Tuesday, February 24, 2009

still 2 2 go

soooo.. trish headed off to her second to last radiation treatment yesterday, so we thought.

dr. horst took a look at trish's blistering skin and decided to give trish a week off from radiation rather than irritate her skin even more, and possibly pop the blisters.

there is maybe a 1/2 dozen blisters, and they are pretty small.. id say about 1/4 the size of an eraser on the end of a pencil, but they are annoying...
especially when trish's skin is really itchy (poison oak like she says), and she cant really scratch much without popping a blister


so the good news... no radiation for 7 days

the bad news... still two more sessions to go


the gooder news..

we are back at the cancer center today for trish's tri-weekly herceptin, and that means trish wont have to double dip the radiation and herceptin today..


we got her about 9:30am and got to the window seat around 10am.
nurse bev is working with trish today and she got trish's pre-med cocktails flowing.

the herceptin will hopefully begin before noon, and we should be home around 2pm


thanks for checking in

Friday, February 20, 2009

2 2 go

trish finished up the week with her third to last radiation treatment today...

she will be completely finished with her radiation this coming tuesday, the 24th.
(intially i thought it would be monday, but due to the presidents day holiday this week, she got an extra day off)

tuesday is also another herceptin day, so even though she is graduating from radiation it will be another long day at the office. she doesn't meet with dr. carlson next week, so that should speed up the day a little.
nonetheless, it will probably be another 5 hour day.

her skin is getting redder and redder, and tenderer and tenderer but she is dealing well with it. the itchiness bugs her a lot, but i think the sticky clothes is on top of the "what pisses me off" list.
trish lathers herself up with plenty of Medline Remedy lotion and aloe, and because of that, her clothing likes to stick to her skin when its all lubed up..

other than that, she is hanging in there and doing really well.

trish went to her first 3 Day Walk meeting last night down in sunnyvale. the walk isnt till the end of summer, but this was one of the first organizational meetings.

when the folks at the meeting found out she is a Survivor, they gave her a standing ovation. several people even came up to trish to chat, not because they know her, but because they recognized trish from last years walk, when she was on the sidewalk cheering people on just after the opening ceremonies...

trish is excited for this years walk.. last year she had nearly 20 women (and man) walking in her honor... she vowed she would walk this year, and she is gonna do it..


thanks for checking in.. have a good weekend



trish cheering on the walkers @ The SF 3 Day 2008

Sunday, February 8, 2009

17 down, 11 to go

hi everyone, sorry for not posting for a while.

trish is well past the 1/2 point of her radiation treatment, and looks like she will be finishing up on monday february 23rd. that means she has 11 more appointments to go.

redness:
------------------------------
her skin is been holding up pretty well. she is getting pink, but not really sunburn red, at least not yet. she is a little itchy, but has been applying plenty of lotion and aloe every day and that seems to be helping. she will probably toss in hydro-cortisone cream this week for the itchiness, but so far so decent.


fatigue:
-------------------------------
trish thinks the radiation is slowing her down a bit, but lately she has had her hands full. my work sent me to the east coast for two weeks, so trish has been juggling a lot the last 14 days. she had help from our families and friends, but some early mornings and late nights can make for really long days. toss in some preschool, some art classes, story times, radiation everyday, etc.. and it can tire anyone out.

hopefully now that im back, she can get caught up on some sleep (as she is doing right now), and finish up the last 11 days of radiation strong.


nausea:
--------------------------------
she has quezy for a couple weeks, and it might be a variety of things. the radiation oncologist said trish may get some nauseousness from radiation, but due to the radiations location its not likely. it may be be a combination of being sick.. tired.. fatigued... and i was sick prior to leaving.
trish stopped using a new face lotion, and seems to be feeling better.. so who knows, but she is feeling better.



trish did have her tri-weekly dose of herceptin this past tuesday, the 2nd. unfortunately i wasn't able to be there with her, but trish's mom was there to join on a very long day.

- she met with dr. carlson for the first time in 9 weeks in the morning.
- her herceptin infusion was in the afternoon
- radiation was at 3:15pm, albeit trish was a little late to radiation because the herceptin ran longer than planned.
- and the day was capped of with bring caden to a play date



thanks for checking in... trish is doing well, and i have no doubt she will finish up these next 11 radiation appointments strongly.