Worries and concerns....

Dave's dad was taken to the hospital last Monday for altered mental status.

He had stopped walking and talking.

The last time we were there, we got him to get up out of bed and walk to the dining room for his lunch, and several of the times before that, he was up and about when we got there, so this decline was relatively rapid.

While he was in the emergency department, they discovered that he had reduced kidney function, and high blood pressure.  The doctor decided that he needed to be admitted, so once those arrangements were underway, we came on home.

It was our holiday off work, so there were no issues in that regard.

Tuesday, we went after work, and he was much better.  He was speaking a little, and smiled and winked at me. 

After getting an update from the nurse, we left, and went to his room at memory care.

We tidied up the room, and got him his glasses and some clothes, and went back to the hospital.  Unfortunately, when we arrived back, it was time for his bath, and they made us go out in the hallway, so we just went home.  It had already been a long day.

I wanted to clean up the room so that maybe, when he went back, it would feel more like home to him.

They got his blood pressure under control, and got him a referral to a urologist to see what's up with the kidneys, and had him transported back to the  memory care center late Wednesday.   He still has a catheter, and the urologist will also decide if that needs to stay.

Tomorrow, he will be transported by med-van to the urologist appointment, and Dave will meet him there.

It's likely that he will have to undergo some tests, and will have to be transported again to get those done.  We'll see.

If he is in renal failure, this could be the end of his road.  Dave and his brothers have discussed this, and the looming possibility of hospice care to ease his departure.

Dave is handling this MUCH better than he dealt with the stress of moving Pop to the memory care center in the first place.

His psych meds have made a BIG difference.

Anyway, we will be headed up to see Pop this morning.   It's supposed to be a beautiful day today. 

It was 65, sunny and calm yesterday.

We went to the Oklahoma Women's March, and were disappointed that there were only a few hundred people this year. 

Then, we went out and did all of our errands, having skipped them on Friday, after such a long, stressful week.

Today will be an easier day, with less that needs to be done out and about.

I will get my blood draw after work tomorrow to be sure that I am good to go for my new treatment plan.  I will go to the clinic Tuesday at 3.

Enjoy your Sunday, and have a good week!

Getting better all the time....

Before I could call my nurse on Tuesday morning, she messaged me with encouraging news.

My blood work was MUCH improved, with everything but one of the liver enzymes having returned to normal after the break from treatment.

The one liver enzyme that was still high had gone from 193 to 69, but still needs to be 30 or below, so we canceled my appointment, and I am to go get blood drawn tomorrow, and the following Monday, before returning to the clinic on the 28th.

At that time, we will probably begin the chemo pill with injections and hormone blockers, as there is little chance that there will still be a problem with that enzyme.

My nurse has helped me to get signed up for copay assistance programs for the new medications, as it is likely that my annual out of pocket expenses will be met within the first couple of months of the year, which means I will have big bills coming in pretty quickly.

I am hoping that the four treatments I had have slowed the cancer down enough that no unwanted changes will occur during these weeks without treatment.

After all, it took two months after the recurrence was found to begin treatment, so this three week break shouldn't cause trouble.  I don't think my team would have allowed it otherwise.

Our little pride of cats continues to adapt to being three.

Frank is growing so quickly, and is no longer in much danger of being injured when he and Pete get overly rambunctious.

Annabel continues to pretty much steer clear of Frank, but once in a while, they nestle close to one another on the bed, and she stays put, rather than getting up and going somewhere else.

Dave moved the litter box out of the guest room yesterday, so there will no longer be any incarceration in there for the little guy.

Not much is on the agenda for today.  We are both off work tomorrow.  My office closes for MLK day, and Dave took a vacation day.

We're going up to Costco, and to see Pop this morning, or maybe tomorrow, since we're free.

On that note, I am off to the shower. Have a good Sunday!

Freedom!

Frank has spent almost every minute since Friday evening free in the house.

Friday night, Dave slept in the guest room with the door open, in case Frank wanted to wander back and forth, or to go back to the space and sleeping partner he was most used to (Dave has spent the past several weeks spending his nights closed in the guest room with the kitten).

However, Frank stayed with me in our room the whole night.   There was only a little dispute among cats for territory on the bed, ultimately resolved with Pete and Frank staying with me, and Annabel going off to other spots, like she usually does.

We've suspected that Frank was not actually 8 weeks old when we brought him home to foster on Dec. 14th.
In the first little bit after he started to feel better from his respiratory infection, he started sucking on Dave's ears at night.

He must have lost his mommy before he was fully weaned, and this also solidifies our belief that he was probably younger than the shelter said he was.

Friday night, he sucked on my ears for the first time.

It was so heart breaking, yet it made me giggle!  No biting, but he was definitely trying to suckle, purring furiously, and kneading my neck with his front paws.

Last night, we did the same arrangement, and  Frank slept with me all night again.  Pete and Annabel were out elsewhere in the house.

There was no ear sucking this time, but that's probably because I've always liked to pull the covers up over my ears to sleep. I sleep on my sides, and it gives me a feeling of security.

Friday night, Frank got to one of my ears early in the night, while I was still awake, and lying on my back, and he got to the other when I was awake,  right after I had come back to bed in the middle of the night, after one of my many ramblings around the house.

(I tend to get up several times per night. I just don't typically sleep very well)

He continues to grow like crazy, and everyone is getting along pretty well most of the time.  All three cats have their dinner together now!

We will probably try leaving Frank out tomorrow when we go to work.

Tomorrow, I will go get my blood draw after work again, and I am to call my nurse on Tuesday to see how things are.  My appointment for Tuesday afternoon will most likely be canceled.

The hope is that we will see another drop in the liver enzymes, though, like we did the week I was off of treatment after the first cycle, but I will probably need more time for things to completely balance out.

My nurse called me Friday to explain a protocol that is being considered for my resumption of treatment.

There is a different chemo pill available that works similarly to the one I was on for eighteen months in the past.

It's a pill that is taken daily for three weeks out of four, along with a hormone blocking pill that is taken every day, AND an injection that is given once a month.

(the previous chemo pill was the same routine of three weeks on, one week off, with a daily hormone blocker OR a monthly hormone blocking injection.  The injections gave me HORRIBLE leg cramps, all night long, so we switched to the hormone blocking pill, and instead, I got awful tendon pain and weight gain.  I've been off all hormone blockers since November, and have lost the annoying weight very easily, and experienced a reduction in my pain.)

The projected date to resume treatment with this protocol is the last Tuesday of January, when I would have been starting my third month of IV chemo, had we not suspended treatment.

If things line up with that date, it will coincide, timing wise, with when I am due to get my next monthly bone building injection.

That would be perfect, in that I can return to only having to go to the cancer center once a month, now for both shots, instead of just the one for the bones.

I can also then return to just having my port flushed every other month, instead of having treatment through it.

I hate having my port accessed!

It all depends on how my labs look this week and next.

This new chemo pill has had huge success in studies, including the fact that there is no data point on survival rates, because all of the subjects being studied are doing so well that they can't project an estimate of survival time!

We are hoping that I won't have the same side effects as I did on the previous pill... ESPECIALLY the constant mouth sores.

However, I will probably gain weight again, and develop worse tendon pain, because of the hormone blocker coming back into my daily routine.

Be that as it may, it's better than the alternative!

So, please join me in sending good thoughts for my improving blood work, and this preferred method of treatment.

I sure would like it better than going for IV chemo once a week!

We have a couple of small errands to run today, and my yoga class got moved to dinner time on Sunday nights, so I have to decide if I want to continue going.

It's sunny and windy here today.  No snow came yesterday, like it was supposed to, and we only got a little bit of rain on Friday.

Enjoy your Sunday!

Mid Week update...

I had my blood draw after work on Monday, and went to the clinic for my treatment yesterday.... and they sent me home.

My labwork still indicates that I am not tolerating the Gemzar, and they are withdrawing treatment for this week to research next steps.

SO, I get an extra week off of chemo, and hopefully, my damaged immune system will perk back up, and my liver enzymes will drop back into normal range.

I feel pretty well, so that's good, but if I get the slightest inkling that I might be getting sick, I am to call my nurse immediately.

Sigh....  it's all good, though.  I get to skip chemo, and chances are, the next steps will be easier on me.

We had a bonus afternoon off yesterday as a result, and I will get labs done again on Monday.

Then, I am to call the clinic Tuesday morning to be sure I am supposed to go in.  It may take more than one week for my numbers to normalize.

New year, new hope

Our New Year celebration was quiet, as usual.

We had previously thought about having a party on NYE to celebrate my five years of survival, but the resurgence of the cancer canceled those plans.

We weren't sure how I would be feeling, having had a treatment on NYE afternoon, only a week after the big event of the year.  It was okay to let that dream go.

My doc said it was okay to have some champagne, though, so, with his permission, I had some, and we rang in the new year at midnight, after our annual viewing of "Harvey," with James Stewart.

We also celebrated my five years survival, just us, and our champagne.  It's still a VERY big deal that I am still here, so we marked it.

We also did a letting go ritual to metaphysically cleanse out "stuff" that no longer serves us, so that we could step into the new year with clear hearts.

As it turned out, Doc reduced one of the chemo drugs for that treatment, and I felt pretty good after treatment on NYE.

My blood work has been out of balance, and the alarming part is a couple liver enzymes have been pretty high.

This can be caused by one of the chemo drugs, so he reduced it by almost half.

I am sure the medication will still be effective, but my body won't react as strongly to it.

I will be having to go to get blood drawn before every infusion for a while, to keep tabs on this.

My potassium and platelets recovered well during the week off from chemo, so that was good news.
I had leg and foot cramps last night, though, so the potassium may be back down.

I will do my nutritional remedies more carefully, and try to get that back in balance.

My hair is thinning, but, so far, does not draw any external attention to that fact.  I can tell when I run my hands through it, and we see it in the shower drain catch.

In other news, both Dave and I have had a cold, but Dave's has gotten worse, like it usually does, and he has developed his usual annoying cough.  It happens EVERY time.

Fortunately, he still had some prescription cough syrup left from the last time, and it has been helping.

He also went and talked to a pharmacist, and got some over the counter medicine safe for high blood pressure patients.

We have been mostly taking it easy this weekend, so he can recover.

I am feeling mostly over mine.  The pharmacist mentioned that it could be allergies, too, since we aren't having a winter this year, and the cedar pollen is very high.

Franklin, Pete, and Annabel all seem to be doing better with integrating.

Yesterday, Frankie and Pete actually curled up together on the bed, and Pete let Frankie groom him and cuddle him!!

Frankie is up to five pounds, and is growing so fast that we can see the changes on an almost daily basis.

This coming Wednesday is Frankie's neutering, and our official adoption of him!

Next weekend, after his surgery, and after we are fully recovered from our colds, we will try leaving him out at night.

This will be another step toward leaving him out all the time.

So far, we have only left him out when we have left the house for short periods of time.

We have a house guest coming in mid-February, and will need to have him fully integrated by then, so that she can have the guest room.

Other than this, I have nothing much else to report this week.  If anyone is reading this, I appreciate your interest.

Have a good Sunday!