tis the season for radiation consultations, fa la la la la, la la la la.

so earlier today trish and i headed back to our favorite cancer center in the world.

we met for the first time with trish's radiation oncologist, dr. kate horst. although we had not met dr. horst yet, she was familiar with trish's case as she was one of the many doctors consulted last month prior to trish's surgery.

we had a pretty good idea of what to expect with the radiation, but dr. horst filled in all the blanks of the hows, whens, whys, wheres, whos etc... we both liked her, and trish is once again in good hands.

trish will have a follow up appointment either this week or next to have a CT scan of her upper torso so the docs can begin planning a radiation regimen tailored to her. the scan will take a half hour or so and it will take the docs about a week to plan trish's treatment schedule.

trish will have a team of 3-4 radiation technicians that will work with her for the duration of the treatment, and dr. horst will be checking in on trish at least once a week. since we will be there 5 days a week for 5 1/2 weeks, it will be nice to have consistent team of people to work with trish and know exactly the particulars of her.

the sessions will be quick, and dr. horst said we should be in and out in about 30 minutes (or the next radiation is free... kidding). the actual radiation dose only takes a minute or two, with more time being spent on the setup/posistioning of trish and the equipment.

side effects may be some sunburn type redness that will gradually fade away and fatigue. the worst is behind trish, and i know she will have no major issues with the radiation... shes a tough one.

so we dont have a definitive date yet, but we assume trish will begin radiation the week of january 12th


thanks for checking in... have a great new years... cant wait to get 2008 over with.

another day in the ITA...

welcome back herceptin fans...


not too much going on lately in terms of treatment, so there hasn't been much to write about... but we are back at stanford today for a little holiday time herceptin.

we got here around 9:00am, and if all goes well we should be home around noon.

trish had her scheduled every three month ECHO this past wednesday to check her heart's health, and everything came back normal, so we are good to go with the herceptin today.

nurse lea tapped trish's port around 9:30am and the pre-drugs of benadryl and pepcid are flowing.

trish is continuing to do great, her energy level continues to increase and her hair continues to grow. the last few weeks have been filled with shopping, birthday parties, holiday parties, ornament exchanges and meals with friends. last night trish baked a bunch of cupcakes & chocolate nut bark for the nurses here at the infusion treatment area (ITA).

trish started going back to the gym last week. we decided to get a family membership to the PCC . this will work out great... its within walking distance of our house, and they have a sauna & pool that will help with some low impact exercises for trish.


last week's cold front brought a little snowfall up on skyline boulevard above palo alto, so we brought caden up to see his first snow... caden wasn't too impressed.

last night we headed to eucalyptus avenue in san carlos to check out the phenomenal two block display of christmas lights... caden was impressed.

we still need to bring caden to see santa, and we are gonna do that either today or tommorrow... and if this year is like the previous 2 years, he wont be impressed :)


so thats about it from here...


happy holidays to everyone, and thanks for checking in...

trish & caden checking out the snow at the
monte bello open space preserve

caden & i

the big guy & the little guy

another checkup with dr. j

earlier this afternoon we headed off to stanford for a quick checkup at with dr. jeffrey.

the checkup itself was nice and quick, and the doc thinks trish's progress over the past month has been terrific. the checkup was sped up a little bit when the fire alarm went off, and we weren't sure if we would have to evacuate or not...

so dr. jeffrey quickly got to work and examined trish. evacuating woulda sucked, as we had already been waiting in the lobby for 2 1/2 hours for our appointment, so we didn't need any more delays.

anyhow, trish can now lift her arm above her head without much discomfort, and pretty much has her full range of motion back. she is back to lifting caden up, and i think thats what she missed the most.


so all is well in recoveryville. dr. jeffrey doesn't need to see trish again for another 6 months, but we will be meeting with her before then to plane for surgery #2.


this wednesday will be trish's scheduled ECHO, and next tuesday we will be back for some egg nog spiked herceptin...


so thats it from here..

a quickie..

haven't posted in a while, cause not much has been happening since trish's herceptin infusion on december 2nd. not having doctor appointments all the time is kinda nice.

trish has been feeling really good, the soreness is going away with each day, and her range of motion continues to increase.

this past week trish has been able to relax and have and enjoy herself.

her college roommates, ginger and riley, came into town this past weekend and trish was able to get in some quality time with them. all of us headed up to san francisco for some ice skating in union square (caden and i watched), some shopping (caden and i watched) and then some clam chowder on pier 39.

on sunday we heading up hill to skyline to chop down that perfect christmas tree.



our schedule for the coming weeks pretty much looks like this:
- 12/15: checkup with dr. jeffrey
- 12/23: herceptin
- 12/29: consult with the radiation oncologist
- 12/??: another scheduled ECHO of her heart

christmas tree hunting this past sunday

the 10th reindeer, herceptin...

we met this morning with dr. carlson and his physician assistant kathy...

looks like the doc is just as excited with trish's results as we are, cause he came into the exam room clapping with a big smile on his face.

we talked about trish's progress up to this point, and what we can expect in the coming months...

one thing we learned today is the "1 year of herceptin" trish is continuing on, is retroactive to her first herceptin treatment on may 20th, and not the beginning of the "3 week doses" trish began on october 21st.

so this means trish has 6 more months of herceptin to go, and not the 10 months we initially thought..

dr. carlson also scheduled trish for her standard 3 month ECHO of her heart, and a consult with the radiation oncologist, dr. kathleen horst. not sure when we will meet with dr. horst, but we expect radiation to begin in the next few weeks.

trish will continue on the herceptin every three weeks, but we wont be seeing dr. carlson for another 9 weeks... but we will be back here in 2 weeks to see dr. jeffrey, and those daily radiation appointments will be here before we know it..


after doc carlson we headed up to the ITA... and man, this place is busier than a wal-mart on black friday

around 11:45am trish started on her pre-drugs prior to the herceptin... the benadryl should be kicking in at any moment.

herceptin began around 12:45pm, and should finish up 2:30pm


hopefully we will be heading home in about an hour..
trish is doing great... she is taking a little nap right now, and looking forward to the play date this afternoon at our house..



thanks for checking in

another quick checkup...

trish and i swung by doctor jeffrey's office this afternoon for a quick little checkup...

the doc wanted to see how the wounds are healing, and give trish some new stretching exercises to do...

everything was quick and smooth.. the doc was happy with the healing, and wants to see trish back in 2 weeks..


tomorrow morning trish will meet with dr. carlson for the first time in 3 weeks, and for the first time post surgery and post "the biopsies showed there aint no cancer in ya anymore". it will be nice to hear what he has to say...

we plan on talking with dr. carlson about the radiation schedule, and afterward we will head upstairs for some holiday herceptin..


trish continues to feel great...
she is out shopping right now, and after the infusion tomorrow she is having the story time moms/kids over in the afternoon for a little play date...