Tuesday, June 24, 2008

another tuesday, another can of chemo

ahhh its tuesday...
must mean a trip to store to pick up another can of chemotherapy..

so off to the stanford university cancer center we go..


8:15am: arrived for our 8:00am appt... imagine that

8:25am: seated for a blood draw from nurse christy

8:35am: heading downstairs for our 9:00am appt with dr. carlson. this is the first appt with dr. carlson in the past 4 weeks. we are now visiting him once a month.


hopefully trish's blood counts are good today. we gave her 4 shots of Neupogen (Filgrastim) this past week, as opposed to the three shots during the previous two weeks... her counts were borderline last week, we hope this wont be the case today.

keep your fingers crossed...

results should be back in an hour or so..

ill post back after the visit with the doc...



---------------------------------
update #1: 12:00pm
---------------------------------
9:25am - 10:50am: met with dr. telli, and discussed a little bit of everything from blood, surgery options, chemo schedule for the coming months, food, alternative medicine, vitamins, etc..
she also referred us to a surgical oncologist as well as a plastic surgeon.

it was nice to get caught up with dr. telli, as we haven't seen any of trish's doctors in the past month.

dr. carlson is out of the office today, so we setup an appointment to check in with him prior to next weeks chemo.


drumroll....

trish's blood counts are back up :)
there will be taxol today


blood counts:

white blood cells, Absolute neutrophil count (ANC):
--------------------------------------------------------------------
was 1.47
is 6.05


red blood cells, hematocrit (HCT):
--------------------------------------------------------------------
was 28.2
is 28.9



trish is litte bit anemic, but her red blood cell count has been down since beginning chemo.
this can be a result of being pregnant with caden, as pregnancies can deplete the body of iron and the body can take several years to recover. to help this, she will begin taking some iron supplements.

trish will continue receiving the nuepogen shots, four times week to keep her white blood count up. she isn't too thrilled about this, as lately this has been the hardest part of the treatment. the shots make her really achy in her bones (its all that marrow making some whiteys..)

there are corresponding drugs for red counts, Procrit or Epogen, but they are not recommended for those undergoing treatment for breast cancer.


11:10am: trish got her chemo chair... #C3
11:40am: nurse carol began trish's premeds of decadron and pepcid
12:05pm: begin the benadryl... might as well tap a bottle of wine, as this makes her loooopy...


ill give you another update later after she begins the chemo...


trish's mom, ria, is joining us today...
here is a pic taken a minute ago:








---------------------------------
update #2: 12:30pm
---------------------------------
12:30pm: premeds are done... trish is hooked up to the taxol.

the harp lady also just came in with her 5' tall harp..
shes strumming some tunes while trish is getting ready for la la land...

ETA of getting out of here is 3pm...

stay tuned..


---------------------------------
update #3: 3:00pm
---------------------------------
2:00pm taxol finished up, began on the herceptin
3:00pm: herceptin done
3:10pm: nurse carol flushed the mediport with anticoagulant, heparin


heading home...


another day in the bag...


13 comments:

Jane said...

Trish -

Thinking of you so much today... and hoping and praying your counts are good. can't wait to hear what dr. carlson said. you continue to inspire me. thanks for all the updates, Oak. you manage to squeeze in a little humor thru all this, and it's great!

jane

Anonymous said...

*fingers crossed* Let me know when the counts are good enough for me to bring you guys dinner.

-nicholas

Anonymous said...

Hey Trishy-

I was just thinking about you! Hoping and praying for good counts today...and that Dr. Carlson has some good news. Thanks for the updates Oak...Talk to you soon. Miss you!
xoxo Mon

Anonymous said...

We're thinking about you all, today! Hoping everything goes well with the blood counts! Hope to see you all soon. Lots of hugs and positive thoughts sent your way!:)
Lyndee & Family

Anonymous said...

Always thinking of you, but a little extra special thoughts on Tuesdays. Praying for good counts. We love you!!
Jeannie and Peter

mamafish said...

Hey Trisha,

I hope you are doing ok after today's treatment. I think of you and your family every Tuesday. Big Hugs!
Hanna

Anonymous said...

Dear Trisha,I was so happy to hear all the positive talk from the doctor to day.Can't believe how much medication they put in your body to day.I prayed hard for your bloodcount last nite.And it was good.IT was a good day Trisha and Oak,because your counts were up and i was there to spend it with you while you got your Chemo.Thanks Oak for all your excellent report on the blog.Trish your doing great.Keep it up and start eating does Chicken livers to morrow to boost up your iron.Love you very much Trish, Mom

Anonymous said...

Hey Trish and Oak,
I've been thinking about you two a lot, especially on Tuesdays. I can't wait to check the blog to find out what's going on. I'm glad your numbers are up and as always you look beautiful in your pictures. Trish, please take care of yourself, get your rest, and keep your head up. I'm only a phone call away and in a police car that's about 45 mins.
Love u guys,
Riley
P.S. Give Caden a hug for me

Anonymous said...

Hi Sister!
That is so good news! Your counts are up and again Taxol gets in!
Did not notice the shawl you are wearing till I blew up the picture to save it! So you got them!
This one looks very cute on you!
Will look for more!

love you!! Like Riley: just a phone call away (and an 11 hour flight!!)
Yvonne

Anonymous said...

You are such a trooper, Trisha!
Praying for you, everyday -
Our kids were excited to see pix of you b/c they always ask about Twisha and if the bad cancer is gone now. I tell them "it's gonna be all gone soon!"
Lots of love,
Marit

Anonymous said...

Hey Fishy,
Yeah blood count!!! Your determination (and of course Oak's great technique in giving the shots) is working! Keep up the fight & I look forward to seeing you soon:-)
Love, Becky

Ronbaby said...

Trish you rock. We are so happy about today's results. We all think about you everyday. We will see you soon. Love, Ron, Annabanna, Kori, Kyle, Parker, Luke, and Princess.

Anonymous said...

Trish,

You are amazing! The fact that you can muster up a smile on your chemo days just blows me away. Keep it up, kick some ass, be well.

Love,
Kim