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
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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):
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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):
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was 29
is 29 (no change... steady... 28.9 average over the past 12 weeks)
so the week in review...
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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
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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
7 comments:
Trishy~ WooHoo, another round of treatment done! You're a rock-star! Love all the pics from today! Thanks Oak for all the updates! It was so good to see you guys last night! Hopefully we'll see you at Chevy's on Thursday! xoxo Moni
YAH! for the LAST round woohoo! I am glad that the lotion is working so far. I hope it continues to. I wish I knew about this stuff sooner! Well let me know if you need more :) I was so happy to spend the day with you in SF & for you to see my dress again! and even happier that you were feeling up to it :-) I will see you guys in a few weeks. Your such a rockstar!!!
ps I LOVE the new wig
YEA on finishing this part of the treatment. You continue to amaze me with your strength! You look great and hope that you can get a break from the itchies!
Hanna
First round done Great!Your a trooper Trisha.Your so strong and putting up a fight with all the itching and aches it never put you down.I'm so proud of you Trish.And Oak many thanks for helping Trish getting true this.I want to thank all your supporting friends as well.Great pictures and blog Oak to keep everybody up to date.Have a great week Trisha ,Love Mom.
Bring on Round 3!!
The past 4 months have been pretty much a blur, though through it all I've never seen such TRUE love since Poppie and Framma..
Their "mantra" that I heard all my life was: "For always and in ALL ways" ... I believe it, I live and seeing you two follow suit, makes my heart smile as always..
You've both always been a "step up to the plate" couple,that's never changed... We love, admire, support and respect you both with all our hearts..
While the road ahead is unknown, knowing that between the love you have between the three of you and the ARMY of love and support beside you..IBC has something to reckon with!
All our love always and in all ways..
Mom & Dad
PS.. Who's that HOT red head you've been hanging out with Oak? WOW!!! :)
Trisha & Oak: Amy Vaccarella and I will be having lunch at Chevy's tomorrow. We will have the little ones with us too. My cousin, Shari, is meeting some friends of hers there for lunch and my Aunt Will will be attending as well. Turns out my aunt already donated to Trisha's Trailblazers through Kim (I am assuming Kim Balsama). If we don't see you tomorrow, know that you are in our hearts!!
Love, Shari
Dear Trisha,
We are so happy for you, you have gotten your first round of chemo done! We are so proud of you!
We are on the boat from Denmark to Sweden right now and just read the blog!
Amber and Marijn say hi and are surprised how big Caden is getting (so are Bert and I ofcourse!)
love from all of us,
Yvonne (je zusje!)
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