Run of bad luck

Been off the grid for a week or so but now back on with ongoing saga of my health issues.  Went to have a routine cat scan to compare it to one that I had a few months previous.  It didn't go well, I was in too much pain, the radiologist didn't like the way the dr wrote it up and wanted to do it another way, etc... The short minor scan took over 4 hours of sitting in a wheelchair with me crying and the staff not knowing what they should be doing.   I'd been watching the ad on TV for Red Lobster and Bob took me there for dinner, however I couldn't sit for more than a few minutes and we ended up getting our food packaged to take home.  Leaving the restaurant I told Bob that I thought we should go to the ER as I was feeling really bad and in extreme pain.

They admitted me that night and in the morning I saw Dr. Pugmire, who told me that Dr, Bark was on call that week-end and since I was already admitted I should seriously consider staying in and having the surgery that week-end.   After meeting with several Dr.s the decision was made and surgery was scheduled.

I wish I could say that it went as expected, but that's not the case.  I'm still leaking from the rectum and vagina.  The colostomy was supposed to correct that, but it seems like it just created more problems.  I've started radiation and they are hoping that shrinking the tumor will correct it.  After 8 days in the hospital I got to come home and have nurses coming to the house to help me learn how to change the bags etc...thou it really isn't all that hard.  Radiation will be 13 days straight not counting week-ends.   I'm still in constant pain and need to get it under control.  Also thinking I might have pneumonia and have a appointment with the Dr tomorrow morning.  There's lots more to this story that I will fill in the pieces as it goes along.  Thinking I did good by sitting up and typing this much!

As always, family and friends have been by my side the entire time and I can't even begin to thank them for all the food, flowers, cards and just being there for us,

                                   Peace & Love

Week # 4

Well if I thought week # 3 sucked..this past week I don't have any words to describe it.  It started off bad, got worse and now I'm just tolerating it.  I developed a fistula, a hole in the wall of my colon and vagina,  I leak fecal matter out my vagina all day...all night . I know it sounds gross and it really is.  The cure to this is to have an colostomy, something we were trying not to have happen.  I have an appointment with a colon-rectal dr next week to go over what is going to happen.  We are not sure if he will try and remove some of the cancer or just leave it alone.  There are so many questions that need to be answered and hopefully he will have the answers  I'm terrified of having this surgery, and wish there was some other way to take care of this, but this is how they fix it so......I've finally got my pain somewhat under control.  Taking 2 pain pills every 4 hours keeps it manageable.  I've been trying to get up out of bed for a few hours every day, but usually find myself laying on the couch.  Abby & Bob have been such wonderful caretakers of me.  Abby usually spends thursdays with me and the past two weeks she's been in a baking mood.   She has baked 120 cupcakes, zucchini bread, pumpkin bread, and pumpkin cookies!  I haven't been much help to her, but we enjoy spending the time talking while she's mixing away!  Bob has been unbelievable with getting my medicines and running to Kroger everyday, there's always something that I need to have!  So............I keep hoping that one of these weeks I'll have some good news but for now it looks like were going backwards and not forward.  Chemo continues on tues and have a cat scan on wed.
                                     
Peace & Love

Week # 3

Well week 3 totally sucked in more ways than one.  I did well with the chemo and smoking the pot..didn't get sick so that's a small victory.  However things went all to hell later in the week,  Saturday morning I woke up to discover that I was bleeding vaginally, which shouldn't happen since I have no parts there to bleed from.  Called the Dr.  He was concerned, but thought it might just be a clot that broke away etc..He said I could go to the ER, but they would just put me thru a lot of useless tests and the call was up to me.  I said I would lay down for awhile and see if it stopped and get back with him.   Of course it didn't stop so I ended up in the ER where they did some blood work and found out that my hemoglobin was low and that I needed blood transfusions.  The ER Dr, called my Dr and he admitted me to spend the night and have exploratory surgery in the morning.  I didn't get any sleep that night as the nurses were in and out of the room with the blood transfusion going on.  Abby spent the night sleeping across the bottom of the bed and her head on one chair and feet on another.   Surgery went well, the Dr isn't really sure what the problem is, the wall of my rectum where the tumor is is very thin and he thinks the fluid is leaking from the tumor into my vagina,  Know it doesn't make much sense, but he put a "patch" on my vaginal wall where it is thin.  Not sure if the tumor is shedding or what.  Guess this might not make much sense, but if you ask me, bob , abby and my mom who were there we would all come up with something that does make sense.  So needless to say I have to be extremely careful to not become constipated and tear the rectum, or I will be back in for a colostomy.  So now I'm home from the hospital and have a day to rest before starting chemo up again tomorrow.  Let's hope this week is a good one.

                                Peace & Love

Week # 2

Ugh..week 2.  Felt good on chemo day and day after. Woke up at 11:00 pm wed running to the bathroom to get sick, which continued thru out the whole night.  If there ever was a time I wanted it to be over, this would of been it.  It was continuous so I just laid on the bathroom floor, crying and throwing up.  Finally around 4:00am it stopped.  Was thinking I was going to have to make a ER trip as I was so dehydrated, but didn't have the energy to go any further than the bedroom.   Rest of the week was spent as usual...laying in bed to relieve the pressure.   So.........chemo tomorrow and a little anxious about wed night......Bob. Abby and I talked it over and decided that I'm going to use the medical marijuana that I have to help with the nausea, along with another nausea medicine from the DR.   Hoping that something will work, and I won't get sick.  Keeping my fingers crossed!

                                               Peace & Love

Week # 1

Well week one is over and starting on week # 2 tomorrow.  Guess I wasn't as good at getting back to blogging as I thought!  Meeting with the Dr went ok..said the tumor has grown "a little" but not enough to get alarmed about.  Also my CA-125 jumped from 9 to 45.  Thinking it went high as I hadn't had chemo in 3 weeks.  I used to get all upset over that number, but now I just put it out of my mind..I figure if the Dr isn't concerned then I shouldn't be either.  The chemo went well thou it takes over 2 hours, where the last chemo was only 30 mins.  Thankfully I can sleep thru it.  Felt good after, in fact came home and was up till 9:00 that night.  Had a slight side effect of a rash on my face, but it went away after a day.  The tumor is pressing on my sciatic nerve and causing extreme pain.  I've been given muscle relaxers and pain pills to try and help.  Spending more time in bed than I'd like, but sitting is hard to do for a period of time and laying down seems to be the only was to relieve the pressure and pain.

I'm hoping that the next few treatments will shrink it enough so that I feel better.  It's awful living with the constant pain.  Plus the depression and anxiety don't help the situation. 

                                                       Peace &  Love

Once again I' m back

It's been 2 months since I last posted on the blog...didn't realize it's been that long.  I "quit" blogging for several reasons, number 1 being I was so pissed and angry that I have to go thru this once again and I just didn't want to talk about it.  I still don't like to talk about it, it has consumed my life even thou I try and not let it.  July was not a very good month for me health wise,  I had to go into the ER for blood transfusions, 3 bags of blood took 7 hours and I still didn't feel all that great after,  Then the following week I had my cat scan and came home and got sick, throwing up every 10 mins for approx 5 hours until I gave in and had Bob and Abby take me to the ER once again.  IV anti nausea medicine and 2 bags of fluids and I was on my way.

This week I was told that the chemo that I've been on for the last 3 months isn't doing what the Dr, had hoped..shrinking the tumor.  So in a few weeks I'll start on a new chemo, once a week for 12 weeks. 

Trying to stay positive about all of this, most days I can but man I would just like a break to feel like normal and to be able to go shopping or drive my car.  I've become quite a homebody and don't like to leave my comfort zone of home.  We did get away for a few days to the vintage camper show, I did ok but was ready to come home.  Leaving to go to Erie for a family vacation with Abby and Dan , hoping I'll be able to tolerate the long car ride.  I can feel the tumor and it hurts to sit for any period of time, so we may be making a few extra stops along the way.

Will try and keep up with this as I've been getting e-mails and phone calls from friends wondering what is going on with me.  For right now, I'm going to try and enjoy my week off from chemo and relax before starting it up again.

                                                  Peace & Love

Cancer has returned

Only a few months ago I was in the free and clear and looking forward to an enjoyable summer.  Then it was time to get my colonoscopy and it showed signs of cancer.  The Dr. said all my markers were good and that I could take some time off before starting up chemo, give my body a rest from all of it.  However he wanted me to have a cat scan just to make sure.  Well that came back showing a mass in the rectum where he did surgery last year to remove the spot and decided that I needed to start chemo right away..which is tomorrow.

It's been a lot to wrap my head around right now and I'm in a fog with all the info that I've been given in such a short time.  My Dr. is switching hospitals at the end of the month , so I will have 2 rounds of chemo at Crittenton and then switch over to Beaumont. 

Will post more when I know more myself.

                                                          Peace & Love