well.. its been a pretty rough week for trish, but she continues to hang in there.
the first few days after tuesday's infusion were the worst to date, but trish is bouncing back and is beginning to feel better each day.
last tuesday was the day of 8 drugs:
zofran
benadryl
decadron
pepcid
herceptin
cytoxan
5-fu
epirubicin
so its no wonder that she was feeling like crap.
so, if we rewind a bit...
last monday night: i had food poisoning, and was tossing my cookies all night long..
tuesday night: after trish's treatment, that night she making good friends with the porcelain queen and the bathroom floor.
wednesday night: no porcelain here, caden likes to toss his cookies in his bed... twice...
so i believe there is an ancient proverb about a family who pukes together...
wednesday, thursday: not much going on...
trish spent most of her time in bed trying to rid her self of the nausea. she tried keeping herself hydrated the best she could, but there wasn't much of an appetite for a few days. it was really, really rough on her.
friday: back to stanford we went for her second dose of the 5-FU...
between tuesday and friday, trish had lost 7 pounds. she was feeling horrible, but she was determined to walked up the stairs to the infusion center, and she did.
trish got some pre-drugs of decadron, lorazepam and zofran from nurse nenita.
the lorazepam and zofran really helped out with the nausea.
dr. otis came up to visit with trish, and she prescribed a new anti-nausea drug,
emend.
this a set of 3 pills you take over the course of three days, and is a longer lasting anti-nausea medication for chemo based symptoms. it seems to be working really well for trish, so she will continue on this each week she gets the "Big Dose", and next time, we will do it sooner than later... on tuesdays, not fridays.
so we got here at 11:30am on friday and the predrugs and 5-FU was done by 1:30pm, so it wasnt' too long of a day.
saturday: another trip back to stanford...
this time for trish's nuelesta shot. similar to the neupogen shots, but she will get this one once every three weeks. the shot runs ~ $5000 so the insurance company is a little hesitant to send it home with me so i can play doctor with it...
thus the reason we need to come in and have the trained professionals administer it.
we were in and out... about 20 minutes and we were done..
free parking on saturdays, what a bargain...
its also interesting to see how many out of state license plates are in the chemo lot on the weekend.. thats why they call this place a Cancer Center... they know what they are doing, and folks come from hundreds of miles away to reap the benefits we get by driving 5.9 miles... we always feel so fortunate to have such great treatment, facilities, doctors and nurses so close to us.
sunday - monday: trish was feeling better... wasn't in bed all day, but still some fatigue, but less nausea.
the nuelasta has been good to her so far, and she isn't as achy as the nuepogen shots.
the itchiness hasn't been so much of a complaint, but i think its masked by all the other crappiness she is feeling.
so that brings us to today.... trish woke up and looked and felt pretty decent. probably the best in the past week. so i think things are just gonna get better for her. its another 2 weeks until she gets teh "Big Dose" again, so i think she will be able to better enjoy these coming 14 days than she did the previous 7.
back in the ITA (infusion treatment area) at 8:30am this morning.
no blood tests today, as the herceptin is technically a hormone therapy and not a "chemo" drug. this will make the day go quicker.
8:40am: seated again in window seat C5.. trish's weight is back to normal
8:50am: start on the pre-drugs with nurse Lea
9:15am: nurse lea done with the predrugs of benadryl, decadron and pepcid
9:40am: herceptin on the hook, and will be done in 30 minutes
trish is currently sleeping and enjoying the benefits of a direct shot of benadryl into her IV.
we should be out of here around 10:15am... another pretty quick day...
after this, just a quick stop at dr. carlson's office to drop of some long term disability paperwork, and then we will be heading home...
thanks for checking in..
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
House Resolution 1300, supporting IBC
on June 24, 2008, congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy (D - NY), introduced House Resolution 1300, summarized as
in july, my aunt kim, sent a letter to Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, who represents Redwood City in the United States House of Representatives asking for her support of the resolution.
below is Congresswoman Eshoo's reply my aunt received this past tuesday:
the full text of House Resolution 1300 is below:
Whereas inflammatory breast cancer is a rare but very aggressive type of breast cancer in which the cancer cells block the lymph vessels in the skin of the breast; (Introduced in House)
HRES 1300 IH
110th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 1300
Supporting efforts to raise awareness, improve education, and encourage research of inflammatory breast cancer.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 24, 2008
Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York (for herself and Mrs. EMERSON) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
RESOLUTION
Supporting efforts to raise awareness, improve education, and encourage research of inflammatory breast cancer.
Whereas inflammatory breast cancer is a rare but very aggressive type of breast cancer in which the cancer cells block the lymph vessels in the skin of the breast;
Whereas inflammatory breast cancer accounts for between 1 and 6 percent of all breast cancer cases in the United States;
Whereas inflammatory breast cancer is more common than acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children;
Whereas inflammatory breast cancer may have environmental causes;
Whereas inflammatory breast cancer is particularly difficult to detect because the early signs of breast cancer, such as a breast lump or suspicious area on a routine screening mammogram, are rarely present in inflammatory breast cancer;
Whereas inflammatory breast cancer tends to affect women at a younger age than most breast cancers;
Whereas black women are more likely to have inflammatory breast cancer than white women;
Whereas inflammatory breast cancer is more likely to have metastasised at the time of diagnosis than noninflammatory breast cancer cases;
Whereas the 5 year survival rate for patients with inflammatory breast cancer is between 25 and 50 percent, which is significantly lower than the survival rate for patients with noninflammatory breast cancer;
Whereas the incidence rate for inflammatory breast cancer is on the rise, and the cause of this increase is unknown;
Whereas organizations such as the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Foundation are working to increase awareness of the disease in the public and medical communities;
Whereas the MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas is among one of the only facilities in the country to have a clinic specifically dedicated to inflammatory breast cancer; and
Whereas many physicians remain unaware of inflammatory breast cancer and diagnosis is frequently delayed due to a lack of knowledge in both the lay and medical communities: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that the Federal Government has a responsibility to--
(1) endeavor to raise awareness and improve education about inflammatory breast cancer;
(2) encourage the American Medical Association to take steps to immediately increase awareness of inflammatory breast cancer among physicians;
(3) encourage research that will improve treatments for inflammatory breast cancer; and
(4) continue to consider ways to improve access to information on inflammatory breast cancer for both doctors and patients.
"Supporting efforts to raise awareness, improve education, and encourage research of inflammatory breast cancer"
in july, my aunt kim, sent a letter to Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, who represents Redwood City in the United States House of Representatives asking for her support of the resolution.
below is Congresswoman Eshoo's reply my aunt received this past tuesday:
August 19, 2008
Dear Ms. Abbott,
Thank you for writing to me about H. Res. 1300, a bill supporting efforts to raise awareness, improve education, and encourage research of inflammatory breast cancer (IBC). I'm proud to be a cosponsor of this bill.
As you know, IBC is one of the most dangerous forms of breast cancer for many reasons. First, IBC symptoms are atypical of the majority of breast cancers since breast lumps and other warning signs are absent in cases of IBC. This causes women to misinterpret IBC symptoms and frequently delay seeking medical assistance. Second, the women affected by IBC do not fit the traditional profile since IBC tends to affect women at a younger age. Finally, IBC awareness in the medical community is lacking so the cancer is often misdiagnosed which is especially dangerous since it is a very aggressive and inaccurate diagnosing can be especially deadly.
Increasing awareness of IBC in both the public and medical communities is essential to fighting this disease. The more informed women are of this disease, the better they are prepared to recognize it and get the help they need. Also, by increasing awareness in the medical community, doctors will be better equipped to diagnose IBC correctly. H. Res. 1300 will work to increase awareness of IBC, encourage the American Medical Association to increase awareness of inflammatory breast cancer among physicians, encourage research that will improve treatments for inflammatory breast cancer, and continue to consider ways to improve access to information on inflammatory breast cancer for both doctors and patients.
I read Trisha's blog and was touched by her story. Her strength and courage are highly admirable and I wish her my best in her continued fight against IBC.
H. Res. 1300 has been referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which I'm a member of and rest assured, I will continue to do everything I can to see that this important bill becomes law.
If you have any other questions or comments, let me hear from you. I value what my constituents say to me because I need your thoughts and benefit from your ideas.
...
Sincerely,
Anna G. Eshoo
Member of Congress
the full text of House Resolution 1300 is below:
Whereas inflammatory breast cancer is a rare but very aggressive type of breast cancer in which the cancer cells block the lymph vessels in the skin of the breast; (Introduced in House)
HRES 1300 IH
110th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 1300
Supporting efforts to raise awareness, improve education, and encourage research of inflammatory breast cancer.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 24, 2008
Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York (for herself and Mrs. EMERSON) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
RESOLUTION
Supporting efforts to raise awareness, improve education, and encourage research of inflammatory breast cancer.
Whereas inflammatory breast cancer is a rare but very aggressive type of breast cancer in which the cancer cells block the lymph vessels in the skin of the breast;
Whereas inflammatory breast cancer accounts for between 1 and 6 percent of all breast cancer cases in the United States;
Whereas inflammatory breast cancer is more common than acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children;
Whereas inflammatory breast cancer may have environmental causes;
Whereas inflammatory breast cancer is particularly difficult to detect because the early signs of breast cancer, such as a breast lump or suspicious area on a routine screening mammogram, are rarely present in inflammatory breast cancer;
Whereas inflammatory breast cancer tends to affect women at a younger age than most breast cancers;
Whereas black women are more likely to have inflammatory breast cancer than white women;
Whereas inflammatory breast cancer is more likely to have metastasised at the time of diagnosis than noninflammatory breast cancer cases;
Whereas the 5 year survival rate for patients with inflammatory breast cancer is between 25 and 50 percent, which is significantly lower than the survival rate for patients with noninflammatory breast cancer;
Whereas the incidence rate for inflammatory breast cancer is on the rise, and the cause of this increase is unknown;
Whereas organizations such as the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Foundation are working to increase awareness of the disease in the public and medical communities;
Whereas the MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas is among one of the only facilities in the country to have a clinic specifically dedicated to inflammatory breast cancer; and
Whereas many physicians remain unaware of inflammatory breast cancer and diagnosis is frequently delayed due to a lack of knowledge in both the lay and medical communities: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that the Federal Government has a responsibility to--
(1) endeavor to raise awareness and improve education about inflammatory breast cancer;
(2) encourage the American Medical Association to take steps to immediately increase awareness of inflammatory breast cancer among physicians;
(3) encourage research that will improve treatments for inflammatory breast cancer; and
(4) continue to consider ways to improve access to information on inflammatory breast cancer for both doctors and patients.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
FEC cancer...
home sweet away from home, the stanford cancer center.
feels like it was just yesterday that we were here...
ahhhh thats right... we were here just yesterday, but we will get to that later.
so we hopped in the car around 8:50am this morning and heading south.
by 9:10am we were checked in at the infusion center, and at 9:13am we had a seat for the blood draw with nurse sherry. nurse sherry had a little trouble accessing trish's port, as it may have been a little clogged.. but by 9:40am everything was done and we were on our way downstairs to check in with doc carlson's office.
after a stop to get trish some hot chocolate and a quick chat with trish's chemo buddy, christine, we were checked in and had a exam room at 9:55am. the nurse mentioned that the doc had three patients ahead of us, so we knew it would be a little wait.. but what we like about doctor carlson is... once he is in the room with you, you have as long as you want with him.
anyhow.. its 10:35am and the wait shouldn't be too much longer.
i expect doc carlson to examine trish as he does every month, and then fill us in on all the details of the new flavor of the month that trish begins today.. FEC + Herceptin.
more to come later..
11:45am update
---------------------------------
10:55am: dr. otis, an ocology fellow under dr. carlson, met with trish.. she informed us that trish's blood counts are good today, and the echocardiogram trish got yesterday came back normal.
the herceptin and epirubicin can damage the heart, so the echo keeps a close eye on whats going on inside trish's chest.
11:05am: dr. carlson came and and examined trish. the doc continues to be pleased with the progress, and said he didn't feel anything abnormal. we discussed the coming weeks of chemo, and we know understand exactly what our schedule will be, and how the side effects of the FEC + Herceptin will differ than Taxol + Herceptin. the nausea an possible vomiting is gonna come back, as well as some fatigue. the little bit of hair that has returned on trish's head will again fall out.
11:45am: after meeting with mark to get the next few weeks scheduled, we are back up in the infusion center waiting room, again hanging out with trish's chemo friend christine, another young mother of twins with breast cancer.
so, for the coming weeks this is going to be our schedule:
trish will get 3 rounds of FEC + Herceptin, a round consists of 21 days.
Fluorouracil (5-FU)
Ellence (epirubicin)
Cytoxan (cyclophosphamide)
Herceptin (Trastuzumab)
2.x
3.x
....
so there will be a lot of back and forth to stanford, but aside from the "Day 1's", the other days should go relatively quickly... we hope....
trish's nausea is gonna come back, but hopefully its only for a couple days of these 21 day cycles...
12:55pm: nurse jackie finished up all the pre-drugs ~ 12:30pm. we are gonna wait about 45 minutes for them to kick in... then its on to the good stuff.. its gonna be a long, long day...
so for a quick week in review:
---------------------------------------
tuesday: after chemo, trish took caden to a playdate. story time at the schaberg library is on hiatus, so the moms still get together each week to let the kids run around and get their fun time in. after the play date, we ordered in some amici's pizza & pasta and had trish's family over to "celebrate" the completion of the Taxol.
wednesday:in the morning trish headed to the story time at the woodside library, and in the afternoon we met with our lawyer to finalize our living trust.
thursday:trish went over to kelly's house and helped her with the cake kelly was making for steph & gabe's wedding. tuesday was the chevy's fundraiser, so trish headed over there at lunch time and saw a bunch of people supporting the cause. in the afternoon, trish got her wigs cut for the wedding by jen. around 5pm we headed back to chevy's for dinner, and by 6:30pm trish was off to her healing touch appointment.. needless to say, it was a full day.
friday:trish took it easy, but went to lunch with julie and carrie.
saturday:we headed out to patterson with christina and ricardo for gabe and steph's wedding. the wedding was a lot of fun, and this was the first time trish and i were away from caden on the same night.
sunday:woke up at the lovely best western in gorgeous patterson and headed home. it was a long couple days, so once we picked up caden, all three of us took a nice long nap and relaxed the rest of the day.
monday:in the early afternoon we heading back to good old stanford university medical center.. this time it wasn't for chemo, but for an Echocardiogram of trish's heart.. its about a 20 minute procedure that is basically like looking at a prenatal ultrasound, but a heart instead of a baby... this was trish's second ECHO, which they compared with the previous baseline ECHO they took 3 months ago prior to beginning the herceptin.
in the evening, we had steve/cerena/lucas/casey/jane/judas/ria over for dinner to celebrate cerena's birthday.
so its been a pretty busy week for all of us...
and that brings us to today... chemo should begin pretty shortly..
another update later..
blood counts:
white blood cells, Absolute neutrophil count (ANC):
--------------------------------------------------------------------
was 4.5
is 5.9
red blood cells, hematocrit (HCT):
--------------------------------------------------------------------
was 29
is 29 (hasn't changed in a month)
3:40pm update:
------------------------
the special guest star today was racquele. she stopped by for a few hours this afternoon to hang out with trish and see what this chemo stuff was all about.
the 5-FU & epirubicin manual push IV's finished up around 2:15pm.
the cytoxan drip IV finished up around 3:30pm..
herceptin has been going for about 10 minutes, and should finish up at 4pm.
a long day, but now we know what to expect..
the "first tuesdays" are gonna be long, as we need to meet with dr. carlson each of these days, and have the predrugs, the waiting, the real drugs, etc...
but the good news, we only have 3 of these "first tuesdays", and we are just about finished with one of them.
herceptin is done... just a quick flush and we are out of here...
more chemo fun & games on friday & saturday at 11:30am as we return for trish's second dose of 5-FU on friday and the neulasta shot for her white blood cells on saturday..
thanks for reading..
feels like it was just yesterday that we were here...
ahhhh thats right... we were here just yesterday, but we will get to that later.
so we hopped in the car around 8:50am this morning and heading south.
by 9:10am we were checked in at the infusion center, and at 9:13am we had a seat for the blood draw with nurse sherry. nurse sherry had a little trouble accessing trish's port, as it may have been a little clogged.. but by 9:40am everything was done and we were on our way downstairs to check in with doc carlson's office.
after a stop to get trish some hot chocolate and a quick chat with trish's chemo buddy, christine, we were checked in and had a exam room at 9:55am. the nurse mentioned that the doc had three patients ahead of us, so we knew it would be a little wait.. but what we like about doctor carlson is... once he is in the room with you, you have as long as you want with him.
anyhow.. its 10:35am and the wait shouldn't be too much longer.
i expect doc carlson to examine trish as he does every month, and then fill us in on all the details of the new flavor of the month that trish begins today.. FEC + Herceptin.
more to come later..
11:45am update
---------------------------------
10:55am: dr. otis, an ocology fellow under dr. carlson, met with trish.. she informed us that trish's blood counts are good today, and the echocardiogram trish got yesterday came back normal.
the herceptin and epirubicin can damage the heart, so the echo keeps a close eye on whats going on inside trish's chest.
11:05am: dr. carlson came and and examined trish. the doc continues to be pleased with the progress, and said he didn't feel anything abnormal. we discussed the coming weeks of chemo, and we know understand exactly what our schedule will be, and how the side effects of the FEC + Herceptin will differ than Taxol + Herceptin. the nausea an possible vomiting is gonna come back, as well as some fatigue. the little bit of hair that has returned on trish's head will again fall out.
11:45am: after meeting with mark to get the next few weeks scheduled, we are back up in the infusion center waiting room, again hanging out with trish's chemo friend christine, another young mother of twins with breast cancer.
so, for the coming weeks this is going to be our schedule:
trish will get 3 rounds of FEC + Herceptin, a round consists of 21 days.
Fluorouracil (5-FU)
Ellence (epirubicin)
Cytoxan (cyclophosphamide)
Herceptin (Trastuzumab)
day 1.1 (tuesday 8/19):she will receive F, E, C, H. the F, E are short IV's that are manually pushed by the nurse. the C and H are drip IV's. she will get the normal pre-drugs, plus some new stuff... 3 decadron pills for allergic reactions and 2 zofran pills for nausea. trish continues to get her IV of benadryl, and shot of pepcid as well.
day 1.4 (friday 8/22)):back at stanford, she will receive F, again, this time is a shorter push IV from the nurse.. this "should" be quick.
day 1.5 (saturday 8/23):she will come back to stanford and receive 1 shot of nuelasta, this 1 shot replaces the 12 shots of neupogen she currently gets.
day 1.8 (tuesday 8/26):back to stanford for herceptin, hopefully ~ 1 hour
day 1.15 (tuesday 9/2):back to stanford for herceptin, hopefully ~ 1 hour
days 1.16 - 1.21 (9/3 - 9/8):nuthin :)
day 2.1 (tuesday 9/9):day 1 of round 2 (thus the 2.1), start all over again, same order as above.
2.x
3.x
....
so there will be a lot of back and forth to stanford, but aside from the "Day 1's", the other days should go relatively quickly... we hope....
trish's nausea is gonna come back, but hopefully its only for a couple days of these 21 day cycles...
12:55pm: nurse jackie finished up all the pre-drugs ~ 12:30pm. we are gonna wait about 45 minutes for them to kick in... then its on to the good stuff.. its gonna be a long, long day...
so for a quick week in review:
---------------------------------------
tuesday: after chemo, trish took caden to a playdate. story time at the schaberg library is on hiatus, so the moms still get together each week to let the kids run around and get their fun time in. after the play date, we ordered in some amici's pizza & pasta and had trish's family over to "celebrate" the completion of the Taxol.
wednesday:in the morning trish headed to the story time at the woodside library, and in the afternoon we met with our lawyer to finalize our living trust.
thursday:trish went over to kelly's house and helped her with the cake kelly was making for steph & gabe's wedding. tuesday was the chevy's fundraiser, so trish headed over there at lunch time and saw a bunch of people supporting the cause. in the afternoon, trish got her wigs cut for the wedding by jen. around 5pm we headed back to chevy's for dinner, and by 6:30pm trish was off to her healing touch appointment.. needless to say, it was a full day.
friday:trish took it easy, but went to lunch with julie and carrie.
saturday:we headed out to patterson with christina and ricardo for gabe and steph's wedding. the wedding was a lot of fun, and this was the first time trish and i were away from caden on the same night.
sunday:woke up at the lovely best western in gorgeous patterson and headed home. it was a long couple days, so once we picked up caden, all three of us took a nice long nap and relaxed the rest of the day.
monday:in the early afternoon we heading back to good old stanford university medical center.. this time it wasn't for chemo, but for an Echocardiogram of trish's heart.. its about a 20 minute procedure that is basically like looking at a prenatal ultrasound, but a heart instead of a baby... this was trish's second ECHO, which they compared with the previous baseline ECHO they took 3 months ago prior to beginning the herceptin.
in the evening, we had steve/cerena/lucas/casey/jane/judas/ria over for dinner to celebrate cerena's birthday.
so its been a pretty busy week for all of us...
and that brings us to today... chemo should begin pretty shortly..
another update later..
blood counts:
white blood cells, Absolute neutrophil count (ANC):
--------------------------------------------------------------------
was 4.5
is 5.9
red blood cells, hematocrit (HCT):
--------------------------------------------------------------------
was 29
is 29 (hasn't changed in a month)
3:40pm update:
------------------------
the special guest star today was racquele. she stopped by for a few hours this afternoon to hang out with trish and see what this chemo stuff was all about.
the 5-FU & epirubicin manual push IV's finished up around 2:15pm.
the cytoxan drip IV finished up around 3:30pm..
herceptin has been going for about 10 minutes, and should finish up at 4pm.
a long day, but now we know what to expect..
the "first tuesdays" are gonna be long, as we need to meet with dr. carlson each of these days, and have the predrugs, the waiting, the real drugs, etc...
but the good news, we only have 3 of these "first tuesdays", and we are just about finished with one of them.
herceptin is done... just a quick flush and we are out of here...
more chemo fun & games on friday & saturday at 11:30am as we return for trish's second dose of 5-FU on friday and the neulasta shot for her white blood cells on saturday..
thanks for reading..
trish & racquele
31 flavors
(l-r) 1 scoop of 5-FU, 1 waffle cone of cytoxan, 1 waffle cone of herceptin, and 3 sugar cones of epirubicin (with strawberry topping)
Friday, August 15, 2008
muchas gracias...
just wanted to thank all of those that participated in the chevy's fundraiser yesterday.
i have no idea what the final headcount was, but im guessing it was well over 200+ people for lunch and dinner.
i know trish was there at lunch time and saw many of you, and we both returned in the evening for dinner and saw many more.
we apologize for not getting a chance to say hi to everyone in the evening, as trish had to leave to go to her healing touch appointment, and i was wrestling with a feisty almost 2 year old..
anyhow, i think the day was a success.
i would like to thank jeannie yet again for all her organizational efforts..
and a big thanks to everyone for not only supporting the Trisha's Trailblazers 3 Day Walk Team, but supporting breast cancer awareness.
the team is currently at 93% of their goal
(i don't believe this includes the chevy's portion):
Goal: $50,000.00
Achieved: $46,409.99
have a good weekend...
i have no idea what the final headcount was, but im guessing it was well over 200+ people for lunch and dinner.
i know trish was there at lunch time and saw many of you, and we both returned in the evening for dinner and saw many more.
we apologize for not getting a chance to say hi to everyone in the evening, as trish had to leave to go to her healing touch appointment, and i was wrestling with a feisty almost 2 year old..
anyhow, i think the day was a success.
i would like to thank jeannie yet again for all her organizational efforts..
and a big thanks to everyone for not only supporting the Trisha's Trailblazers 3 Day Walk Team, but supporting breast cancer awareness.
the team is currently at 93% of their goal
(i don't believe this includes the chevy's portion):
Goal: $50,000.00
Achieved: $46,409.99
have a good weekend...
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Chevy's Dinner Reminder: This Thursday Aug. 14th
first off, i would really like to thank jeannie for not only organizing 3 Day team, but getting Chevy's to have a fundraiser and getting the Palo Alto Daily news to run a small story about trish in the paper.
soo.. a quick reminder...
Jeannie Cocconi Wynne organized a fundraiser at chevy's in redwood city that will be held this thursday, august 14th.
chevy's will donate 25% of the food proceeds during the hours of 11:00am - 9:00pm to Trisha's Trailblazers... the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk team jeannie organized.
The 3 Day walk raises money for breast cancer research, education and treatment.
you can read jeannie's original post here:
http://trishafaggiolly.blogspot.com/2008/07/chevys-fundraiser.html
Trisha's Trailblazers is currently 20 teammates strong, and has raised over $45,000 for the 'Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the National Philanthropic Trust'
the san francisco 3 Day will be held September 5-7, 2008.
you can view the Trisha's Trailblazers team page here:
http://08.the3day.org/site/TR/Walk/SanFranciscoBayAreaEvent/1289336460?pg=team&fr_id=1188&team_id=42991
for those that missed it, the Palo Alto Daily News ran a little story in several editions of their paper promoting the fundraiser...
here is a copy (click for a larger version)...
and for you facebook types, jeannie setup a 'Breast Cancer 3 Day' group that can be found here:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=37467647792
as i understand it, in order to get money donated to the 3 Day, you need to do one of the following:
1. mention the 3 Day donation to your server
2. print up the full article from the palo alto daily news from the link below:
ENJOY A MEAL AT CHEVY’S AND HELP FIGHT BREAST CANCER
3.
print up the 'official' Chevy's flyer here in MS Word format
4. click on the picture below, and print it
thanks
soo.. a quick reminder...
Jeannie Cocconi Wynne organized a fundraiser at chevy's in redwood city that will be held this thursday, august 14th.
chevy's will donate 25% of the food proceeds during the hours of 11:00am - 9:00pm to Trisha's Trailblazers... the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk team jeannie organized.
The 3 Day walk raises money for breast cancer research, education and treatment.
you can read jeannie's original post here:
http://trishafaggiolly.blogspot.com/2008/07/chevys-fundraiser.html
Trisha's Trailblazers is currently 20 teammates strong, and has raised over $45,000 for the 'Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the National Philanthropic Trust'
the san francisco 3 Day will be held September 5-7, 2008.
you can view the Trisha's Trailblazers team page here:
http://08.the3day.org/site/TR/Walk/SanFranciscoBayAreaEvent/1289336460?pg=team&fr_id=1188&team_id=42991
for those that missed it, the Palo Alto Daily News ran a little story in several editions of their paper promoting the fundraiser...
here is a copy (click for a larger version)...
and for you facebook types, jeannie setup a 'Breast Cancer 3 Day' group that can be found here:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=37467647792
as i understand it, in order to get money donated to the 3 Day, you need to do one of the following:
1. mention the 3 Day donation to your server
2. print up the full article from the palo alto daily news from the link below:
ENJOY A MEAL AT CHEVY’S AND HELP FIGHT BREAST CANCER
3.
print up the 'official' Chevy's flyer here in MS Word format
4. click on the picture below, and print it
thanks
twelfth on the twelfth...
its tuesday, its the 12th and its trish's 12th and final round of Taxol / Herceptin!!!
this is the first big milestone on trish's path to cancer free-dom.
next week she will begin her three rounds (of 21 days, 63 days total) of FEC + Herceptin... finishing up hopefully on october 14th.
with this being the last round of taxol, we are hoping the itchies will work themselves out of trish's system soon.. we have no idea how long it may take, but we dont think it will get any worse.
so this morning... we arrived at the stanford cancer center at 8:40am for trish's blood work.
by 8:50am trish had the pick of the litter, and chose the beloved B5 window seat.
we are joined today by two special guest stars, trish's brother steve who made the drive in with us, and trish's co-worker rochelle who stopped by to say hi and drop off some magazines.
nurse bev had the blood draw done a little after 9am, and started trish on her pre-drugs at 9:30am while we waited for results of her blood tests... (i wish they would have done this for the previous 11 rounds, instead of waiting 90 minutes for the blood work, THEN begin the predrugs). this should make for a relatively quick day.
more updates later...
11:00am update
----------------------------
the day is going quick.. trish finished up her herceptin by 10:30am, and nurse bev had the taxol cruising at at 10:50am..
im thinking we could be getting out of here around noon today. 12th round, 12th day at 12... hmmm
more special guest stars have arrived, making for the largest entourage to date.
our sister in law, cerena and trish's friend marit..
perhaps we should have reserved the 2nd floor penthouse suite, but its really tough to beat thee old standby, B5 window seat.
blood counts:
white blood cells, Absolute neutrophil count (ANC):
--------------------------------------------------------------------
was 6.4
is 4.5 (surprised to see it drop that much, but the cutoff is 1.7 so still plenty of wiggle room)
red blood cells, hematocrit (HCT):
--------------------------------------------------------------------
was 29
is 29 (no change... steady... 28.9 average over the past 12 weeks)
so the week in review...
-------------------------------------------
the itchiness continues, but not as bad... trish tried the pills that were prescribed to her last week, Neurontin (Gabapentin). they helped with the itching, but they also cause her to get really dizzy...
so trish would rather deal with the itching that to have a new side effect, so the horse pills haven't seen much action.
my sister, monya, came up to visit this weekend. she works for a pharmaceutical manufacturer, and brought up some "chemo strength" anti-itching lotion... so far, this has been the winner.. its helped out more than any other lotions or the pills.
so tuesday after chemo, trisha, riley and myself hit up the dutch goose for some lunch.
thursday, trish had her standing appointment with her healing touch partner
on saturday, trish spent most of the day in san francisco with my sister, for monya's wedding dress fitting.
sunday was spent hanging out at home and watching some olympics
monday, trish went to her yoga class in the afternoon, and in the evening we had a tasty chinese chicken salad brought to us by monica and her mom, melissa.
another decent week... the itchies have slowed her down physically and emotionally it has taken a toll on her, but she continues to hang in there...
we have a wedding to go to on saturday, so trish is ready to try out her new wig on our big date night.
12:10pm update
---------------------
taxol is done..
the port has been flushed with the heparin, and we are heading out of here in olympic world record time..
nurse bev gets a gold medal for getting the show on the road early, and trish gets a gold medal for being trish..
see you thursday at chevy's...
many people have asked when we will be there...
and the official answer is... 'we have no freaking clue'
it will probably for dinner rather than lunch, but we have learned not to plan too far in advance... and thursday is kinda far, dontcha think :)
some pics from today...
this is the first big milestone on trish's path to cancer free-dom.
next week she will begin her three rounds (of 21 days, 63 days total) of FEC + Herceptin... finishing up hopefully on october 14th.
with this being the last round of taxol, we are hoping the itchies will work themselves out of trish's system soon.. we have no idea how long it may take, but we dont think it will get any worse.
so this morning... we arrived at the stanford cancer center at 8:40am for trish's blood work.
by 8:50am trish had the pick of the litter, and chose the beloved B5 window seat.
we are joined today by two special guest stars, trish's brother steve who made the drive in with us, and trish's co-worker rochelle who stopped by to say hi and drop off some magazines.
nurse bev had the blood draw done a little after 9am, and started trish on her pre-drugs at 9:30am while we waited for results of her blood tests... (i wish they would have done this for the previous 11 rounds, instead of waiting 90 minutes for the blood work, THEN begin the predrugs). this should make for a relatively quick day.
more updates later...
11:00am update
----------------------------
the day is going quick.. trish finished up her herceptin by 10:30am, and nurse bev had the taxol cruising at at 10:50am..
im thinking we could be getting out of here around noon today. 12th round, 12th day at 12... hmmm
more special guest stars have arrived, making for the largest entourage to date.
our sister in law, cerena and trish's friend marit..
perhaps we should have reserved the 2nd floor penthouse suite, but its really tough to beat thee old standby, B5 window seat.
blood counts:
white blood cells, Absolute neutrophil count (ANC):
--------------------------------------------------------------------
was 6.4
is 4.5 (surprised to see it drop that much, but the cutoff is 1.7 so still plenty of wiggle room)
red blood cells, hematocrit (HCT):
--------------------------------------------------------------------
was 29
is 29 (no change... steady... 28.9 average over the past 12 weeks)
so the week in review...
-------------------------------------------
the itchiness continues, but not as bad... trish tried the pills that were prescribed to her last week, Neurontin (Gabapentin). they helped with the itching, but they also cause her to get really dizzy...
so trish would rather deal with the itching that to have a new side effect, so the horse pills haven't seen much action.
my sister, monya, came up to visit this weekend. she works for a pharmaceutical manufacturer, and brought up some "chemo strength" anti-itching lotion... so far, this has been the winner.. its helped out more than any other lotions or the pills.
so tuesday after chemo, trisha, riley and myself hit up the dutch goose for some lunch.
thursday, trish had her standing appointment with her healing touch partner
on saturday, trish spent most of the day in san francisco with my sister, for monya's wedding dress fitting.
sunday was spent hanging out at home and watching some olympics
monday, trish went to her yoga class in the afternoon, and in the evening we had a tasty chinese chicken salad brought to us by monica and her mom, melissa.
another decent week... the itchies have slowed her down physically and emotionally it has taken a toll on her, but she continues to hang in there...
we have a wedding to go to on saturday, so trish is ready to try out her new wig on our big date night.
12:10pm update
---------------------
taxol is done..
the port has been flushed with the heparin, and we are heading out of here in olympic world record time..
nurse bev gets a gold medal for getting the show on the road early, and trish gets a gold medal for being trish..
see you thursday at chevy's...
many people have asked when we will be there...
and the official answer is... 'we have no freaking clue'
it will probably for dinner rather than lunch, but we have learned not to plan too far in advance... and thursday is kinda far, dontcha think :)
some pics from today...
rochelle & trish
trish & steve
marit, trish & cerena
oak, marit & cerena
trish & oak
caden & trish earlier in the week
Thursday, August 7, 2008
april 7th - august 7th, 124 days later...
the past 4 months have been a blur...
we appreciate everything that all of you have done for us, including reading this blog.
trish reads all the comments and really takes them to heart. to everyone that has sent/brought flowers, cards, dinner, diapers, groceries, thoughts, prayers, shared personal stories, experiences, mowed the lawn and even offered to walk bella, we really, really, really thank all of you.
i know we are kinda slow at returning calls, returning emails and even returning dishes...
but please dont confuse that with us not being grateful.
we truly are thankful and indebted to have so many folks who care about us.
we know this is a big reason why the past 4 months have seemingly gone by so fast.
thanks,
trish, caden, oak & bella
we appreciate everything that all of you have done for us, including reading this blog.
trish reads all the comments and really takes them to heart. to everyone that has sent/brought flowers, cards, dinner, diapers, groceries, thoughts, prayers, shared personal stories, experiences, mowed the lawn and even offered to walk bella, we really, really, really thank all of you.
i know we are kinda slow at returning calls, returning emails and even returning dishes...
but please dont confuse that with us not being grateful.
we truly are thankful and indebted to have so many folks who care about us.
we know this is a big reason why the past 4 months have seemingly gone by so fast.
thanks,
trish, caden, oak & bella
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
round eleven of chemo heaven...
ok, the important stuff first ;)
after a one night stay at The Faggiolly Center for Avian Rehabilitation, LT (little tweeter) has returned to wild.
foster mama ria released the youngster this past wednesday after tending to its health throughout the day tuesday.
our conversation on friday went a little like this:
oak: ria how is the little bird?
ria: oh, the bird is fine, i released it
oak: when?
ria: on wednesday, and it flew into a tree
oak: FLEW INTO A TREE...?? like it flew into a wall?
ria: no, no, no, it flew away and landed up in a tree
oak: ahh.. good
so its today... tuesday... chemo... again...
8:15am: on the road to stanford, with special guest star, trish's friend Riley.
8:40am: checked in to the infusion center, and Ria stopped by to hang out for a bit
9:20am: blood draw by nurse deb is done, and we headed over to the cafe for some breakfast
so as we are heading to the cafe, trish, riley, ria and i were reliving the little tweeter story and showing Riley the main locations of the storyline... this is where little tweeter was found, here is the waterfall, etc..
and if there wasn't a better end to the story...
as we were walking, the same construction workers saw ria and began chatting it up and asking her how little tweeter was. ria assured them that LT was ok, and was back flying around on its own two wings..
all of us had a good laugh \, capping off the end to an already crazy story.
i think hearing the construction workers inquire about LT was worth the price of gas for Riley to drive down from Rocklin this morning.
10:00am: we are back in the sweet suite today and waiting on trish's blood test results..
10:15am: nurse deb is back with the pre-drugs of decadron, pepcid and benadryl..
blood is good, so there will be chemo today..
more updates later
11:00am update
---------------------------------
10:50am: herceptin begins..
blood counts:
white blood cells, Absolute neutrophil count (ANC):
--------------------------------------------------------------------
was 5.7
is 6.4
red blood cells, hematocrit (HCT):
--------------------------------------------------------------------
was 29
is 29
the past week:
-----------------------------------
the last 7 days have probably been the roughest on trish. the itchiness is getting worse, and is affecting her feet. we went to rite aid this weekend and picked up ice packs and just about every over the counter anti-itching medication known to the western world... probably time to hit up the east.
Aveeno Maximum Strength Anti-Itch Cream
Active Ingredients: Hydrocortisone (1.0%) (Anti-Itch)
aloe with lidocain
Active Ingredients: Lidocaine HCl (0.50%)
Sarna Original Anti-Itch Lotion
Active Ingredients: Camphor (0.5%) (Analgesic), Menthol (0.5%) (Analgesic)
Lanacane Spray
Active Ingredients: Benzocaine (20%), Benzethonium Chloride (0.2%)
Benadryl Itch Stopping Cream
Active Ingredients: Diphenhydramine HCl (2%), Zinc Acetate (0.1%) (Skin Protectant)
and a trip to baath & body works resulted in a purchase of:
Look Ma, New Hands! Softening Hand Lotion with Paraffin
they all seem to work a little bit, but nothing is working great.
nurse jan from dr. carlson's office is gonna come up and visit us today and see if there is anything else trish can take for this. the neupogen shots have trumped the chemo, and now the itchiness has trumped the neupogen.
aside from the itching, its been a pretty uneventful week.
on tuesday night, after chemo, trish went to a hip-hop dance class with christina
thursday, trish had another great healing touch session.
she had a vietnamese lunch with julie and carrie on friday at pho dong
on saturday, she was able to hang out with her girlfriends and celebrate becky's baby shower.
so thats about it for now...
the herceptin is almost done and the taxol will begin in a little bit..
11:45am update
------------------------------------------
11:40am: taxol is dripping..
at this rate, it looks like we will be at the Goose around 1:30pm
1:00pm update
---------------------------
nurse jan stopped by and talked with trish about the itchiness. she prescribed a drug called Neurontin (Gabapentin) that should help curb the itches (and hot flashes).
trish will start taking this today, and hopefully it helps out.
the itching is caused by the taxol wreaking havoc on the nerve endings. trish only has 1 more treatment (after today) of taxol, so we are hoping this will leave her body soon.. but till then, she is gonna give the nuerontin a try cause who knows how long 12 weeks of taxol will continue to linger in her body.
got home around 2:45pm after a nice little lunch at the goose.. trish is in bed relaxing while caden takes his afternoon nap..
thanks for checking in..
after a one night stay at The Faggiolly Center for Avian Rehabilitation, LT (little tweeter) has returned to wild.
foster mama ria released the youngster this past wednesday after tending to its health throughout the day tuesday.
our conversation on friday went a little like this:
oak: ria how is the little bird?
ria: oh, the bird is fine, i released it
oak: when?
ria: on wednesday, and it flew into a tree
oak: FLEW INTO A TREE...?? like it flew into a wall?
ria: no, no, no, it flew away and landed up in a tree
oak: ahh.. good
so its today... tuesday... chemo... again...
8:15am: on the road to stanford, with special guest star, trish's friend Riley.
8:40am: checked in to the infusion center, and Ria stopped by to hang out for a bit
9:20am: blood draw by nurse deb is done, and we headed over to the cafe for some breakfast
so as we are heading to the cafe, trish, riley, ria and i were reliving the little tweeter story and showing Riley the main locations of the storyline... this is where little tweeter was found, here is the waterfall, etc..
and if there wasn't a better end to the story...
as we were walking, the same construction workers saw ria and began chatting it up and asking her how little tweeter was. ria assured them that LT was ok, and was back flying around on its own two wings..
all of us had a good laugh \, capping off the end to an already crazy story.
i think hearing the construction workers inquire about LT was worth the price of gas for Riley to drive down from Rocklin this morning.
10:00am: we are back in the sweet suite today and waiting on trish's blood test results..
10:15am: nurse deb is back with the pre-drugs of decadron, pepcid and benadryl..
blood is good, so there will be chemo today..
more updates later
riley, trish & ria
11:00am update
---------------------------------
10:50am: herceptin begins..
blood counts:
white blood cells, Absolute neutrophil count (ANC):
--------------------------------------------------------------------
was 5.7
is 6.4
red blood cells, hematocrit (HCT):
--------------------------------------------------------------------
was 29
is 29
the past week:
-----------------------------------
the last 7 days have probably been the roughest on trish. the itchiness is getting worse, and is affecting her feet. we went to rite aid this weekend and picked up ice packs and just about every over the counter anti-itching medication known to the western world... probably time to hit up the east.
Aveeno Maximum Strength Anti-Itch Cream
Active Ingredients: Hydrocortisone (1.0%) (Anti-Itch)
aloe with lidocain
Active Ingredients: Lidocaine HCl (0.50%)
Sarna Original Anti-Itch Lotion
Active Ingredients: Camphor (0.5%) (Analgesic), Menthol (0.5%) (Analgesic)
Lanacane Spray
Active Ingredients: Benzocaine (20%), Benzethonium Chloride (0.2%)
Benadryl Itch Stopping Cream
Active Ingredients: Diphenhydramine HCl (2%), Zinc Acetate (0.1%) (Skin Protectant)
and a trip to baath & body works resulted in a purchase of:
Look Ma, New Hands! Softening Hand Lotion with Paraffin
they all seem to work a little bit, but nothing is working great.
nurse jan from dr. carlson's office is gonna come up and visit us today and see if there is anything else trish can take for this. the neupogen shots have trumped the chemo, and now the itchiness has trumped the neupogen.
aside from the itching, its been a pretty uneventful week.
on tuesday night, after chemo, trish went to a hip-hop dance class with christina
thursday, trish had another great healing touch session.
she had a vietnamese lunch with julie and carrie on friday at pho dong
on saturday, she was able to hang out with her girlfriends and celebrate becky's baby shower.
so thats about it for now...
the herceptin is almost done and the taxol will begin in a little bit..
11:45am update
------------------------------------------
11:40am: taxol is dripping..
at this rate, it looks like we will be at the Goose around 1:30pm
julie, trish & carrie heading to lunch on friday
1:00pm update
---------------------------
nurse jan stopped by and talked with trish about the itchiness. she prescribed a drug called Neurontin (Gabapentin) that should help curb the itches (and hot flashes).
trish will start taking this today, and hopefully it helps out.
the itching is caused by the taxol wreaking havoc on the nerve endings. trish only has 1 more treatment (after today) of taxol, so we are hoping this will leave her body soon.. but till then, she is gonna give the nuerontin a try cause who knows how long 12 weeks of taxol will continue to linger in her body.
got home around 2:45pm after a nice little lunch at the goose.. trish is in bed relaxing while caden takes his afternoon nap..
thanks for checking in..
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