastating this disease is, they tend to be very careful and thus the odds of Nikki getting the disease from her recent visit there are very slim.
While I do not want any of you to get the impression that I don't care for our cats or that I'm being callous about this, my biggest concern is the impact of this on Kris. Stress is a known issue with triple negative breast cancer and this is the very definition of stressful.
Met with Dr. Moran who had the results of the Cancer Conference. Dr. Antel had done a lot more digging and presented his information. The general consensus of the Dr.s attending was that we should not do radiation therapy in this case. The Pet and MRI scans showed good results but there was some indication of a presence of... something, which could still be cancer. We'll know more when the tissue is biopsied post surgery.
Based on this we're in the process of confirming the 10th of October as the date for the mastectomy and reconstructive surgery. We meet with the surgeons in the very near future to solidify these plans. To recap; the reconstruction is a tram flap surgery which means they will take tissue from Kris stomach to reconstruct her breast with. This also means we need to see Dr. Kuisle (the plastic surgeon) about a week in advance for an outpatient procedure which will restrict the blood flow to the tram flap tissue to a predetermined set of vessels. This is to make sure he can use those vessels during the reconstruction procedure.
According to Dr. Moran, Kris will likely go into surgery Friday the 10th, which will be 3 or 4 hours. She'll stay in the hospital likely until Sunday the 12th. I expect her to be on bed rest for a day or three after that, so, she might be ambulatory Wednesday. We'll know more after we talk with the surgeons.
Somewhat side news is that we've got some very bad news about our cats. Our youngest, Nikki who is exactly one year old, has been diagnosed with FIP (Feline Infectious Peritonitis). This disease is highly contagious and insidious in that there is no way to prevent it, nor detect it until it's full blown and it's always fatal. We will be putting Nikki down this morning and will have to watch the rest of our cats for the rest of their lives to see if they are infected. As time goes by and they are not symptomatic, the risk that they have the disease decreases. However, we can never know that they don't have it as the disease can lay dormant for years before expressing itself. Since our cats are strictly indoors and have never been socialized with other cats, the only likely source for infection is the cattery we purchased Nikki from. It's possible to have the disease transferred at a Vet, but, since Vets are aware of how devastating this disease is, they tend to be very careful and thus the odds of Nikki getting the disease from her recent visit there are very slim.
While I do not want any of you to get the impression that I don't care for our cats or that I'm being callous about this, my biggest concern is the impact of this on Kris. Stress is a known issue with triple negative breast cancer and this is the very definition of stressful.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: Tests, tests and more tests
Monday, 8-Sep-2008 to Wednesday, 10-Sep-2008
Busy week. Kris went to a Pet scan and an MRI one of which had to be rescheduled at the last minute. As a reminder, the scans are to see how well the Chemo Therapy did and to see if it's feasible to go through radiation treatment as a followup. We're actually hoping that we don't have to do radiation. Partially because it's an uncomfortable treatment, partially because it implies that things haven't gone as well as they can, and in no small part because it means delaying the reconstructive surgery which means delaying putting all of this behind us.
Thursday, 11-Sep-2008
Met with Dr. Antel who is our Radiologist. He revealed that a lymph node was caught up in this mess which is not truly in the area considered to be the left breast. It's still in the left chest wall area, just not directly in what's considered to be the set of lymph nodes associated with that breast. The implications I don't like are that this means the cancer moved beyond the left breast. Dr. Antel was not actually prepared with an answer. He'd consulted with two of his colleagues he has a lot of respect for and they gave him split answers. One, with a lot of experience, stating that he'd simply not do the radiation treatment at all. The other saying that it looked to be a good idea.
He went on to explain that treating patients in whom cancer had reoccurred with a second bout of radiation was new. There is apparently a study out with about 8 years behind it wherein patients were treated to a second round of radiation and studied for one year following the treatment and the results were quite good. The Numbers are that for a first round treatment they give about 5000 rads and this reduces the chance of recurrence from 20% to 30% down to 10% to 15%... about half. With a second round treatment, they would reduce the area they would radiate so that rather than hitting the whole upper left chest area, they would hit only the breast area and go up high enough to catch the one lymph node and they would also reduce the radiation to about 4500 rads. Further, they would use an electron stream as opposed to the normal X-ray radiation. Electrons have a more shallow penetration. While he can not guarantee that Kris lungs will not be affected this time, the chances of them being affected are greatly reduced, if not eliminated. Basically Legalese for there really is no chance but, it's radiation, we can't give guarantees. The downside is that there is about a 5% chance of complications due to the radiation. Specifically, there could be tissue killed other than the cancer. This means that tests will have to be performed after the radiation and if there is dead tissue, another surgery to remove it will be required. It also means that they can't perform the reconstructive surgery since radiation treatment would effectively kill the tissue used to reconstruct the breast.
We've not yet decided what to do. In fact, Dr. Antel isn't looking for a decision yet. He's going to contact folks from the study he quoted, among others, with specific questions related to our case. He's also waiting for the local cancer board to meet and discuss our case Tuesday. Kris and I meet with Dr. Moran Tuesday to discuss what comes out of the cancer board meeting later Tuesday.
More after Tuesday...
Busy week. Kris went to a Pet scan and an MRI one of which had to be rescheduled at the last minute. As a reminder, the scans are to see how well the Chemo Therapy did and to see if it's feasible to go through radiation treatment as a followup. We're actually hoping that we don't have to do radiation. Partially because it's an uncomfortable treatment, partially because it implies that things haven't gone as well as they can, and in no small part because it means delaying the reconstructive surgery which means delaying putting all of this behind us.
Thursday, 11-Sep-2008
Met with Dr. Antel who is our Radiologist. He revealed that a lymph node was caught up in this mess which is not truly in the area considered to be the left breast. It's still in the left chest wall area, just not directly in what's considered to be the set of lymph nodes associated with that breast. The implications I don't like are that this means the cancer moved beyond the left breast. Dr. Antel was not actually prepared with an answer. He'd consulted with two of his colleagues he has a lot of respect for and they gave him split answers. One, with a lot of experience, stating that he'd simply not do the radiation treatment at all. The other saying that it looked to be a good idea.
He went on to explain that treating patients in whom cancer had reoccurred with a second bout of radiation was new. There is apparently a study out with about 8 years behind it wherein patients were treated to a second round of radiation and studied for one year following the treatment and the results were quite good. The Numbers are that for a first round treatment they give about 5000 rads and this reduces the chance of recurrence from 20% to 30% down to 10% to 15%... about half. With a second round treatment, they would reduce the area they would radiate so that rather than hitting the whole upper left chest area, they would hit only the breast area and go up high enough to catch the one lymph node and they would also reduce the radiation to about 4500 rads. Further, they would use an electron stream as opposed to the normal X-ray radiation. Electrons have a more shallow penetration. While he can not guarantee that Kris lungs will not be affected this time, the chances of them being affected are greatly reduced, if not eliminated. Basically Legalese for there really is no chance but, it's radiation, we can't give guarantees. The downside is that there is about a 5% chance of complications due to the radiation. Specifically, there could be tissue killed other than the cancer. This means that tests will have to be performed after the radiation and if there is dead tissue, another surgery to remove it will be required. It also means that they can't perform the reconstructive surgery since radiation treatment would effectively kill the tissue used to reconstruct the breast.
We've not yet decided what to do. In fact, Dr. Antel isn't looking for a decision yet. He's going to contact folks from the study he quoted, among others, with specific questions related to our case. He's also waiting for the local cancer board to meet and discuss our case Tuesday. Kris and I meet with Dr. Moran Tuesday to discuss what comes out of the cancer board meeting later Tuesday.
More after Tuesday...
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: The weeks before surgery #1
I've been a bit remiss, here is me catching up:
Monday 25-Aug-2008:
Kris met with Dr. Jones who was happy to note that the wound is finally healing! We have hopes that by the time it heals... well, we'll have had the port out and a new wound to heal in its place! Everything looks good from the surgeons point of view. He mentioned that they are discussing Kris' case at the cancer board meetings with an eye towards determining if they can do radiation treatment. They are still awaiting data from Austin.
Tuesday 26-Aug-2008:
Muga scan. This is the scan that can give ideas as to how strong the heart is... specifically, they are trying to make sure that the chemotherapy did not have adverse effect on the heart which would cause a delay or change in treatment... just being cautious and gathering more data for the final determination on how we will proceed with the surgery.
Monday 25-Aug-2008:
Kris met with Dr. Jones who was happy to note that the wound is finally healing! We have hopes that by the time it heals... well, we'll have had the port out and a new wound to heal in its place!
Tuesday 26-Aug-2008:
Muga scan. This is the scan that can give ideas as to how strong the heart is... specifically, they are trying to make sure that the chemotherapy did not have adverse effect on the heart which would cause a delay or change in treatment... just being cautious and gathering more data for the final determination on how we will proceed with the surgery.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: Chemo the last!
Tuesday 19-Aug-2008
Last infusion of Taxotere and Herceptin!
Saw a colleague of Dr. Moran. Seems Dr. Morans PA was out, Dr. Moran was on hospital duty and later we found out that another of his colleagues was out sick! She was very familiar with our case through the cancer conference! We'd heard early on that our case was going to be presented at such a gathering of Oncologists. What we didn't know was that they meet like this about once a month. On the one hand it's nice to hear that so many folks are reviewing your case. On the other, I can't help but wonder why our case gets so much attention. She suggested a change in our next appointment with Dr. Moran so that he would have time to hear the review from the conference before our appointment with him. The radiologist as well as our surgeon and reconstructive surgeon (read: plastic surgeon) all sit in on that conference too, so, we'll have a review where all of our Drs. are discussing our case.
She revealed that they only had the summary of the radiation films from the Round Rock Cancer Center from Kris' first bout with breast cancer. We needed to make sure that the full charts were forwarded. We signed another release form just to make sure that would not be an obstacle to getting the reports released from the Round Rock Cancer Center.
We then went on for the infusion and everything went smoothly. While we were doing that, I wandered off and rescheduled our appointment with Dr. Moran, scheduled the appointment with Dr. Antel (the Radiologist). His assistant revealed that he may well call and cancel if he's positive that we can't do radiation due to the previous treatment.
During the infusion we met a nice man I nick named 'stanley steamer' because he was carrying an oxygen machine around with him that would 'puff' every so often. He asked me if I was cheating to beat Kris at Cribbage... I assured him that I was not, despite the fact that it is pretty much the only way to beat her at the game!
When the infusion was done, we got a cup of kisses (Hershey's) and a certificate of completion signed by the whole staff... or at least those present! It's a nice touch we also got from the Round Rock Cancer Center.
Friday 17-Aug-2008
Met with Dr. Moran to review how things are going in preparation for Tuesdays infusion. Dr. Moran wants Kris to see a Radiologist to discuss the possibility of radiation treatment after surgery. We were given to understand that she's had her lifetime limit. This request personally makes me a little anxious that he doesn't believe we'll get a cure from the treatment we are going through. Kris is upset at the prospect of having a mastectomy with no reconstructive surgery until the radiation treatments are done.
He also wants Kris to get an MRI and a pet scan and to have those results before we see the Radiologist.
We made a point of showing him Kris' nails. They are discolored for the latter half of the bed (that's the red or pink part of the nail, attached to the finger). We were thinking this is a side effect of the Xeloda, but, it's apparently a known side effect of Taxotere. As for the Xeloda, Kris' hands are still just a tidge pink and her Acid Reflux is quite bad. Based on this, he decided that we'd not to Xeloda for this round... so, we are done with Xeloda! The down side is we have tons of the stuff left over... there's a pile of money down the tubes. It's not like we can give the drugs back for a refund and while the cost isn't huge for us, it is a cost somewhere and in the end we pay for these things by increased insurance rates (or companies dropping insurance). For the Acid Reflux, Dr. Moran suggested that we include Pepcid AC along with the Nexium. We'll give that a whirl.
Finally, before leaving we made appointments for the follow-up with Dr. Moran as well as the Pet and MRI scans.
Last infusion of Taxotere and Herceptin!
Saw a colleague of Dr. Moran. Seems Dr. Morans PA was out, Dr. Moran was on hospital duty and later we found out that another of his colleagues was out sick! She was very familiar with our case through the cancer conference! We'd heard early on that our case was going to be presented at such a gathering of Oncologists. What we didn't know was that they meet like this about once a month. On the one hand it's nice to hear that so many folks are reviewing your case. On the other, I can't help but wonder why our case gets so much attention. She suggested a change in our next appointment with Dr. Moran so that he would have time to hear the review from the conference before our appointment with him. The radiologist as well as our surgeon and reconstructive surgeon (read: plastic surgeon) all sit in on that conference too, so, we'll have a review where all of our Drs. are discussing our case.
She revealed that they only had the summary of the radiation films from the Round Rock Cancer Center from Kris' first bout with breast cancer. We needed to make sure that the full charts were forwarded. We signed another release form just to make sure that would not be an obstacle to getting the reports released from the Round Rock Cancer Center.
We then went on for the infusion and everything went smoothly. While we were doing that, I wandered off and rescheduled our appointment with Dr. Moran, scheduled the appointment with Dr. Antel (the Radiologist). His assistant revealed that he may well call and cancel if he's positive that we can't do radiation due to the previous treatment.
During the infusion we met a nice man I nick named 'stanley steamer' because he was carrying an oxygen machine around with him that would 'puff' every so often. He asked me if I was cheating to beat Kris at Cribbage... I assured him that I was not, despite the fact that it is pretty much the only way to beat her at the game!
When the infusion was done, we got a cup of kisses (Hershey's) and a certificate of completion signed by the whole staff... or at least those present! It's a nice touch we also got from the Round Rock Cancer Center.
Friday 17-Aug-2008
Met with Dr. Moran to review how things are going in preparation for Tuesdays infusion. Dr. Moran wants Kris to see a Radiologist to discuss the possibility of radiation treatment after surgery. We were given to understand that she's had her lifetime limit. This request personally makes me a little anxious that he doesn't believe we'll get a cure from the treatment we are going through. Kris is upset at the prospect of having a mastectomy with no reconstructive surgery until the radiation treatments are done.
He also wants Kris to get an MRI and a pet scan and to have those results before we see the Radiologist.
We made a point of showing him Kris' nails. They are discolored for the latter half of the bed (that's the red or pink part of the nail, attached to the finger). We were thinking this is a side effect of the Xeloda, but, it's apparently a known side effect of Taxotere. As for the Xeloda, Kris' hands are still just a tidge pink and her Acid Reflux is quite bad. Based on this, he decided that we'd not to Xeloda for this round... so, we are done with Xeloda! The down side is we have tons of the stuff left over... there's a pile of money down the tubes. It's not like we can give the drugs back for a refund and while the cost isn't huge for us, it is a cost somewhere and in the end we pay for these things by increased insurance rates (or companies dropping insurance). For the Acid Reflux, Dr. Moran suggested that we include Pepcid AC along with the Nexium. We'll give that a whirl.
Finally, before leaving we made appointments for the follow-up with Dr. Moran as well as the Pet and MRI scans.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: Chemo #5, Week #2
13-Aug-2008
No news is indeed good news. We are waiting for the next round of appointments. Meanwhile, Kris is doing ok, but, still suffering the effects of Xeloda. This is by no means as bad as when she is taking the drug. Obviously it takes this stuff quite a while to get out of the system. Right now her hands are mostly ok but her acid reflux is not very good. Almost done... one more infusion to go!
No news is indeed good news. We are waiting for the next round of appointments. Meanwhile, Kris is doing ok, but, still suffering the effects of Xeloda. This is by no means as bad as when she is taking the drug. Obviously it takes this stuff quite a while to get out of the system. Right now her hands are mostly ok but her acid reflux is not very good. Almost done... one more infusion to go!
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: Chemo #5, Week #2
Monday, 4-Aug-2008:
Went to see Dr Kuisle, the plastic surgeon. Our impression from Dr Moran was that we would be able to do surgery middle or early of September. Dr Kuisle put the kabosh on that! We will be having surgery in Early October. This means that Kris will be out longer than 6 months which means she has to wade through the mountain of paper work for Long Term Disability (LTD form here on out).
Warning: anatomically correct stuff to follow, don't read this part if you are squeamish or don't want to read words that might offend the easily offended.
Dr Kuisle said that there will be an outpatient procedure first. This is to clip off some blood vessels that feed the tissue in her stomach that will be used to reconstruct her breast. Not to fear, these blood vessels are from below, there is another set from above. The set from above will be used to supply fresh blood (and remove blood which needs refreshing) from the new breast. The idea is that they want to strengthen the set from above and make sure that it's the primary source of blood for this tissue. There will also be subsequent surgeries to balance both breasts. You don't want one brand new perky breast and the other one either higher or lower so, he'll be adjusting the one to match the other... well, within the norm. Much like feet, both are almost never perfectly identical (part of what makes us unique, and special... and human).
Resume to the safe stuff:
We also saw Dr. Jones. He hemmed and hawed and basically said that things look good enough (in relation to the port wound which still hasn't closed). We told him about our visit with Dr. Kuisle and he said that he'd leave the port wound alone for Dr. Kuisle to deal with. We said that when he takes it out, Dr. Kuisle wouldn't be touching the right breast (where the port is... oops, sorry, one of those words popped in here) until it was time to match it to the reconstructed left one. This would be a while after the initial surgery. Based on that information, he said that he'd take the port out during the mastectomy and, I'm sorry I don't remember the word but basically he'd 'freshen' the wound so that it would heal normally after the surgery to remove the port.
Tuesday, 5-Aug-2008:
Ran errands today in pursuit of long term disability. What seems odd to us is that they want us to fill out LTD forms 3 months in advance to start LTD at the 6 month mark. Initially we weren't even sure the treatment would last 6 months or more so held off. Now that we are filling it out, we find out that we are required by Cigna to apply for Social Security LTD benefits... however, Social Security doesn't give benefits until a year out. Thus, Cigna is requiring that you pursue LTD 9 months before you can get it (from Social Security). Oy Vey!
Having said that, it does make some sense. Basically, to defray the cost of Long Term Disability, the insurance company requests any benefits you get from Social Security... then they just handle cutting you a check. Now, SS won't kick in until the year mark, so, the insurance agency will cover it fully until then.
Wednesday, 6-Aug-2008
Kris is fighting with the LTD paperwork. Amazing how frustrating, detailed and generaly ponderous this process is. They are asking for the names of the prescriptions she's on for her treatment, when each procedure (or at least many of her procedures) was performed. Then, 2 hours after starting the paperwork (online), the form disappeared... My take on this is that they really want to dissinsent folks from using this benefit. Did I mention that studies are investigating the relationship to stress and triple negative breast cancer (the kind Kris has). Ie: there is evidence that says stress helps the cancer to grow... seems criminal to have paperwork that is designed to be stressful for a patient of this disease, doesn't it?
Went to see Dr Kuisle, the plastic surgeon. Our impression from Dr Moran was that we would be able to do surgery middle or early of September. Dr Kuisle put the kabosh on that! We will be having surgery in Early October. This means that Kris will be out longer than 6 months which means she has to wade through the mountain of paper work for Long Term Disability (LTD form here on out).
Warning: anatomically correct stuff to follow, don't read this part if you are squeamish or don't want to read words that might offend the easily offended.
Dr Kuisle said that there will be an outpatient procedure first. This is to clip off some blood vessels that feed the tissue in her stomach that will be used to reconstruct her breast. Not to fear, these blood vessels are from below, there is another set from above. The set from above will be used to supply fresh blood (and remove blood which needs refreshing) from the new breast. The idea is that they want to strengthen the set from above and make sure that it's the primary source of blood for this tissue. There will also be subsequent surgeries to balance both breasts. You don't want one brand new perky breast and the other one either higher or lower so, he'll be adjusting the one to match the other... well, within the norm. Much like feet, both are almost never perfectly identical (part of what makes us unique, and special... and human).
Resume to the safe stuff:
We also saw Dr. Jones. He hemmed and hawed and basically said that things look good enough (in relation to the port wound which still hasn't closed). We told him about our visit with Dr. Kuisle and he said that he'd leave the port wound alone for Dr. Kuisle to deal with. We said that when he takes it out, Dr. Kuisle wouldn't be touching the right breast (where the port is... oops, sorry, one of those words popped in here) until it was time to match it to the reconstructed left one. This would be a while after the initial surgery. Based on that information, he said that he'd take the port out during the mastectomy and, I'm sorry I don't remember the word but basically he'd 'freshen' the wound so that it would heal normally after the surgery to remove the port.
Tuesday, 5-Aug-2008:
Ran errands today in pursuit of long term disability. What seems odd to us is that they want us to fill out LTD forms 3 months in advance to start LTD at the 6 month mark. Initially we weren't even sure the treatment would last 6 months or more so held off. Now that we are filling it out, we find out that we are required by Cigna to apply for Social Security LTD benefits... however, Social Security doesn't give benefits until a year out. Thus, Cigna is requiring that you pursue LTD 9 months before you can get it (from Social Security). Oy Vey!
Having said that, it does make some sense. Basically, to defray the cost of Long Term Disability, the insurance company requests any benefits you get from Social Security... then they just handle cutting you a check. Now, SS won't kick in until the year mark, so, the insurance agency will cover it fully until then.
Wednesday, 6-Aug-2008
Kris is fighting with the LTD paperwork. Amazing how frustrating, detailed and generaly ponderous this process is. They are asking for the names of the prescriptions she's on for her treatment, when each procedure (or at least many of her procedures) was performed. Then, 2 hours after starting the paperwork (online), the form disappeared... My take on this is that they really want to dissinsent folks from using this benefit. Did I mention that studies are investigating the relationship to stress and triple negative breast cancer (the kind Kris has). Ie: there is evidence that says stress helps the cancer to grow... seems criminal to have paperwork that is designed to be stressful for a patient of this disease, doesn't it?
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: Chemo #5, Week #1
Tuesday, 29-July-2008
Went to see Dr. Moran and for the infusion of Taxotere and Herceptin. Dr. Moran decided to forego Xeloda for this round since Kris' hands are still somewhat red. She's also got soreness in her hands and feet as well as the acid reflux. It's not as severe as it was, but, it's still there. We may well stop Xeloda from here on out. We'll decide whether or not to use it when it's time for the final infusion. The infusion went without event and we celebrated a lack of Xeloda by going out to eat... granted, our choice of restaurant was not as wise as we were hoping it would be. :)
So, now the course of action is one more infusion in three weeks. Three weeks after that, we go into surgery.... the light can definitely be seen at the end of this tunnel.
Went to see Dr. Moran and for the infusion of Taxotere and Herceptin. Dr. Moran decided to forego Xeloda for this round since Kris' hands are still somewhat red. She's also got soreness in her hands and feet as well as the acid reflux. It's not as severe as it was, but, it's still there. We may well stop Xeloda from here on out. We'll decide whether or not to use it when it's time for the final infusion. The infusion went without event and we celebrated a lack of Xeloda by going out to eat... granted, our choice of restaurant was not as wise as we were hoping it would be. :)
So, now the course of action is one more infusion in three weeks. Three weeks after that, we go into surgery.... the light can definitely be seen at the end of this tunnel.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: Chemo #4, week #4
Wednesday 23-July-2008
Monday, Kris went to see Dr. Moran's PA after calling in. Her hands are a bit more red and much more sore. She's also had acid reflux since Thursday. When she saw the PA she was taken off Xeloda for the remainder of this round of Chemo which isn't much since Tuesday was the last day of Xeloda.
Monday, Kris went to see Dr. Moran's PA after calling in. Her hands are a bit more red and much more sore. She's also had acid reflux since Thursday. When she saw the PA she was taken off Xeloda for the remainder of this round of Chemo which isn't much since Tuesday was the last day of Xeloda.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Kris Dave and the Lumps: Chemo #4, Week #3
Sunday 20-July-2008:
Woke up today (10pm to most of you) to Kris showing me her hands. They were red. Not as red as they were before with the higher dosages of Xeloda but red enough to be noticeable. Up until now they have been a wee bit darker than normal... sort of a darker pink than normal but everything has been fine so we watched. About Friday her Acid Reflux and Heart Burn started getting bad too. It's not like we didn't expect this but we were hoping it would not show up. Note that this Tuesday is her last dosage before her next infusion of Herceptin and Taxotere.
Our plan is to call Dr. Moran in the morning before she takes her dosage and consult with him. With only three or four dosages left (Monday and Tuesday)... well, I'm not sure if he'll ask us to stop or continue.
She's currently on only four pills a day, two in the morning and two in the evening. If I am recalling correctly, that's 2000mg per day. When she started it was 400mg per day and the really bad side effects didn't start right off... in fact, they started about the second course of dosages. Thus, our fear is that if we stay at the current dosage, the next course will be worse.
Edit: Sorry, was off by a factor of ten with the current Xeloda dosage!
Woke up today (10pm to most of you) to Kris showing me her hands. They were red. Not as red as they were before with the higher dosages of Xeloda but red enough to be noticeable. Up until now they have been a wee bit darker than normal... sort of a darker pink than normal but everything has been fine so we watched. About Friday her Acid Reflux and Heart Burn started getting bad too. It's not like we didn't expect this but we were hoping it would not show up. Note that this Tuesday is her last dosage before her next infusion of Herceptin and Taxotere.
Our plan is to call Dr. Moran in the morning before she takes her dosage and consult with him. With only three or four dosages left (Monday and Tuesday)... well, I'm not sure if he'll ask us to stop or continue.
She's currently on only four pills a day, two in the morning and two in the evening. If I am recalling correctly, that's 2000mg per day. When she started it was 400mg per day and the really bad side effects didn't start right off... in fact, they started about the second course of dosages. Thus, our fear is that if we stay at the current dosage, the next course will be worse.
Edit: Sorry, was off by a factor of ten with the current Xeloda dosage!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: Chemo #4, Week #2
Tuesday 15-July-2008:
Kris visited Dr. Moran. Her hands are sore but only slightly red. Her acid reflux is up, but, not nearly as bad as it was at the height of her Xeloda toxicity. Dr. Moran decided to keep her on her present dose (good news) and to back off her appointments to once every two weeks rather than once a week (I am taking this as good news too). He also said the lumps are 50% reduced which is great news!
Kris is doing well. Other than the fact that she can't taste salt, she is able to eat, and taste, real food!
Thanks for the thoughts folks... we are still haning in there with your help!
Kris visited Dr. Moran. Her hands are sore but only slightly red. Her acid reflux is up, but, not nearly as bad as it was at the height of her Xeloda toxicity. Dr. Moran decided to keep her on her present dose (good news) and to back off her appointments to once every two weeks rather than once a week (I am taking this as good news too). He also said the lumps are 50% reduced which is great news!
Kris is doing well. Other than the fact that she can't taste salt, she is able to eat, and taste, real food!
Thanks for the thoughts folks... we are still haning in there with your help!
Friday, July 11, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: Chemo #4, Week #1
Sorry, been slacking:
08-July-08:
Infusion today (after the imaging). Everything went well. The PA we saw put us on Xeloda at 4 pills a day (half the original starter dose). Kris wound, still open, still looks reasonably ok.
11-July-08:
Kris' stomach is a bit upset. Last night she was run down, which we are attributing to the Taxotere; it causes flu like symptoms soon after infusion. Otherwise everything seems to be going ok... we are very happy with Mondays news that the lumps are quite a bit shrunk from the original size.
08-July-08:
Infusion today (after the imaging). Everything went well. The PA we saw put us on Xeloda at 4 pills a day (half the original starter dose). Kris wound, still open, still looks reasonably ok.
11-July-08:
Kris' stomach is a bit upset. Last night she was run down, which we are attributing to the Taxotere; it causes flu like symptoms soon after infusion. Otherwise everything seems to be going ok... we are very happy with Mondays news that the lumps are quite a bit shrunk from the original size.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Kris Dave and the Lumps: Chemo #4
7-July-2008
Kris went and saw the surgeon and things are progressing well enough that he wants to see her every two weeks rather than every week. Understand that the wound still has not closed, it's just making progress. He said that she'd have a heckuva scar to show up. He has hopes of fixing that when he removes the port or that the plastic surgeon will be able to fix it during reconstruction surgery.
8-July-2008
After much fuming, fighting and generally wrestling with the image folks, Kris was finally allowed to have her sonogram. It seems that they aren't used to doing sonograms without Mammograms to compare to. If you will recall, however, there was nothing to see on the Mammogram, only on the MRI and Sonogram. The most excellent news is that they had trouble finding any of the lumps save the one that was the largest. All of them have shrunk markedly and thus seem to be responding quite well to the treatment. Cause for celebration, in my humble opinion. :)
Kris went and saw the surgeon and things are progressing well enough that he wants to see her every two weeks rather than every week. Understand that the wound still has not closed, it's just making progress. He said that she'd have a heckuva scar to show up. He has hopes of fixing that when he removes the port or that the plastic surgeon will be able to fix it during reconstruction surgery.
8-July-2008
After much fuming, fighting and generally wrestling with the image folks, Kris was finally allowed to have her sonogram. It seems that they aren't used to doing sonograms without Mammograms to compare to. If you will recall, however, there was nothing to see on the Mammogram, only on the MRI and Sonogram. The most excellent news is that they had trouble finding any of the lumps save the one that was the largest. All of them have shrunk markedly and thus seem to be responding quite well to the treatment. Cause for celebration, in my humble opinion. :)
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: Chemo #3, week #4
Tuesday, 1-July-2008
Saw Dr. Moran. Kris still has heartburn that's pretty bad, still has some problems with her hands, though they are still much better than before, and her sense of taste is still... off. Todays taste challenge: salt; she can't taste it at all, apparently. Based on this, he decided to wait on seeing her at the next infusion (next Tuesday) before deciding on whether or not to restart the Xeloda.
Kris' I&R (clotting rate) was at 1.7 which is too low for our purposes, but, it's only been since Thursday and that might not be long enough for the clotting to have changed with the current dose. Note that Xeloda has a synergistic effect with most blood thinning agents, thus, while off of Xeloda, they may well have to increase the Warfarin to get the desired blood thinning effect.
Kris is a lot better without the Xeloda... There have been reports of laughter and smiling, though we intend to be cautious and consult a second opinion to confirm that these are actual smiles and laughter. Better to be safe than sorry. :)
Saw Dr. Moran. Kris still has heartburn that's pretty bad, still has some problems with her hands, though they are still much better than before, and her sense of taste is still... off. Todays taste challenge: salt; she can't taste it at all, apparently. Based on this, he decided to wait on seeing her at the next infusion (next Tuesday) before deciding on whether or not to restart the Xeloda.
Kris' I&R (clotting rate) was at 1.7 which is too low for our purposes, but, it's only been since Thursday and that might not be long enough for the clotting to have changed with the current dose. Note that Xeloda has a synergistic effect with most blood thinning agents, thus, while off of Xeloda, they may well have to increase the Warfarin to get the desired blood thinning effect.
Kris is a lot better without the Xeloda... There have been reports of laughter and smiling, though we intend to be cautious and consult a second opinion to confirm that these are actual smiles and laughter. Better to be safe than sorry. :)
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Kris, Dave and the lumps: Chemo #3, week 3
Sorry for being remiss... to catch up:
Thursday, 26-June-2008:
Saw a new PA for Dr. Moran. Since Kris' hands are still a bit red and certainly sore, not to mention that she's only mostly regular, the decision was to not restart Xeloda. Of more concern was the fact that her white blood cell count was down to about 500. Somewhere in the ballpark of 10,000 is normal. Based on that, her temperature being about 95.7 and the fact that the port wound still hasn't closed, they put her on another antibiotic course (Levaquin this time). We will see them again next Tuesday (July 1st) and get an update at that point. Based on the timing, we don't expect to do Xeloda at all during this cycle.
Friday, 27-June-2008:
Kris went and saw the surgeons PA for her wound again... as before, they were rather ho-hum about it as there really isn't anything they can do but watch and react if she gets an infection... so, we will see them again in two weeks... since the following Friday is the 4th.
Kris' spirits are more 'up' than they have been. The Xeloda is really that taxing for her and being off of it is really that much of a relief.
Thursday, 26-June-2008:
Saw a new PA for Dr. Moran. Since Kris' hands are still a bit red and certainly sore, not to mention that she's only mostly regular, the decision was to not restart Xeloda. Of more concern was the fact that her white blood cell count was down to about 500. Somewhere in the ballpark of 10,000 is normal. Based on that, her temperature being about 95.7 and the fact that the port wound still hasn't closed, they put her on another antibiotic course (Levaquin this time). We will see them again next Tuesday (July 1st) and get an update at that point. Based on the timing, we don't expect to do Xeloda at all during this cycle.
Friday, 27-June-2008:
Kris went and saw the surgeons PA for her wound again... as before, they were rather ho-hum about it as there really isn't anything they can do but watch and react if she gets an infection... so, we will see them again in two weeks... since the following Friday is the 4th.
Kris' spirits are more 'up' than they have been. The Xeloda is really that taxing for her and being off of it is really that much of a relief.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: Chemo #3, week 2
Ok, I've been a slugabed and haven't posted. Here's my chance to catch up.
Friday 23-June-2008
Kris went to see the Surgeon and got the expected news: yep, still needs to heal, looks pretty good otherwise, see you next week.
Sunday 25-June-2008
I was still being a slugabed so Kris went to the store and when she got home she was bringing in the groceries... why is this significant? Up until now she would make me bring them in as carrying in the bags hurt her hands. Her hands still hurt, btw, but, are markedly better and not nearly as red (though stil not quite the right color). Oh... we've noted that her hair has stopped falling out and we're thinking it's because we stopped the Xeloda... while it could be argued that we were a bit premature in getting a buzz, I'd argue that it's still better than mourning each and every lost hair on her pillow, on her shoulders, in various drains... in the car... on the cats... and generally everywhere you can think of. Bonus: she looks great. :)
Friday 23-June-2008
Kris went to see the Surgeon and got the expected news: yep, still needs to heal, looks pretty good otherwise, see you next week.
Sunday 25-June-2008
I was still being a slugabed so Kris went to the store and when she got home she was bringing in the groceries... why is this significant? Up until now she would make me bring them in as carrying in the bags hurt her hands. Her hands still hurt, btw, but, are markedly better and not nearly as red (though stil not quite the right color). Oh... we've noted that her hair has stopped falling out and we're thinking it's because we stopped the Xeloda... while it could be argued that we were a bit premature in getting a buzz, I'd argue that it's still better than mourning each and every lost hair on her pillow, on her shoulders, in various drains... in the car... on the cats... and generally everywhere you can think of. Bonus: she looks great. :)
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: Chemo #3, first week...
Generally speaking, the past week has been an improvement. Kris was able
to eat real food. We've not only gotten her a burger, but, we went out for
dinner on two occasions and she's been able to eat a wider variety of foods
without 'dire' consequences. Not out of the woods yet, her hands are still
a bit red and, oddly, her feet and hands are more sore now than they were
when we first stopped the Xeloda. Somewhere over the weekend, Kris noted
that the skin of her fingers is peeling, we're confident that this is a
side effect of the Xeloda.
to eat real food. We've not only gotten her a burger, but, we went out for
dinner on two occasions and she's been able to eat a wider variety of foods
without 'dire' consequences. Not out of the woods yet, her hands are still
a bit red and, oddly, her feet and hands are more sore now than they were
when we first stopped the Xeloda. Somewhere over the weekend, Kris noted
that the skin of her fingers is peeling, we're confident that this is a
side effect of the Xeloda.
Tuesday 17-June-2008
Saw Dr. Moran prior to Kris infusion of Taxotere and Herceptin. He wants
us to stay off of Xeloda for one more week. We'll see an assistant, as
he'll be away from the office, next week. Unfortunately, the best
appointment we could get was Thursday. Infusion went without incident.
Wednesday 18-June-2008
Taxotere and Herceptin are kicking in. She didn't sleep well but, she's in
good spirits. Hands and feet still sore and a bit red.
Thursday 19-June-2008
Kris slept well, which is always good, but, the Taxotere has her feeling
like she's got a cold. No real fever but, achy and run down.
Spirits are good... amazing what a good meal can do on that front. Note
that I haven't been able to switch over to the blog yet... we have an
appointment with Dr Jones tomorrow and I hope to make note of that in the
Blog. If I can transition to making daily comments there, then I will make
comments on this list at something like weekly intervals (much like it is
now) but, it may well be longer intervals. Oh, I'm getting a lot of
comments and updates by anonymous... which is fine. I understand all too
well wanting to not sign up for yet more spam. For the record, I've gotten
no new influx of spam that I can associate with blogger.com. Having said
that, those who want to remain anonymous to the web site, it would be nice
if you put some form of name or moniker in the post so that I can figure
out who said it. Truly this isn't important but, it'd be nice. :)
Many thanks again for all the well wishes!
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: BRAT diet... what is that?
Ok, got a couple of questions on the BRAT diet and reviewed my notes... as
an example of missing details, I thought I'd given the definition on the
June 4th update but did not. Michelle had prescribed a BRAT diet to help
Kris get regular and here is what it is:
an example of missing details, I thought I'd given the definition on the
June 4th update but did not. Michelle had prescribed a BRAT diet to help
Kris get regular and here is what it is:
BRAT = Bananas, Rice, Applesauce and Toast
Makes for a boring, bland diet. The foods are considered constipatory or
anti-diarrheal. Since they are simple foods, they tend to also reduce
nausea affects. This is a diet that you usually see prescribed for
children but, works fine for adults too... so, many of you probably already
know this diet if you have kids, just not necessarily by the name 'BRAT'...
and now you know why Kris is desperate for something more substantial to
eat.
This should answer the question "is this some sort of Chicago diet
consisting of Brats and Beer?" :)
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Kris, Dave and the Lumps: End of Chemo round 2
First a newsflash, I've started a rudimentary blog which likely won't get
any less rudimentary but, will have more content as time goes on. The URL
for the blog is: http://krisanddavehart.blogspot.com/ feel free to go there
and post comments. My hope with the blog is that I will get in the habit
of using it like a kind of journal, posting on a near daily basis my
observations of what's going on. This will lend itself to more accuracy
versus the current method. What is the current method you ask? Well,
since I don't want to hit folks with daily emails, I wait a few days,
nearly a week, and then try to remember what happened nearly a week ago,
usually getting the facts right from a high level point of view, but, not
quite right. This way, I can post on a daily basis to the blog, and then
post to this list once a week. For this note, I have it set up in revers,
one of the recipients of this email is the blog in question which should
automatically post this very note as the inaugural message.
any less rudimentary but, will have more content as time goes on. The URL
for the blog is: http://krisanddavehart.blogspot.com/ feel free to go there
and post comments. My hope with the blog is that I will get in the habit
of using it like a kind of journal, posting on a near daily basis my
observations of what's going on. This will lend itself to more accuracy
versus the current method. What is the current method you ask? Well,
since I don't want to hit folks with daily emails, I wait a few days,
nearly a week, and then try to remember what happened nearly a week ago,
usually getting the facts right from a high level point of view, but, not
quite right. This way, I can post on a daily basis to the blog, and then
post to this list once a week. For this note, I have it set up in revers,
one of the recipients of this email is the blog in question which should
automatically post this very note as the inaugural message.
Thursday, 5-June-2008
Got home and Kris was asleep... what y'all don't know is that Kris is a
very light sleeper so this worried me. Turns out she wasn't feeling good
(mostly nausea) so she took a Adavan, which is a variation on Valium, which
basically knocked her out... the downside is that she felt the need to take
it, the upside is that she got lots of rest for taking the Adavan.
Friday, 6-June-2008
Went to see the Surgeon. The wound is no better, no worse: his
observation. Which, considering we are going through chemotherapy is not
bad. So, we'll see him again next Friday. Kris is doing ok but, her hands
are still a bit pink.
Saturday, 7-June-2008
Felt good enough to go out for... Chicken Noodle soup at Perkins. Odd what
you can get excited about. Went to the store afterwords to pick up some
supplies and Kris got cold... very cold... and disoriented, while we were
in the store. We're still not sure what happened, but, we hurried home and
got her warmed up. It was in the 70s out, and we drove home with the seat
heater on and the car heater on high! Hands are still pink but, again
not... really... sore. One thing of note is that her face feels, in her
words, sunburnt. Kris has been applying moisturizer to her skin three
times a day to combat the problems brought on by the Xeloda. When she put
moisturizer on her face, it 'stung' like it was a sun burn... and trust me,
she's not been in the sun!
Sunday, 8-June-2008
Kris took her last dose of Antibiotics today and was feeling quite a bit
better... good enough that she had a Microwave dinner: chicken and rice!
What a treat (yes, she's very bored with what she can eat). Note that all
of this time she's still not... well, regular, but, things seem to be
improving on that... um... end (pun unintended, but, kind of unavoidable).
Hands are red... and a bit more sore. We are concerned but since she's
only got one more day of Xeloda, decided to watch and wait.
Monday, 9-June-2008
Feeling good enough for Chicken and Rice, this time home made... did not go
over well. Not sure why the other went over ok. Good news is that Monday
night was Kris' last dose of Xeloda for this round.
Tuesday, 10-June-2008
Saw Dr. Moran today and he said that we are going to stop the Xeloda for
now. Kris' hands were red today... really red. However, they are still
not as red as the Friday when she couldn't open a car door for the pain in
her hands. Again, they are not as sore as before either. She's also had
diarrhea pretty much the whole time of her chemotherapy this round... even
including the time she was on the BRAT diet. Dr. Moran wants us to be off
of the Xeloda until she is regular and her skin is cleared up. Once she's
recovered, then he'll put her back on Xeloda but, we'll do it in reverse of
the norm: start low, and work our way up to tolerance. Because of this:
Kris is looking forward to a big juicy burger come Friday... or something
with lots of flavor and comfort. :)
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Test for Kris, Dave and the Lumps
This is a test of a new blog site for me to post updates on my wifes progress with her Breast Cancer... if I like it, it might grow into more.
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