Wednesday, December 26th

Received a call yesterday from Stockton Kaiser scheduling two of three chemo therapy treatments on Thursday and Friday, January 6th & 7th.

Today Denise had the two ports inserted at the Sacramento Kaiser on Morse Avenue.  One port-a-cath was inserted into her right side just below the shoulder and above the breast.  The other port was inserted under anethesia into her lower right side just below her ribs.  The lower port will be used to "flood" the pelvic cavity with the cancer fighting drug Taxol. 

The procedure was very extremely painful and Denise has signficant discomfort just moving.  Evidently Denise was not given sufficient sedation to take her to a level as to not feel the surgical pain.  They had to increase the sedation multiple times to get her fully sedated.

The chemo therapy regiment for Denise will be one treatment of Cisplatin one day, one treatment of Taxol the next day of the same week; one treatment of Taxol again the following week; and, one week without any treatment (recovery time).  In a nut shell and in layman terminology as I understand it, the aggressive chemo therapy is prescribed due to the cancer matastasizing (sp) to the lymph nodes in her pelvic area.  Once the cancer is in the lymph nodes, it then has traveled throughout your body/system.  The Onconologist's prognosis is Denise will be cancer free for the rest of her life after she has completed her treatment. 

Joan/Mom

Monday, December 27th

Denise saw the new chemo doctor at Stockton Kaiser and had her blood tested for coagulants in preparation for the procedure on Wednesday to insert the ports.  Now she awaits a call from the charge nurse to set up the treatment dates.

She had her favorite soup for dinner--corn chowder from Mimi's.

December 26, 2010

Denise was very happy to learn from her pathology report that the primary site for the cancer (high grade papillary serous carcinoma) was in the fallopian tubes--rather than the ovaries--this is the better of the two.

The holiday was spent watching movies with the family and playing Wii Pictionary that Rileigh received as a Christmas gift. 

During the last few days she has been pretty tired and not feeling as well as she would like.  She still strives to take at least 1 walk every day despite how she feels.  Today, it was beautiful walking in the sunshine under the georgous blue skies.  We saw a red tail hawk soaring above while walking.

Dramatic and emotional event today--Danny cut off Denise's hair down to the scalp.  Her hair has been falling out by the handfuls.  She says she really feels and looks like a cancer patient now (I sensed a little denial still present.).

I gave her a very soft white stocking cap that I found at Kohls.  So today I made a dash to Kohls to pick up a few more.  Denise's friend Robin is lending her the scarves she used during her chemo treatments.

Signing off until tomorrow, Mom/Joan

PS 12/23/10

Denise's back pain was determined to be caused by a slip of her foot on our wet pickup running board and thus twisting her body when getting in.

Thursday, December 23rd

A busy day today!  First appointment was with Dr. Sattar, chemo therapy dr.  Good news that the chemo therapy is for 5 cycles--not 5 months and prescribing 2 drugs instead of 3.  Each cycle is 3 weeks.  Denise is strongly considering transferring the treatments to the Stockton Kaiser.  The IP chemo can cause significant abdominal pain and bloating so driving an hour plus after treatment  is not recommended.

Wednesday, the29th has been changed from chemo therapy to outpatient surgery to have the IP and port-a-cath inserted at Sacramento Kaiser.  Chemo therapy appointments will be rescheduled to begin in January.

Dr.Chen, Denise's gyn oncology surgeon, is amazed at her progress and healing from surgery.   Dr. Chen prescribed an antibiotic for an infection with her incision.

Denise's day was very uplifting.  After her appointments, she had lunch with Jacqueline, a dear friend, and then ran into Brad and Kim, old friends from college days.

We'll take a break from the blog for a few days to be with our family to celebrate this wonderful holiday!  Love and warm wishes to you all, Joan

Tuesday, December 21st

The last few days Denise has been experiencing some unexplained back pain.  She has appointments on Thursday with her surgeon for a post surgery checkup and the oncologist.  She hopes to find the reason for the back pain and the game plan for her future chemo therapy.  She continues to take her daily walks with Oliver.

We are all impatiently waiting for Denise's appointment to have her port-a-cath and IP inserted.  The harsh reality of the impending chemo therapy and hair loss brings on lots of emotions to grasp and deal with.

Happy Holidays and Many Blessings to all of you, Joan (Mom)

Catch Up for December 13, 14 and 15

Denise is getting stronger each day.  Very little naseau now but lots of gastric problems.  She's cutting down on her meds and trying to stretch out the doses.  Sleeping at night doesn't come easy.  Today she only took one nap so maybe the night time sleep will be better.  She's extended her walking to the end of our road (1/8th of a mile) and doing this 2-3 times a day.

She received her Cycle 1 Chemotherapy appointments:
    Week 1:  Wednesday, December 29th at 8:30 am
                   Thursday, December 30th at 8:30 am
                   Thursday, January 6th at ?? tba

This cycle will repeat every 3 weeks.  She's still waiting for her appointment for Sacramento Kaiser Permanente Radiology to insert a port-a-cath (between her shoulder and breast) and an interperitoneal (IP) in her pelvis.  These may be inserted with or without anesthesia.  Maybe all this info is too much or "tmi" (too much information) as my favorite saying goes.

The thoughts of chemotherapy and hair loss is emotional and hard to sense as reality.  Keep the encouragement coming! 

The above information is provided by Mom/Joan!