Chemo #6, dentist, various

3/28/12

Appointment with the oncologist, Dr. Ikeguchi, scheduled for 9:00am. At 8:50 the alarms sounded and the entire building was evacuated. We waited outside for about 15 minutes then went back in. I'm assuming it was a drill?

Anyway, back in the building Dr. Ikeguchi said the large mass in Anthony's chest is about 25% of its original size and no longer contains active metabolizing cancer cell... essentially the cancer is dying off.

At 10:00 we were up on the 3rd floor for chemo #6. Today our RN was Vicki, one of our favorites. She's actually the nurse who explained everything to use the first day of chemo. Wanna know something else I love? How the receptionists, and other nurses know us and make it a point to say hello, even if we've only been in their section once. The staff at the Peggy & Charles Stephenson Cancer Center is AMAZING.

Before administering chemo some blood has to be drawn and tested to make sure all blood and organ levels are within normal ranges. The last couple of times the nurses had a hard time getting blood, but eventually got some. This time however, it was a no go. Vicki had Anthony turn his head this way and that, lay down, stand up, arms raised, the whole nine yards. Nothing. She finally had to do an IV to get a few vials of blood.

Levels were fine, chemo administered.

Anthony walked in feeling on top of his game, and walked out feeling ready to faint or throw up... or both. The last few days have been miserable. C'est la vie.

We're currently looking at two more months of chemo, then one month of radiation.

Enough about him, lets talk about me. Just kidding. Sort of. But not really.

On 3/27 I went to the dentist for a regular check-up. The hygienist, whom I'd never met, said "oh, you have a beautiful mouth." Mmmh, that's one way to make a girl feel good about herself :) I LOVE the dentist, I truly do. My favorite part is having my teeth flossed after the cleaning. Love it. I had a panoramic x-ray done of my mouth, and my earrings were left on by mistake. Looks pretty cool huh?

I only have two fillings on the top right, the other lighter sections are the way my teeth look overlapped in panoramic view.

In other news, it's March 30 and supposed to get up to 81 degrees today.

It rained almost 6 inches in four days. Oklahoma is no longer in a drought.

It's Spring and actually looks like it. So much different than all my Spring in Utah experiences.

I don't know what the deal is with the domesticated buffalo around here, but they sure are cool.

I know this little bug as a Mosquito Eater, you may know it as a Mosquito Hawk, Mosquito Fly, Skeeter Eater, Gallinipper, or Gollywhooper. The true name is Crane Fly. "Despite their common names, as adults, crane flies do not prey on mosquitoes, nor do they bite humans. Some larval crane flies are predatory and may eat mosquito larvae. Adult crane flies feed on nectar or they do not feed at all. Once they become adults, most crane fly species exist as adults only to mate and die." - Wikipedia

Now you know

Pulmonary Function test

3/16/12

Bleomycin, one of the drugs on my chemotherapy regimen, can sometimes cause lung toxicity.  Because of this my Oncologist had me go in for a pulmonary functions exam. Once there they basically measured my inspiratory capacity (how much I can breathe in), my expiratory capacity and efficiency (how much, and how well I can expel the air),  and the rate at which I can diffuse gases. 

They gave me a couple of tests with a mixture of oxygen, carbon monoxide, methane, and nitrogen, the gases we normally breathe, to see how well my alveoli are retaining their elasticity. 

One of the problems with the Bleomycin is that it can sometimes cause patients' alveoli (the tiny air sacs that make up our lungs) to lose their elastic quality and become less efficient in doing their job at diffusing those gases.

The good news is that, according to the pulmonary tech, I have large lungs and my inspiratory capacity is at over 120% (that's what classical voice training will do for you!) and my expiratory efficiency is also very efficient. 

My diffusion level was a little below the target level, I got 74% my first time and 76% my second time - the normal range is 80-100%, but she said that this should normalize once I go off chemo.

Most people can expect to have an inspiratory capacity of around four liters, with six liters being the target.  I was taking in about five and a half liters.  The tech said my lungs are pretty massive. 

I hope you enjoy the footage... apparently people regularly pass out during this test and it was easy for me to see why! Repeatedly blowing all the residual air out of your lungs is no easy task!

We love you all, and thank you for the prayers. They have been, and continue to be felt.

Turn your volume up so you can hear everything the tech says

PET scan, and chemo #5

3/9/12

Great news! According to my oncologist, my PET scan results show that my body has shown an "extraordinary response" to the chemo treatments. Lymph nodes have shrunk considerably and are normalizing. I am so grateful. A true and sincere thanks to everyone for the many prayers that been offered in my behalf. They have been deeply felt. Not out of the woods yet, but it looks like I won't have to have an extended chemotherapy treatment beyond what was originally scheduled. Just two more months of chemo and a month of radiation. I'm so grateful to have so many friends and family members with such strong faith. Thank you, Anthony

3/14/12

Lets talk chemo. One of the drugs, Adriamycin, is know as the "Red Devil." Some of the other meds are given through an intravenous drip, this one is given through a push, where the nurse actually uses the syringe to administer the med. During the Adiamycin push the patient sucks on ice to avoid mouth blisters. It is also the primary reason for hair loss, and heart failure, which is why MUGA heart scans throughout the chemo process is a must. Also, during the administration of this drug the patient's sense of smell is heightened, thought it's not normal smells they pick up on more, it's inner body chemical smells. If you came over right now and asked Anthony about the "red devil" his lips would pucker up just thinking about it and he would start gagging. It's pretty sad.

He's got a sad Rudolph nose from an accidental cat scratch.

He's got some hair loss in his eyebrows and eyelashes now, on the left side in particular.

This is the volunteer coordinator lady, she's the one who organized Anthony's birthday song and dessert.

She came around in all her St. Paddy's glory offering tasty treats, which we gladly accepted.

Today (three days after chemo) Anthony feels miserable. He's been extremely nauseous, and has been sleeping a LOT, sometimes 12 - 14 hours straight with only 6-8 awake hours between. When he is awake he mostly sits around watching basketball (speaking of, my bracket is currently kicking his bracket's trash!)

5 down, three to go. We found out the radiation after chemo will be every day for four weeks.

Do you see this book? The pages are raged and torn; the cover is falling off. this is a well used book.  This book is a GREAT child hood memory. We would all sit around the book and look at the pictures. It was great to see all the amazing things that God has created. As time went on rules and adventures began. you had to be very carefull of how you turned the pages. As you can see I still follow the rules on page turning.  

If you touched one of the pictures then what ever you touched would spray you, swarm around you and eat your hand or some other creepy demise. I have no idea who came up with the idea, but I can hear perry in my head saying, " Oh no! you touched the skunk it sprayed you now you stink ewww!"

Or " You just got slimed by the yucky mole thing!" (I don't remember being old enough to read what the pictures were actually of. By the time i was old enough i loved the game so much i didn't want to know. The stories we made up were better than real life) 

I think the ants scared me the most. ant bites HURT!

these are some of the pictures of things in the book that scared me to death! If you were not careful enough, the back of your hand or your nuckle would brush a picture as you turned the page. Then an arguement would ensue about if that creature got you or not and would only end with mom saying if we didn't stop she would take the book away. We would continue to argue very quietly for a little bit until some impatient soul would turn the page to a new and wounderful adventure.

Wow! I got a little teary eyed. I miss those times and the love we had for each other and the fun we had together. Who needed friends when the best friends yo could ever have were your brothers and sisters!