Some Good News

Greetings,

I'm just back today from my two day visit to MD Anderson. Sister Karen and Stephanie travelled with me from Austin. We met my cousins Lee Ann and Julie for a day of testing on Tuesday. I had a blood test, chest x-ray and a CT scan. Good times.

While I waited for my blood test I ran into Ms. T. and her daughter Suzette. I went to school with Suzette at HF ISD. I recognized Ms. T. because she was a bus driver at the school. She said she had been going to MD Anderson for ten years. She recognized me after I told her my name and because my name had been on her church's prayer list for a number of months. That small town stuff is working out for me.

As always, my favorite part is the CT scan. Not. Nurse Crazy, who is actually very nice, had to break the enema news to me again. I asked her if she was sure, positive, it was necessary and she patiently looked at me and said, "Yes, yes you are going to have one. " And, I did have one. It just seemed funnier this time.

After my tests, we headed to get a wheatgrass shot at a local juice bar around the university. We rested up and headed to the Houston Chicago baseball game. My cousin Lee Ann, got us tickets in her suite. It was great and the Astros won. It was a late night with an early wake up call for an appointment with Dr. F. on Wednesday.

He didn't keep up waiting long today. He asked his usual questions. I whined about the enema. Poo talk, etc. Next, he showed us the test results. I'd never seen a cross-section of myself. I actually avoid it as much as possible. He showed us the original scan next to the new scans and estimated tami lost about 2 cm. Nice work. Of course I gave the doc his props, but also credited the diet modifications and the addition of wheatgrass. He just smiled like I was a delusional idiot. I think he still thinks wheatgrass is something you smoke. Dr. F. is going to meet with the tumor team on Friday and propose our next actions which are two more rounds of Xeloda/Temodar. We'll remeasure sometime in July. After more reduction, a discussion will happen about the possibility of a portal vein embolization. This procedure would allow the blood flow to be redirected to the parts of my liver that will be left so that it will increase in size and strength.

It was a good visit. It was good news. Dr. F. is working with Dr. G. (cardiologist) on ways to fortify my heart and arteries for the next two rounds. I'll stock up on more wheatgrass. And away we go...

On another note: I understand the blogging is a bit cumbersome with the questions and the log ins. Hang in there and keep trying.

smack smack,

Jan

PS. Mikey, you were right. I did get some really great news about the “Full Force Gale” punch that I/we have put on tami. The signs were good. And I am certain the stress relieving methods you taught me at UT have helped me deal with this adventure. Thanks for the note and the positive energy. Safe travels.

A Quiet Update

Greetings,
It has been a relatively quiet week from a health perspective. I had a cardiologist appointment this week and all my tests came back okay. Or at least it is all quite manageable. I will continue to go for regular check-ins and the current medicine plan for now.

I head to Houston on Tuesday for a day of tests at MD Anderson. Wednesday morning, I'll meet with Dr. F to see if his chemo cocktail has had any effect on the size of the tumor. We'll go from there in terms of any future medical planning. Sort of a fly-by-the-seat of Jan's pants type of approach, but it's all good for now. Mentally, I've decided to take the all out, full-blown, blind optimism approach to these tests. The type of approach that will leave me shocked and heartbroken if there isn't some shrinkage and I'm not taken immediately into surgery for tumor removal. So many times I over think things (imagine that), and allow tiny droplets of negativity to seep into my space. I decided to go with this approach to ensure that doesn't happen this time. Along with this ridiculously positive outlook and the boatload of wheatgrass I've consumed, I added a few extra prayers this morning for good measure. No pun intended. I'm going all out. Sister Sharon has warned me against this type of approach but I will not heed her warning.

I'm sure I'll have a fresh batch of photos and maybe an enema story or two? But just to be clear, no photos of enemas.

Thanks for all the great emails and good wishes.

smack,
Jan

Another Round

Whew. Made it through another round of chemo. Next steps are to measure tami again to see if she’s lost some weight/mass. (If you will notice, I’ve decided not to even give her the benefit of an initial cap.) I’m hoping for the best, but preparing for more chemo if necessary. Maybe that elusive primary tumor will show up as well? I’m not including a date because just knowing there is a measurement and a potential barium enema in May is enough for me. Fortunately, there will be a baseball game in Houston to offset the drama.

This blog started off as a quick note, but after chemo, I was sure I needed to remind myself of a few things. Good things, that I don’t want to forget.

1) One sentence, delivered coolly by Dr. BAH to Sobotik was enough for her to quit drinking sodas for breakfast. “Hmm, that’s less than ideal.”
2) Wheatgrass.
3) Sixth row Van Morrison seats, although I think these were slightly related to tami tumor. Thanks again Mikey and Jane.
4) Finally, I was stone-cold sober on a night out with my best pals to see and remember Elise Chittick doing the running man dance in the parking lot of the Saxon Pub. There is no end to the benefits of being able to call upon that image when a light moment is needed.
5) I finally lost 30 pounds. Everyone said it would be so hard to lose weight in my forties.
6) Lesson learned: Pottery class should never be abandoned for chemo. There is always someone who wants what you think is crap and chemo is not a good enough reason not to enroll in another one of Janet’s classes. (I find it odd that this is another parallel between myself and Patrick Swayze.)
7) I’m very lucky to have such awesome people around me (and in email). People who would never imagine in a million years that I wouldn’t be able to kick tami’s ass. And for those that I suspect don’t feel that way (yet), it might be why I’m not returning your phone calls.
8) Nurse Brian’s method of describing poo. He said, “Sweetie if you’re not going to let me see it, you need to learn how to describe it. Now, was it like…” and so on and on and on for four days.
9) There are a zillion different kinds of cancer with people having vastly different experiences with the disease. Sometimes it actually does work to pray for the “not-so-bad” kind.

10) Tori's video below. She nabbed my flip camera after a weekend of camping and left this message on it for me. This was after I wouldn't let her sleep on my air mattress in the tent. "Because I'm older and I have a tumor" didn't seem relevant.  She forgave me.

11) I sat in a Borders bookstore parking lot on a Tuesday night in January, quietly listening to an old friend. She asked to, and then proceeded to, pray with me over our cell phones. She didn’t pray for a cure or even a happy ending, just for me and my family to have the strength to handle it, whatever “IT” was going to be. (Thanks again, Walza) I was warmly reminded that, yes, this could easily be a Fannie Flagg novel. And that’s okay because Fannie is good people and no one should ever be too big for their Austin City Limit britches not to be grateful to be from a small town where you are included on every church prayer list and then some. As Fannie says, “Sometimes the best surprises come from small towns.”

Blog. Don't be afraid to blog. Blog me, or email me at JKIKER@austin.rr.com or Jan.Kiker@freescale.com

Have a great day!
Jan