Friday, 30 June 2006

My Dear Friends,

Went to the hip surgeon for a routine check-up yesterday. Had her assistant get my bone scan results.

Good news.

There are no new areas of cancer, the old areas (spine, ribs, leg, arm) are essentially unchanged and one spot in my shoulder is completely gone.

We had wanted to hear that it was either stable or healing. The surgeon sees this as good. It is better than I had expected.

Remember when I turned off my cell phone the other night? The oncologist called me at 8PM! "This is Dr. T. returning your call. Click.". Called me again yesterday afternoon when I was in a meeting, again no message.

I really don't feel the need to talk to her since I know the results and I'm upset with her for making me wait.

I expect she will keep me on this chemo for the full six months, like the 2nd opinion doc has proposed.

Thank you for your prayers.

Love,
Jeanette

Weds, 28 June 2006

My Dear Friends,

Today I am in hell. Waiting for the results of yesterday's bone scan has been very difficult. They did the scan, made me wait forever then did more films of my ribs. Now I wonder what's going on there! I was in tears when I left, although a nice young lady tech tried to make me feel better.

Called my doctor's office three times today, since the tech had told me they were reading the scan results right away yesterday.

At 4pm, the doc's receptionist said the results were in but the doc had to read them. She gave me various excuses... the doc was 45 minutes late, they were very busy, two people left early. Since I have to see this receptionist every week, I didn't give her a piece of my mind.

I did tell her,"It's very important that the doctor calls me TODAY. I am FREAKING OUT."

I had carried my cell phone with me all day, even to the bathroom. At 7pm, I said screw it and shut off the phone.

This doctor knows how I am. I cannot believe she did this to me.

I'll keep you posted. Please keep praying.

Love,
Jeanette

Tues, 27 June 2006

My Dear Friends,

Got back from a vacation to Washington D.C. with the kids on Sunday. Looks like we got outta there just in time, as they have had heavy rain and flooding!

Had another Abraxane chemo treatment yesterday. Feel OK so far, but it's only 9:30AM. Expect the rough parts to hit later today and last a few days.

Have a bone scan today, to tell if the Abraxane is working. Nervous about the pain in my right shoulder.

Please pray for me.

Love,
Jeanette

Sunday, 11 June 2006

My Dear Friends,

Computers are a real bummer. This morning I had typed a lengthy entry, tried to post it and POOF! It was gone! (I cried.)

Now I have to remember what I said. Will try to picture it in my mind:

I have been scolded for not posting in a while. Had Abraxane on Monday. Didn’t want to whine about the pain so I just waited it out. Honestly, it wasn’t as bad as previous times (ie: I didn’t have to go home from work.)

Saw my second opinion guy also on Monday. I had tried to schedule the appt so I would have the results of my next bone scan but it didn’t work out. Oh well. I will see my oncologist tomorrow and she will schedule it in the near future.

Dr. 2 asked what my most prominent side effect from this chemo was, as he has only a handful of patients on it. I said nerve pain. He suggested, as I had known, that anti-seizure medications work for nerve pain. Nope, don’t want anything that might mess with my head. If they keep me on the Abraxane, I might reconsider.

Had to ask Dr. 2 about some “what if” scenarios (since I had no test results). He said if the cancer is smaller or stable, they will continue the Abraxane for six months, then take a baseline bone scan.

Baseline! That implies there will be may more after that! That implies I might have years left! This never occurred to me.

Told him about my clear lung xray last month. He said he does not think it will go to my lungs. This was news to me!

He also mentioned a patient in my situation doing very well. Her pain stopped after starting Abraxane. My doc had given me the impression that we’d try a bunch of drugs but none would work. She never said this might work.

I had prayed for a message of hope. Throw me something, Lord. I felt a little better after talking to Dr. 2.

Now I feel like it didn’t work because I didn’t believe in it. My doc should’ve told me it could work.

I’m also worried because the upper left arm, where we know there’s cancer, hurts a few times a day. Now the right has started to hurt. I am NOT looking forward to this bone scan!

We went to the Komen Race for the Cure on Saturday. I got choked up a couple times seeing how many people this disease has affected. Survivors get to wear bright pink shirts. There seemed to be fewer pink shirts than last year. I hope it’s because the Relay for Life was also going on that day in another town.

I will try to update more often. Please pray for a good upcoming test result. Thanks!

Love,
Jeanette