It’s over – and the fat lady sang!

Okay, so I’m the fat lady, but I didn’t hurt anyone’s ears ‘cuz I was alone at the time!

Kathy officially is out of treatment.  Her last herceptin was on the 30th of November.  She saw her doctor then but still has side effects left.  She will have to wait and see if they are temporary or not, that is the bad news.  The great news is no cancer.

I do want to thank you all for the prayer coverage, well wishes and concern you’ve all shown to her.  I know there have been meals made, phone calls, car rides, times of counsel and times of sharing.  It was a real treat to see all those who love her in Durango while I was there.  I treasure the time Dave, Kathy and I were able to share her kids and grandkids as well.  We managed to have fun through the rough times.  The most important thing was the prayer, and handing the whole mess over to Him…after all He is the One Who’s created us.  I really saw His hand through all of this process, and I’m not certain she or I would have made it without Him leading her.

I’m very thankful that this was not Kathy’s time to go home too….I’m the oldest after all and I get to go first…it’s in the rules….somewhere;O)

Radiation over, countdown begins!

Okay, so today was herceptin day, but Kathy had her last radiation treatment the beginning of this week…woohoo.  She was having a pretty harsh time with the tightening and burning at the last, but is a bit better today she said.

She had an appointment with the oncologist, and her last herceptin will be on November 30th….so the countdown to done is starting…oh yeah!

Radiation

Sorry to be so side-tracked.  Gil and I are moving so I don’t seem to get on the computer as I once did.  Kathy started radiation treatments this past Wednesday.  So far she says it’s not too bad.  She’s still weak from the chemo and surgery but doing fairly good.  I’m forgetting which med helped with the neuropathy pain, but it seems to be working fairly well at half dose.  Since she’s going to have 33 doses of radiation, it will be a little over a month before she’s done with this part (daily doses).

So far so good…

Sorry I forgot to get this posted after Kathy’s appointment…eeekkk….I really am getting old!  The great news is she did NOT have to be debrided, and will need to go back in two weeks to make sure that is still the case.  Therefore, those of you praying for her, pray she doesn’t need it EVER.

Also great news is she’s able to control her blood sugar…but the bad news is she is indeed still experiencing neuropathy as a side-effect to Herceptin even though her numbers are good.  I’m pretty darn sure that she’ll be dancing in the streets though once that is over…Becca….pictures of it please;O)

Kathy’s better so let me catch-up!

Sorry I haven’t been around.  I got a interaction with an antibiotic and colchicine and suddenly became useless in my arms and legs.  The great news is I’m better every day and almost back to my normal…so prayerfully we will get back in the groove with the things going on with Kathy.

Kathy is doing very well….exceptionally well I think.  She’s regaining arm use much faster than either of us suspected, she’s had no infection and she’s healing enough that she doesn’t have to have multiple bandages as of yesterday…HOORAH!  The side effect she’s noticed from the Herceptin is an increase of neuropathy in her hands and feet, and that is continuing to bother her even though her blood sugar is remarkably normal.  One of the good side effects of all this is her ability to keep her blood sugar normalized which has been a difficult if not impossible task the past couple of years.

She will be going in for radiation in the near future and will have an ECHO soon as she’s healed enough to handle the pressure of ultrasound.  Dr. Desko thinks that will be in a week or two.  So we can all be thankful for the healing and diabetes relief, not to mention being cancer-free now…should help Kathy get through the next procedures a little easier.  I’m thinking the celebration in November when the final procedure will probably happen will cause a lot of excitement around here!

Herceptin and checkup

Sorry, as usual I’m behind.

Kathy went Monday to have herceptin treatment and will be redoing this every three weeks until November.  The only side-effects she notices from that is an increase of neuropathy pain in her feet and hands.

Yesterday we went to an appointment with Dr. Desko (who did the surgery).  She was able to have the final drain removed and her sutures as well.  She’s almost a free woman…still has to keep checkups, but nothing more serious at this time with surgery.  Just needs to finish healing, but the worst is over.

Radiation will commence once Kathy gets an appointment but right now she’s wanting to get to a place of recuperation that she feels comfortable with, and she’ll need to be able to drive to make it easier for her.  The radiation is purely to relieve any traces of cancer that may be smaller than testing can show.  It is for more assurance of non-return.

Kathy will go back to the doc’s on Tuesday, but at this point she’s feeling much better with sporadic pains that are relieved by her pain med.   When she’s not hurting, it’s been hard to keep her from putzing about…especially with her flowers.  Pretty much think that’s a good thing since she’s stopped trying to go past her bounds;O)

PRAISE THE LORD AND WOOHOO!!!!

Praise God!

Needless to say we’ve received the best news of all at Kathy’s last appointment….cancer-free!  WOOHOO indeed!  Kathy and I both broke into tears when he told us, but it was of joy, that’s for sure.

Now, as for my delinquency in posting, I’m really sorry.  I got ill with some type of lung and sinus attacks and finally called to the doc and am doing better now….just had a few days down and didn’t really have the energy to get online.

Here’s the latest and I’ll just bundle it into one post.  At her one week appointment she had two of the three drains taken out and is progressing fine.  She’ll be going back on Tuesday to get the final drain and her sutures removed.  Although she’s cancer-free she will still be doing radiation, although fewer number of them.  That will start a few weeks after she’s strong enough.

Now, I must say Kathy is feeling better every day.  In fact today she’s not had to use any pain medication.  The worst part now is that I’m having a hard time getting her not to try too much…but that’s a refreshing problem.  However, I have informed her that if she doesn’t behave I will tell Doc and Mom….that’ll get her not to be wayward!  Her left arm is almost to about 3/4 strength and movement, with her right being the one she needs to be careful about.  There were 16 lymph nodes removed from her right so naturally her arm is more limited and she’ll be doing physical therapy on that at some point.

The best part for Kathy is the great friends coming over to visit and providing her with meals….yummy stuff, and I’m enjoying not having to cook…LOL!  Now that I’m better, I promise to update better, thanks for bearing with me.

Day 2 better

Kathy is really doing fairly well.  She has only had to use pain meds once today and is pretty ambulatory – although quite weak.  Her left arm is almost normal range of motion and the right she’s not supposed to try, but if she forgets pain reminds her pretty quick.   She’s sleeping quite a bit and to be honest that’s probably the best part of the healing process.  Her drains are getting less and less quite quickly also.  Her swelling in the right hand seems to be gone…YES!

Now she’s also feeling quite powerful….since I sleep like a rock Dave has come up with a solution to help me hear her at night…yes, I still can’t hear her voice, even when she’s yelling…LOL !  So now she has a chairside button that makes church bells go off….I’m sure she’ll test it out when I least expect it;O)

Kathy’s home!

Okay, so a little less than 24 hours after surgery Kathy is home in her recliner sleeping.  The great news is she’s feeling fairly well considering and the pain meds are not making her sick…woohoo!  Her blood sugar is really high, but it’s because they have not been giving her the same insulin regime she normally has and we suspect now that she’s free to resume her normal routine it will resolve soon.  For a short while this afternoon we were a bit concerned over swelling in her right arm, but it’s subsided quite a bit so we will keep an eye out for that.  Dave is running around like a chicken with his head cut off doing our “honey=do’s” so I believe when he gets home he’ll sleep pretty much like a rock…LOL!

She’ll be going to the doctor in about a week unless she stops filling her drains.  Now is her time to recuperate and strengthen for the radiation rounds…future dates unknown

Surgery Results

Kathy went in late about 10:50 and was out by 4 this afternoon….sorry, can’t remember now…sigh!  Anyway the doc said all went well through surgery and that he thinks he was able to get all of the lymph nodes removed but can’t be certain without the tests.  We went to visit her and she is out of it (which is probably a good thing) and we were told it would be another 4 hours or so before she’d really be coming out of the fog.

She told me this morning to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers.  And Dave and I are probably going to crash and burn…LOL…we’re getting too old I think!